Global Brain Comment

By Greg Orr

March 18, 2003

In Global Brain, Howard Bloom argues in favor of group selection, the theory that “people will sacrifice their genetic legacy in the interests of a larger collectivity”(4). In support of this, he characterizes the behavior of the depressed as slow suicide. In general, depression is accompanied by failing health due to physiological mechanisms and a reduced desire to care for oneself. Bloom says that it is the innate self-destruct mechanism that kills off a failing individual for the betterment of the group. I will contend that his argument for this theory is unconvincing. I will object that depression is compatible with individual selection.

Bloom argues in favor of group selection by claiming that depression and individual selection are incompatible. He claims if individual selection is true, then “a creature will only sacrifice his comfort if the payback to his genes is greater than what he gives”(7). He says that the death of the depressed person could only give payback to his genes if “death boosts the genetic success of close relatives by relieving them of a burden or by enriching them with insurance and bequests”(7). Studies show that this is unlikely because depressed people have few family connections, and are in fact “the individuals whose death is least likely to benefit kinfolk carrying genes similar to their own”(7). Since the actions of a depressed person do not support his genes in any way, depression provides compelling evidence against individual selection. In light of this difficulty, Bloom inserts a group selection theory stating that depression is a preprogrammed response from a person feeling like he is not useful to society. It benefits society by relieving it of dead weight.

I argue that depression is not incompatible with individual selection. Consider a person that cares only about propagation of his genes. People get depressed when they are continually denied what they want, so it seems perfectly possible that this person could get depressed if he were continually rejected as a mate. The depression would be the result of hopelessness, a feeling that they are incapable of accomplishing their goal. Being depressed does not indicate that the person is not selecting individually, just that he feels that there are no possible actions that will allow him to achieve his goals. It is true that his death does not help him achieve his goal, but he feels that his life does not either.

Bloom might further argue that a person does not need to be conscious that they are group selecting. Whatever a person’s goals are, an inability to achieve them indicates that the group does not approve. This disapproval makes a person depressed. The person’s death benefits the group. So depression is a tool of group selection and not of individual selection.

I would argue that this is an explanation of a group exhibiting group selection by killing off the person by inducing depression. The person can be an individual selector but have depression thrust upon them by context. Hence, I do not believe that Bloom has shown that individuals display group selection.