Mutual Aid as a Factor of Evolution

Survival of the fittest?
Survival of the most adaptable?
No — survival of those who are cared for!

P.A. Kropotkin is widely known as an anarchist, but he was also an evolutionary scientist and the author of "Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution".
And then there's Trichoplax adhaerens, a multicellular animal that has no nervous cells — and yet somehow coordinates its behavior and even interacts with others of its kind.

We’ll explore:

Why mutual aid and altruism support the evolution of species

How it's possible to move, eat, and communicate without a single nerve cell: Trichoplax as a "multicellular anarcho-commune"

What this organism tells us about ourselves — from losing its appetite during magnetic storms or under antidepressants, to loving glutamate and organizing collective feasts