Of course, a child can see the failure of this model. What about honor among thieves? What about the punishments criminals inflict on the tattletale? What about decent people don’t “turn on each other”? Later developments in behavior theory call these influences “externalities” because they are not described by the rules of the game alone.
Now we turn to evolution. The rule that made us all. Evolution is not a simple zero-sum fight to the death. It has room for cooperation and coexistence. But it ultimately rewards systems that perpetuate their own survival. It’s a local optimizer like the players in the prisoner’s dilemma. It only cares about who is ahead now. It is impossible for evolution to reward those who sacrifice themselves for others—evolution can only reward those who benefit from the sacrifice. And the winners—carry the self-sacrifice gene.
The only altruism that evolves under these rules is the tit-for-tat exchange: I will help you if you help me. (Witness the gopher, infected by an alarm gene, shouting warnings about a predator, dooming itself to be eaten so the relatives who share the alarm gene can scurry to safety. Or the worker ant, which cannot reproduce except by helping its queen survive. Both ultimately act in their species’ self-interest.)
It is possible for evolution to reward altruism given to other altruists. If there is a reliable way to identify other altruists, communities of altruists can flourish. But then comes the specter of the free rider. The cheat can fake the “I am an altruist” signal long enough to get the reward.
(How much of your life have you spent wondering whether that kind, compassionate person is truly good? Or if they just do it to get ahead?)
Some thinkers believe that all of [morality] is a race between the true altruist and the counterfeit. The true altruist finds new tests for true altruism. The counterfeit invents new cheats. This is called a Red Queen’s Race, for reasons I don’t know. In a Red Queen’s race, racers must compete just to stay in the same place. Not to gain advantage, but simply to hold on to what they have in the face of competitors. Parasites are a perfect example. Living organisms constantly evolve new defenses; parasites and cancers constantly evolve to defeat them. The body is a treasure trove of energy to steal, and one of the body’s systems for preventing parasites and cancer are systems of internal morality. (The Red Queen’s race may even be when sex evolved. Constantly remixing genes is a good way to change up defenses. Of course, the Red Queen’s Race is not the only theory that explains the need to constantly adapt—but never mind!)