Co-operating and cheating go hand in hand

[Still Waters]

Lying, cheating and other forms of Machiavellian skulduggery seem to be the inevitable evolutionary consequences of living in co-operative communities, suggest UK scientists.

Instead of viewing deception and co-operation as polar opposites, Luke McNally from Trinity College Dublin and Andrew Jackson from the University of Edinburgh say we might do better to think of them as two sides of the same evolutionary coin.

http://www.abc.net.a...tm#.UZT1e9i90dV

[Frank Merton]

Machiavellian behavior hasn't evolved; its always been there. The very act of eating something swimming nearby is Machiavellian.