We’re No Different

Interactions between survival machines in the Animal Kingdom usually take place among the same species. Take a ride along the African Safari and you will surely see zebras grazing in herds with zebras, flocks of the same birds migrating, and ant colonies working hard amongst themselves in order to survive. But this is where we are wrong.  Look deeper into the lives of these animals and you will notice Darwin’s idea of reciprocal altruism, “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” (166).The selfish gene can benefit on a greater scale if the animal lives within a group, for example a herd. Sure, it is going to mean less food for the individual, but it is willing to risk that if it means a more efficient way of hunting in order to get bigger prey. Still, just as explained in W.D Hamulton’s paper called “Geometry of the Selfish Herd”, the individual participant in a herd is always going to be selfish. For example, when a prey finds himself in the “domain of danger”, he doesn’t plan to be the first one eaten. He wants to survive just as much as the rest do, and when selfishness takes over it becomes every man for himself.

However, there comes a point where Dawkins theory changes into “you scratch my back, I’ll ride on yours”. The cleaner fish has a stripy pattern and special dance that labels them as “good”, so let’s compare this to our own human society. In my school the cleaner fish would probably be that person who’s reputation is seen as useful, a good catch. In the ocean, large fish restrain from eating them and allow the cleaners to access their interior and exterior, but in school, those specific personalities are usually taken advantage of. Certain groups take them temporarily for pure interest, and yet this person doesn’t mind. He or she has been accepted to the group and is willing to stay there as long as the relationship is stable. The pattern continues, the cleaner fish plays an important role in the coral reef, for it becomes a win-win situation. The cleaner fish has its natural habitat intact and the large fish can return repeatedly to the same cleaner instead of finding a new one every time. Once again, it’s the same in the Animal Kingdom as in human nature. For example, let’s focus on a specific type of person; a drug dealer. This dealer roams the streets of New York looking for a way into the business. Finally, the client or “the big fish” approaches him in desperate need of drugs. The dealer now has a weekly income, and the client now has an official dealer who he can trust to get him any substance he needs.

In this chapter I realized just how similar of a nature we have compared to animals. In our competitive world people benefit from the failure of others, just like when a zebra is saved when the tiger attacks the weak member of the herd. We hold grudges, we become selfish, and we manipulate each other in order to get what we want. We tend to live in “herds”, cuddled safely in our communities because we know it comes to a greater advantage to all of us and our probability of “surviving” increases. Still, no matter how many times we try to ignore it, it will always be “you scratch my back, I’ll ride on yours”.