Spatial alignment, group strategy and non-kin selection enable the evolution of cooperation.

This article considers a mechanism to explain the emergence and evolution of social cooperation. Selfish individuals tend to benefit themselves, which makes it hard for the maintenance of cooperation between unrelated individuals. We propose and validate that a smart group strategy can effectively facilitate the evolution of cooperation, provided cooperators spatially align whilst cooperating at a new level of alliance. The general evolutionary model presented here shows that a non-kin selection effect is a possible cause for cooperation between unrelated individuals and highlights that non-kin selection may be a hallmark of biological evolution.