# ESS and group selection

> > Superficially, this sounds a little like group selection, but it is really nothing of the kind. It sounds like group selection because it enables us to think of a population as having a stable equilibrium to which it tends to return when disturbed. But the ESS is a much more subtle concept than group selection. It has nothing to do with some groups being more successful than others. --p72, The selfish gene

> Superficially, this sounds a little like [group selection](https://wiki.g15e.com/pages/Group%20selection.txt), but it is really nothing of the kind. It sounds like group selection because it enables us to think of a population as having a stable equilibrium to which it tends to return when disturbed. But the [ESS](https://wiki.g15e.com/pages/Evolutionarily%20stable%20strategy.txt) is a much more subtle concept than group selection. It has nothing to do with some groups being more successful than others. --p72, [The selfish gene](https://wiki.g15e.com/pages/The%20selfish%20gene.txt)