Evolutionary fitness is defined as the number of an organism's offspring likely to survive, apparently privileging quantity, rather than quality, of life. However, models of population growth distinguish between "r-selection", that occurs in unpredictable and risky environments, and "K-selection", characterizing stable environments. If offspring has a high probability to be killed by predators, disease, or other uncontrollable factors, the safest bet is to produce as many of them as quickly as possible (r). If offspring has plenty of chances to mature, but needs all its strength and intelligence to efficiently exploit scarce resources, it is wiser to aim for quality (K). The choice between the two strategies depends on early experience: people raised in a stressful environment exhibit typical r-traits, such as many and early sexual contacts, large families, risk-taking, and short life expectancy; in a safe environment, they will typically have lower fertility and higher life expectancy and invest in long-term benefits such as education. Socio-economic development with its accompanying demographic transition and drive to maximize QOL can be viewed as a shift from an r to a K strategy by humanity. An evolutionary view of QOL Quality of life (QOL) is becoming a very popular concept, being used in an ever growing number of contexts. Yet, while most people have an intuitive sense of what it means, it is difficult to find a good definition. Researchers have focused mostly on empirical methods for measuring QOL, using both subjective measures, such as life satisfaction, happiness or subjective well-being (SWB) scales, and objective ones, such as the Human Development Index [UNDP, 1999] or the Physical Quality of Life Index. While it has been shown that in practice the different methods mostly agree in distinguishing high QOL from low QOL [see e.g. Heylighen & Bernheim, 2000], they still lack a unified theoretical foundation. The present paper proposes to seek such a foundation in the science of life itself. Biology is founded on the theory of evolution by natural selection. Living organisms exist because they have been selected for their capacity to survive and reproduce. This observation is summarized by the principle of the survival of the fittest. In present-day
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