Environmental variability promotes the development of cooperation among humans, says simulation

Researchers at the University of Tsukuba have demonstrated that acute environmental variability (EV) can promote the development of cooperation through simulation based on evolutionary sports theory.

There are conclusions Published In the journal Plos complex systems,

This result provides a new approach to the revival of variability selection hypothesis (VSH), which credits improving human cognitive abilities for severe EV in Africa during the Middle Stone Age (MSA), as relevant to explanation of development of sociality.

Previous scholars have widely proposed that advanced cognitive abilities in Africa and emergence of sociality in humans during MSA. However, this evolutionary infection leads to lack of explanation in the underlying specific mechanisms and processes.

While VSH is considered a major explanation for this mystery, it has traditionally focused on the development of personal cognitive abilities. The purpose of the current study is to expand its expansional scope to incorporate the development of sociality and examines the impact of EV on the development of cooperative behavior among humans using a grounded multizant simulation model in evolutionary sports theory.

Researchers developed two simple models of EVs, namely, a regional and a universal variability model. The analysis focused on the impact of changes in environmental conditions on cooperation between geographically distant groups.

The results show that regional variability creates new opportunities for cooperatives in resource-poor areas, which promotes the development of cooperation. Conversely, the effect of universal variability was weak, which means that EV contributes little to the development of cooperation without changes in transcendent resource distribution.

These findings provide new approaches for archaeological investigation into the origin and development of social behavior during MSA in Africa. In addition, they provide potential insights into mechanisms through which EV and large -scale crisis shape cooperative behavior in modern society.