SecondaryControl: Worried you're carrying that particular gene?  Modern science has developed a simple, fast, and accurate at-home test: Check and see if there's an "R" after your name.

RandomInternetComment: I think it's more due to living in a hyper competitive capitalist society that sadly rewards sociopathic behavior. But maybe that is just a natural outcome of being predators. Sad really.

mononymous: Oftentimes, natural selection isn't of the fittest, only the most vicious.

leeksfromchichis: mononymous: Oftentimes, natural selection isn't of the fittest, only the most vicious.

Not necessarily. Outcompeting can be viciousness, strategy, or just dumb luck.

There's a spiky weed that grows low and short in America. It evolved back when there were rhinoceros type grazers and outlasted the predators. That's viciousness.  Ants have two stomachs, one to digest and one for sharing.  That's a strategy.  Then the humble hot pepper. The chili was going along ok with its spicy, vicious defense. Then along came a dumb ape that liked the feeling of chemical burns in its mouth.  Instead of being grazed to extinction, like many other species this dumb ape has liked, the pepper got propagated and vastly extended its range even as far as space! You can't compete for that kind of thing. That's just everything coming up Milhouse.

HugeMistake: HugeMistake: AlwaysRightBoy: HugeMistake: Wrong, subby.

An exceptional argument. You sound like you're owed something more.

The research is about a gene that is "selfish" in the sense that it propagates itself to the next generation very well even though the result is not necessarily good for the individual or the species as a whole. It is related to the concept of "gene drive".

It has nothing at all to do with the individual themselves being selfish.

By the way, can you tell that nobody else in this thread read the article, including subby?

Also, I like the fact that this conversation is HugeMistake and AlwaysRightBoy. Pick your sides.