[ExI] Evolution "for the Good of the Group"

[The Avantguardian]

--- On Fri, 9/19/08, Mike Dougherty <msd001 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >On Fri, Sep 19, 2008 at 6:13 PM, The Avantguardian
> ><avantguardian2020 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > The good news is that the Ramsey Theorem makes it
> > nearly impossible in sufficiently large networks that at
> > least a few individuals don't cooperate, even if it is
> > entirely by accident.

> What you describe remind me of liquid gathering into drops
> and drops
> into puddles.  In a sufficiently large field of evenly
> distributed
> small drops, there is little required action to become part
> of a
> puddle.  This game may not be a perfect example, but it has
> an
> interesting dynamic as levels increase:
> http://www.1cup1coffee.com/fl/mercurydrops.swf
> 
> Do you get a "feel" for what I'm saying? 
> Does this agree with your
> original point?

My browser can't load the shockwave file but it sounds like you get it. Although keep in mind that droplets and puddles can't differentially reproduce. The takehome message of Ramsey theory is that "complete disorder is impossible." If you want a more intuitive example, Google "friends and strangers".   

Stuart LaForge

"See them clamber, these nimble apes!  They clamber over one another, and thus scuffle into the mud and the abyss."- Friedrich Nietzsche