ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part establishes the primary, compelling role of evolutionary biology within the consilience of cooperation: Evolutionary biology shows that far from being combatants in a genetically prompted, Hobbesian war of all against all, humans are cooperators. It reviews scientific assessments of the command center of cooperation, the human brain. The part explains the automatic neural processes that promote cooperation over conflict and competition. Don Ross is a University of Cape Town professor of economics whose study of neuroeconomics has drawn him into both cellular and evolutionary biology. Ross’ description of the processes of sustainable multicellularity sounds strikingly similar to those of public relations: Even at the cellular level, effective communication aims at building cooperative structures— and one of those cooperative structures, the human brain, promotes cooperation over conflict in human relationships.
