The Evolution of Nice
In a recent paper written specifically with social scientists in mind, Stuart West, an evolutionary biologist at Oxford University, lays down the power of the selfish gene. It’s a great paper that takes a look at why so many misconceptions have taken hold and lays out, in nonspecialist language, the reasons why most criticisms of the “selfish gene” are a result of confusion rather than insight. Anybody who’s interested in the evolution of human altruism should read it.