Statistics and Symbiosis
The one thing that every form of life is certain of is itself. When the end goal of an organism is to pass down its genes, it has to weigh two factors. First, it must have an idea of how much of its DNA is present in an individual. For example, you obviously have 100% of your DNA but your parents and siblings only have 50% of it. This means that it is more profitable for an organism to take care of itself than of one other sibling. However, saving 10 siblings at the cost of one’s life is a worthy sacrifice for the good of the genes. When it comes to two siblings, the potential DNA conserved is the same as within the individual. However, the organism still benefits from serving its own interests first because of the second factor: certainty.
Although two siblings may have the same amount of DNA as you, in nature, there is never certainty that they are in fact your siblings. They could be parasitic life forms from another species. For example, the cuckoo bird is known to lay eggs in other bird’s nests to exploit their motherly nature and save the energy needed to raise the chick themselves. In turn, the host of the cuckoo has a reduced ability to care for its own children, as it cannot distinguish between the two. These two factors drive selfish desire when it comes to altruism in nature.
But, I digress. Let us look at different ways that competition presents itself with some human analogies:
Human Parallels
Many people like watching sports. One thing most sports have in common is the fact that there is only one team that is the winner. These activities can be defined as a zero sum activities. In zero sum activities, whenever a winner emerges, a loser emerges as well. There cannot be a winner without a loser.
In the early centuries of human civilization, zero sum situations were the foundation of life. For example, during the agricultural era, each person’s livelihood was dependent on their land. The more land one person has, the wealthier they will become. This means that taking fertile land from competing groups would benefit one individual at the expense of the other. This culture was present for thousands of years and is often still the underlying cause of conflict between civilizations.
On the other side of the spectrum, there are activities where more than one winner may emerge. For example, think about taking a test in school. Just because you got a good grade doesn’t mean that someone else had to get a bad one. These activities are known as non-zero sum activities.
Nature: Competition of Excess
In nature, there is almost always an excess of resources, making an environment conducive to non zero sum activities. For example, the technological age that we live in has made a very large non zero sum environment: the internet. On the internet, there is no competition for rights to property; to run a website, the only material you need to pay for is a few electrons, and fees for a hosting service. The opportunities this opens up are massive as everyone can seek out a niche in which they can thrive.
The Power of Cooperation
This is the basis on which relationships between organisms is established. What evolution pushes for is the prosperity of organisms at the cost of nature itself. It is a lot easier to make use of resources present in abundance than seeking out something that you will have to fight for in order to survive. Most classes in biology teach the three forms of symbiosis: mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. All of these relationships can be derived using the non zero sum nature of the world along with utilizing energy efficiency.