Nice Guys Finish First

From Documentary Pedia

Richard Dawkins documentary which discusses selfishness and cooperativeness BBC Horizon.

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• Description: Pessimists are forever pushing the "Nice Guys Finish Last" meme on us. People who exhibit selfish behaviors such as cheating and taking advantage of others use this affirmation as a sort of justification for their actions. If they played by the rules, they argue, they would be less successful. Religionists use this meme to stress the importance of their various faiths. Without religious dogma, they argue, there is no reason for human beings to act in an altruistic manner toward one another. According to this reasoning, altruism does not make sense outside of a religious context. This meme has taken significant mindshare in our culture, evidenced in the fact that so many people consider it "commonsense." Unquestioningly we accept that it is our basic human nature to take unfair advantage of one another. Altruistic behaviors are denigrated with characterizations such as "naivety" and labels like "sucker," warnings that kindness and fair play are not standards for emulation. But is this "commonsense" valid? Secular Humanists recognize the flaw in such reasoning immediately. Society, the collective cooperative efforts of individual human beings, could never have evolved out of a species whose natural instincts are to lie, cheat, and otherwise betray one another for personal gain. Such a simple and straightforward reasoning does not work for most people. Either because they do not accept evolution, or are historically ignorant, or cannot see the endless expressions of altruism in their fellow humans, these individuals cannot alter their cognitive schemas to accept what others find apparent through observation (Consider Dr. David Brin's "Fecundity of Chaos" http://www.davidbrin.com/disputationarticle1.html ). In his book, "The Selfish Gene," Richard Dawkins has a chapter titled "Nice Guys Finish First," where he explains mathematically why natural selection rewards cooperative behaviors within a species. Natural selection will reward the judicious and the altruistic on the level of a single community's members' interactions. Communities of altruistic and judicious individuals will be far more successful than societies of cheaters. These are mathematically demonstrable facts. So the next time a religionist tells us there can be no good behavior without religion, we should ask them if they have a half-hour see our proof.

Nice Guys Finish First (BBC Horizon television series) is a 1986 documentary by Richard Dawkins which discusses selfishness and cooperation, arguing that evolution often favors co-operative behaviour, and focusing especially on the tit for tat strategy of the prisoner's dilemma game. The film is approximately 45 minutes long and was produced by Jeremy Taylor.

The twelfth chapter in Dawkins' book The Selfish Gene (added in the second edition, 1989) is also named Nice Guys Finish First and explores similar material.

Overview

In the opening scene, Richard Dawkins responds very precisely to what he views as a misrepresentation of his first book The Selfish Gene. In particular the response of the right wing for using it as justification for social darwinism and laissez faire politics. Richard Dawkins has examined this issue throughout his whole career and focused much of the recent documentary, The Genius of Charles Darwin on this very issue.

The concept of reciprocal altruism is a central theme of this documentary. Dawkins also examines the tragedy of the commons and the dilemma that it presents. He uses the large area of common land Port Meadow in Oxford, England which has been hurt by overgrazing as an example of the tragedy of the commons. Fourteen academics as well as experts in game theory submitted their own computer programs to compete in a tournament to see who would win in the prisoner's dilemma. The winner was tit for tat. A program which is based on "equal retaliation" and Dawkins illustrates the four conditions of tit for tat.

1. Unless provoked, the agent will always cooperate.
2. If provoked, the agent will retaliate.
3. The agent is quick to forgive.
4. The agent must have a good chance of competing against the opponent more than once.

In a second trial, this time of over sixty applicants tit for tat won again.

The documentary does not seem to address much larger issues within the tragedy of the commons for example it only briefly mentions global warming. Yet "Initial niceness" is a conclusion that Richard Dawkins drew from this study and other research for effective cooperation which led him to believe that in fact, "Nice guys finish first."