Is this the last nail in the selfish gene's coffin? I wouldn't toll the hell quite yet, but biologist David Sloan Wilson does make quite a compelling case for altruism in his latest book, Does Altruism Exist? The author, a longtime proponent of the concept of group selection, argues that the social phenomenon does indeed exist and constructs a solid theoretical foundation for how the selfless behavior evolved and operates in social animals, especially humans. The classic example, eusocial insects, makes an appearance in Wilson's book, but his focus is on altruism as embodied by human behavior. As ever, evolutionary history provides the context for his argument that altruism is a real and adaptive trait, best categorized by the observation of action, not the interpretation of intention. Wilson surveys group-level functional organization-a state that arises from the evolution of altruism-in a variety of human institutions, such as religion and economics. In the book's closing chapters, he even offers a prescription for the salvation of the human race: a concerted effort to behave altruistically. "As far as our selection criteria are concerned," he writes, "we must become planetary altruists."
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