Survival of the Fittest

Darwin gave scientific evidence for natural selection based strictly on genetic self-interest. Fitness is not strength or virtue; it is the reproductive edge a trait confers in a specific environment. And as Frank Ryan argues, cooperation is one of the most powerful of those traits.

• —Define variation, heredity, and differential reproductive success.
• —Correct the common misreading of 'survival of the fittest'.
• —Explain what 'environment' means when the players are institutions.