Cooperation vs. Competition: Greed is good -- but only a moderate amount
(PhysOrg.com) -- Relationships between cooperation, competition, and society have long been pondered by psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, economists, philosophers, and mathematicians. While (as might be expected) a range of conclusions have been reached, one factor that appears to be essential in achieving and maintaining an equitable distribution of human well-being is social cohesion that is, a societal infrastructure characterized by high levels of cooperation and a large number of social ties between members of the population. At the same time, however, individual self-interest appears to be inversely related to and indeed often leads to a breakdown of social cohesion. As researchers in Switzerland have recently found, however, a moderate level of greed can actually establish a framework in which cooperation and agglomeration (grouping) flourish and societal cohesion prevails.
