Cooperation and Adaptation
by Tim Brunson, PhD
The advance of civilizations requires the instigation of adaptive change within societies as they are forced to adjust to the pain of famine, natural calamities, and war, as well as to the exigencies of fortune. This may move them in a negative or positive direction. If the latter occurs, a review of history clearly shows that one central theme always dominates human – and that of any organism – accomplishment. That theme is "cooperation. " Indeed, the tendency for elements of a system to work in harmonious effort leads to undertakings that would be impossible – or at least highly improbable – for lone effort. This is true as proteins cooperate to allow cells to live, as cells with common purpose organize and become organs, as organs become aggregate bodies, as bodies become communities, and as communities become nations.
