AI Practice Knowledge BaseCounterintuitive Facts (9): 'For the Good of the Group' Is the World's Biggest Lie
PremiumGroup Selection Fallacy: There is no instinct in nature for individuals to sacrifice themselves for the collective
I. You've probably heard the story of "lemmings jumping into the sea": When lemming populations get too large, to prevent the species from going extinct due to food shortage, some lemmings selflessly jump into the sea to commit suicide. What great collective spirit! What touching self sacrifice!
II. This is fake. This is a rumor staged by the 1958 Disney documentary "White Wilderness" for dramatic effect. The crew herded lemmings to a cliff edge and pushed them off, then filmed it. Lemmings never voluntarily jump into the sea.
III. Not only is the story fake, the biological logic behind it is also wrong. This is the famous Group Selection Fallacy.
IV. Biologists used to naively believe that organisms evolve for "the good of the species."
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