# Is thinking of an individual reproducing as "winning" at evolution simplistic?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thinking-of-an-individual-reproducing-as-winning-at-evolution-simplistic/643014>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 5, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thinking-of-an-individual-reproducing-as-winning-at-evolution-simplistic/643014 "2012-12-05T00:37:30Z")\
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**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-thinking-of-an-individual-reproducing-as-winning-at-evolution-simplistic/643014/17 "2012-12-05T20:49:13Z")

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Evolution doesn’t care what’s best for you as an individual or even for your species. As several Dopers pointed out in a [recent GD thread on Social Darwinism](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=674163):

> [@Should Society be Darwinian?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-society-be-darwinian/642749/6):
>
> evolution is a description of how things work, not how they should work

> [@Should Society be Darwinian?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-society-be-darwinian/642749/5):
>
> Darwinism is descriptive, not prescriptive.

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