Only the Pronoid Survive

Business has made a mess out of Darwin's theories. For the most part, business has built its understanding of competition and strategy on a foundation of Darwinian misreadings. Here's the truth about some commonly misunderstood Darwinian principles:

The struggle for existence.

One of the ways that Darwin used that expression was to refer to the death of a plant that didn't get enough water. The struggle for existence doesn't mean the lion biting into the lamb. Lots of Victorian gentlemen perverted Darwinist theories to justify their own predatory instincts.

The selfish gene.

Do you believe that natural selection is just about selfishness? Try explaining it then: Think of yourself as a gene sitting in a body. You give an alarm call. By so doing, you call attention to yourself, which may alert the predator to your presence. At the same time, you will be saving the kin group -- and saving copies of yourself -- in future generations. Genes do self-sacrificial things regularly. Those that do are often the best replicators -- that is, they are the ones that make their way down through the generations.

Competition hurries progress.

This false notion suggests that you get better outcomes by eliminating the weaker member of a group. That is supported by another Darwinian misreading: Only the strong survive, and the outcome will be better if you have people of first-rate strength. These assumptions have become the foundation of growth, progress, and capitalism: stronger, better, more. But they are not part of Darwinism. Darwin's insight was that competition can lead to all sorts of new ecological niches. If predators are devouring animals (like you) during the day, you might become nocturnal. If predators are becoming stronger or larger, you could become smaller, more mobile, or less visible.

Nice or nasty?

There is nothing vengeful or vindictive about Darwinian theory. Invoking Darwin to justify cutthroat behaviors is wrong.