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Re:Algernon's Law by Alex3917 on Wednesday July 04, 2012 @10:08PM (#4201475)
"How would helping 'the species as a whole' increase the frequency of that person's genetic traits in the population?"

I mean that's pretty much just standard evolutionary theory. C.f. sickle cell anemia.

Re:Algernon's Law by pjscott on Wednesday July 04, 2012 @10:34PM (#4201522)
How so? Having the sickle cell trait (i.e. being heterozygous for the gene which, in homozygous individuals, causes sickle cell anemia) gives an advantage to individual evolutionary fitness in areas where malaria is a big problem. There's no need for group selection arguments to explain the prevalence of that trait.