If an entity needs to cooperate to survive, it is selfish to cooperate. I feel like the author, like many other critics of economic theory, have not fully understood economics.
Also, the selfish gene metaphor was misleading in the sense that it is of course nonsense to ascribe any kind of motivation to genes. I think it was useful to break a common misconception, that evolution would work for the benefit of the individual.
If I were to list a dozen behaviours, such as "gives to charity", "moves all income to offshore accounts to save taxes", etc, you would probably be able to sort them into "cooperative" and "selfish".
So those are well-defined categories. That one might just be a detour to the other doesn't seem to be relevant.
And, of course, the problem is that, far too often, fans of economic theory make the opposite mistake, and consider cooperative behaviour as a failure of rationality, when in reality they are just not thinking it through to the end.
This misses the point, as does the original article.
In the economic framework, "selfishness" just whatever personal objective a person is optimizing for.
Cooperation is tactic for achieving "selfish" goals, and not necessarily at odds.
People donate to charity in the pursuit of what they personally value.
I agree that some "fans of economics" make the mistake of viewing outcomes that don't increase a personal bank account as irrational. Well respected economic thinkers clearly understand that people have other goals in life. On the flip side, "critics of economics" make the opposite mistake, thinking that values in life besides maximizing your bank account are at odds with economic theory.
It depends on what level you look at. Cooperation between individuals in a company could be for the selfish gain of the company. Cooperation between entities like companies can be for the selfish gain of even larger entities like nation states. Cooperation between nation states, e.g. members in the EU, can be for the selfish gain of the group, at the expense of states outside the group that get second class treatment.
If an entity is made out of smaller constituents, it needs cooperation in order to be selfish.
My formulation is just as correct as the standard economics one, but not as misleading, because it rightly implies that you are part of/made of larger and smaller entities, whereas the economics formulation falsely implies that you are an independent entity, capable of pure selfishness. If one cell in your body is selfish, that's called cancer and you die.
Somatic cells are clearly exploited by their reproductive cell masters and the collaborator brain cells. They are worked to death and expendable. If they step out of line, they are relentlessly hunted down by the boot-licking immune cells. The labors of their work are taken from them, and they are given the bare minimum to survive, until they are no longer of use and they all die.
Yeah it totally lost its way by the end where the analogy to biology is thrown out the window:
> [...] And we need coop-cop regulations of selfishness at every level to avoid parts harming their needed wholes. Otherwise, harsh karma awaits as our co-fate for allowing a plague of parasitic plutocratic plundering.
One of the examples given in the article is the prisoner's dilemma.
They present it as a celebration of "rational" yet self-defeating selfishness.
There's a lot of crazy things said in and by economists, but I dont think I've ever heard anyone actually claim that.
What it is useful for, what it "predicts", is that even perfectly, better than humanly-possible, smart people can still find themselves in situations where they can't get the best outcome for themselves by doing whatever is best for them alone.
The general conclusion and recommendation that arises is to implement some kind of meta-regulatory framework to ensure that the more desired outcome arises.
And indeed, we see exactly that in situations like criminal gangs, that co-operate to punish those that "snitch" and so solve the dilemma. The evolutionary coop-cop things mentioned are other examples.
Because the ideal and reality of the "prisoner" part so often diverge, I generally prefer the example of trying to do a drug deal or spy swap. You have something they want, and they have something you want. But unless theres some guarantee you wont be ripped off, then the profitable to both trade won't happen.
Also, the selfish gene metaphor was misleading in the sense that it is of course nonsense to ascribe any kind of motivation to genes. I think it was useful to break a common misconception, that evolution would work for the benefit of the individual.