“Tree trunks are standing monuments to futile competition” says Richard Dawkins. He uses the “Forest of Friendship” to show just how unintelligent evolution and natural competition can be. A forest canopy is like “an aerial meadow…raised on stilts…gathering solar energy.” Yet much of that “energy is ‘wasted’ by being fed straight into the stilts” which only raise “the ‘meadow’ high in the air” gathering “the same harvest…as it would—at far lower cost—if it were” on the ground. No tree can afford to ignore the height competition. But if somehow the trees could agree to limit their heights, each could save energy and the forest as a whole would be more efficient. - http://bigthink.com/errors-we-live-by/how-free-competition-can-create-dumb-costs#pq=1LlrFM