Re: Underestimating 'r'


"Catherine Woodgold" <an588@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:diq3mu$1irv$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> ... It turns out that if the rate of A
> in the population is high, then the best strategy
> for the Aa organism if it wants to promote the
> rate of A may be to commit suicide (or to
> stay alive only if by doing so it can cause
> a lot of harm to its relatives!)

But there is no reason why an Aa organism would
'want' to promote the rate of A. It has an
equal 'interest' in promoting the rate of a.
In fact, if the frequency of A in the population
is high, the organism will be more interested in
promoting the success of the rarer allele a than
in promoting the success of the common allele A.

However, even people like me who LIKE teleological
language become somewhat nervous about the use of
'want' and 'interests' in a case like this.


.

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