This is just too cool of a coincidence. I divide my reading time between the arts and nonfiction, and just now I came across something in a science book I'm reading which dovetails with some comments I made last night about Doctor Strange!

To review - Earth and humanity were saved because Strange saved Dormammu and his subjects, even though Strange knew his decision could have directly changed the fate of the entire human race. We would have been saved if Strange had allowed the Mindless Ones to kill Dormammu, and we could have died as a species if Dormammu survived to exterminate us.

Now here's the relevant info I read today. I'm italicizing the most relevant bits.

"William D. Hamilton's theory for how a gene for helping others, even at the cost of one's own life, could be passed along was first called "kin selection" and is now called "inclusive fitness". It led to a broader concept called "reciprocal altruism". Humans extend altruistic acts to people who are not their blood relatives. Such behavior is species typical because altruism reinforces social connection, and social connection helped our ancestors survive...

...
the evolutionary biologist George Williams summed up the idea with a direct contradiction of Hobbes's notion of early human existence as a constant state of battle: "Simply stated, an individual who maximizes his friendships and minimizes his antagonisms will have an evolutionary advantage, and selection should favor those characters ("characters"! LOL) that promote the optimization of personal relationships." "

I wish I knew to what extent, if any, a working knowledge of these theories contributed to Lee's and Ditko's climax for "Duel with the Dread Dormammu".

Natural selection favored the survival of humanity taken in one go at this most crucial focal point in history because Strange was genetically predisposed by evolution to "extend an altruistic act toward someone" who was the definition of a "non-blood relative", which created a "social connection" and a "personal relationship".

Whether Dormammu evidenced "reciprocal altruism" is perhaps debatable, as he appears to have merely been cancelling a perceived debt, but with his subsequent action he tacitly acknowledges that he and Strange have a form of personal relationship as a result of Strange's action.


"Now we're getting off focus." - the Elder Son of Storytime