A Simulation Study of the Evolution of Aging

The wide disparity in longevity observed across species indicates that aging is a species characteristic. However, the obvious fitness costs of aging on individual reproduction would cause strong selection pressure against it. In this paper we have developed an adaptive hypothesis of aging for the sake of group diversity. Our hypothesis relies on a group selection mechanism, which we argue supervenes on kin selection; that is, group selection is strongly tied to what we already know about inclusive fitness theory. We designed and experimented with an ALife simulation environment of competing groups of co-evolving hosts and diseases to test our diversity hypothesis.