The general form of Hamilton’s rule makes no predictions and cannot be tested empirically
Abstract
Hamilton’s rule is a well-known concept in evolutionary biology. It is usually perceived as a statement that makes predictions about natural selection in situations where interactions occur between genetic relatives. Here, we examine what has been called the “exact and general” formulation of Hamilton’s rule. We show that in this formulation, which is widely endorsed by proponents of inclusive fitness theory, Hamilton’s rule does not make any prediction and cannot be tested empirically. This formulation of Hamilton’s rule is not a consequence of natural selection and not even a statement specifically about biology. We give simple and transparent expressions for the quantities of benefit, cost, and relatedness that appear in Hamilton’s rule, which reveal that these quantities depend on the data that are to be predicted.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- May 16, 2017
- Source ID
- 10.1073/pnas.1701805114
Entities
People
- Alex McAvoy
- Benjamin Allen
- Edward O. Wilson
- Martin A. Nowak
Organizations
- Emmanuel College
- Harvard University
- Office of Naval Research