David Sloan Wilson is a SUNY Distinguished Professor of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University who has made fundamental contributions to evolutionary theory, particularly in developing multilevel selection theory that demonstrates how evolution operates at both individual and group levels simultaneously.
As president and founder of the Evolution Institute (now Prosocial World), Wilson works to establish new paradigms for economics, public policy, and public discourse firmly based in evolutionary science and understanding of human nature as an evolved species.
Author of influential books including “Darwin’s Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society,” “Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin’s Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives,” and “This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution,” Wilson demonstrates how evolutionary principles can inform understanding of human behavior, social institutions, and cultural change.
His research spans from basic evolutionary biology to practical applications in organizational development, community building, and policy design, showing how cooperation and altruism can evolve through group selection processes that benefit communities even when costly to individuals. Wilson has pioneered approaches like Prosocial, which applies evolutionary principles to help groups function more effectively, and has worked extensively on understanding how religions and other cultural institutions serve as group-level adaptations that promote cooperation and social cohesion. Through his academic research, popular writing, and practical applications, Wilson bridges scientific understanding with real-world problem-solving, demonstrating how evolutionary thinking can address contemporary challenges from organizational dysfunction to social inequality.
Why their voice matters: Wilson provides a scientific foundation for understanding how cooperation and altruism can evolve naturally through group selection, offering evidence-based frameworks for designing organizations and communities that work with rather than against human evolutionary psychology, while demonstrating that competition and collaboration are both natural, depending on the level of selection being considered.