Ask Lewis: Why Are Humans So Territorial

Reciprocal Altruism is not the same as pure altruism

Photo of author by Steve Weinburg

When I was young, and in college, I was a New Age, “all is love” hippy. My heart is still there, but my life experience and present reality have led me to apply game theory strategies and an exploration of how humans tend to be highly territorial.

As we look at the world today and explore our history as a species, it can be useful to study important ideas concerning human social behaviors, especially concerning collaboration and competition.

Though I developed an interest in Game Theory in 2002, these questions about social behavior caught my attention when I was in college in the late 1960s.

I now at a professor's time and who, I believe, disliked me even more.

I was an anti-Vietnam War activist at the time and was organizing bus trips to Washington DC to protest the war. At the same time, I was doing my best to not get drafted into the military to fight in that war.

In 1969 this professor introduced me to the ideas of Robert Ardrey.