KEW Acid Test: Nature Cooperates to Reduce Competition (Episode 109)

I really dislike Competition. And it is a touchy subject. In an article I published on Medium, I received several hateful comments defending the importance of competition in business and sports. In KEW Episode 95 I discuss Rugged Individualism vs. Unified Connection to make the point that competition focuses on isolation rather than community. I talk about this topic a lot.

And it is important for me to revisit this in the spirit of the Acid Tests, because Competition is a Natural process. Competition DOES exist in nature and it is critically important. In this episode I share with you research I did during my Master’s Thesis which focused on the role of Competition in a small blackwater stream.

In short, competition creates biodiversity. But this doesn’t happen the way we typically think of competition. We generally view competition as being a ‘fight’ or battle between two teams or two individuals. Or armies. Or whatever. Something is fighting something else to ‘win’ a victory. And the victory means money or power or status or land or some . . . gain. And with that gain – that WIN – there is a loss. A big ‘L’.

Yeah, that isn’t how it really works out there in nature. At least not for the billions of years that preceded us getting together in giant stadiums wearing one or the other color jersey.

I’m not sure what caused the shift, but at some point we changed what we thought competition is, and my interest in the subject is to remind us.

Competition in nature is most often avoided.

Sure, there is the image of the silverback gorilla beating up all the other males to gain and maintain his victory. But that’s so atypical it’s not even funny. It amazes me how we choose these non-representative examples and believe they are always true. I do it myself, of course. We are only human.

But mostly, in nature, when two individuals or species compete it is because a resource is limiting.

BUT . . . and this is a really big BUT

Rather than compete, these individuals and species most often AVOID competing. They ‘learn’ to use another resource. And this learning creates a fitness differential that becomes available to natural selection. And if it’s strong enough, over multiple generations the species can become two. This is the primary mechanism by which natural selection creates diversity.

And it’s beautiful.

And it should be worshipped. Or maybe just appreciated.

And when I see people instead worship competition it makes my blood boil. Hopefully this episode will explain why.

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