Cooperation is evil

Or at least it can be, according to this article in the Economist, which explains why family co-operative breeding is rare outside birds and primates. 

The problem:  cooperation increases the transmission of "pathogens and parasites . . . , imposing a price that is not always worth paying."

My own two cents re this: intentionality in humans can help to curb this, but we can also intensify the phenomenon in horrific ways, and for reasons folks haven't yet guessed.  Just another reminder that I need to write down everything I came up with while thinking through my uncivil society project.

Also worth reading in the same issue:  a study whose methodology indicates that new empirical work may not be the best path to fresh insight.  The key lesson:

[T]he old cry “more research is necessary” is not always true. Sometimes all you need to do is look at what you already have in a different way.