Is evolution always “egolution”: Discussion of evolutionary efficiency of altruistic energy exchange

Abstract

In the article I study the evolutionary adaptivity of two conceptual population models, based on either altruistic or egoistic law of energy exchange. During the extensive computational experiments, the models were compared by their ability to survive both “series of cataclysms” (fast extreme changes of the environment) and one radical change after a long stasis. The computational experiments show a convincing advantage of the altruists: there is a considerable area in the experiment’s parameter space where the altruists succeeded in both experiments; however there were no egoist populations found that could pass even the first trial. The examined models are pruned to the extent where the effect of energy exchange strategy is clearly visible. The obtained results could warm up the interest to the positive role of altruistic phenomena in evolution, ecology, technology and philosophy.