Abstract
Methods of statistical physics have proven valuable for studying the evolution of cooperation in social dilemma games. However, recent empirical research shows that cooperative behavior in social dilemmas is only one kind of a more general class of behavior, namely moral behavior, which includes reciprocity, respecting others' property, honesty, equity, efficiency, as well as many others. Inspired by these experimental works, we here open up the path towards studying other forms of moral behavior with methods of statistical physics. We argue that this is a far-reaching direction for future research that can help us answer fundamental questions about human sociality. Why did our societies evolve as they did? What moral principles are more likely to emerge? What happens when different moral principles clash? Can we predict the break out of moral conflicts in advance and contribute to their solution? These are amongst the most important questions of our time, and methods of statistical physics could lead to new insights and contribute towards finding answers.
Highlights
Our time now is unique and special in that we are arguably richer, safer, and healthier than ever before [1, 2], but simultaneously, we are facing some of the greatest challenges of our evolution
Methods of statistical physics have come a long way in improving our understanding of the emergence of cooperation and the phase transitions leading to other counterintuitive evolutionary outcomes
Methods of statistical physics and network science have proven to be very valuable for successfully studying the evolution of cooperation in social dilemma games
Summary
Our time now is unique and special in that we are arguably richer, safer, and healthier than ever before [1, 2], but simultaneously, we are facing some of the greatest challenges of our evolution. Cooperation is so important that many have contended that our capacity to cooperate at large scales with unrelated others is what makes human societies so successful [3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. Grand Challenges in Social Physics of cooperation for our evolutionary success and for the wellbeing of our societies, recent empirical research shows, that to cooperate is just a particular manifestation of moral behavior [18]. Our goal here is to discuss and outline the many possibilities for future research at the interface between physics and moral behavior, beyond the traditional framework of cooperation in social dilemmas
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
