The Survival of the Most Cooperative

This lecture, part of the "Decisions, Games, and Evolution" program at the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, explores the fundamental principles of cooperation across biological scales. Delve into how cooperation emerges from cells to societies, examining the evolutionary mechanisms that favor cooperative behaviors despite apparent individual disadvantages. Learn about the organizing principles behind cooperation through interdisciplinary perspectives including mathematical modeling, cognitive science, social network dynamics, and evolutionary game theory. The presentation addresses key questions about how individual choices in social conflicts are influenced by environmental factors and population network structures, how individual behavior shapes population-level outcomes, and the role of learning in the evolution of cooperative strategies. This 1-hour 24-minute talk contributes to a broader program bringing together biologists, cognitive scientists, economists, and physicists to foster cross-disciplinary collaboration in understanding decision-making across all scales of life.