>>9703744>If they truly are superior, natural selection should keep their genes within the gene poolDefine superior. Superior is a function of a distinct set of selective factors. The Darwinian principle is not "survival of the fittest" but simply "survival of the least inadequate" under certain selective conditions. However, if you would spare a second to look into the concept of gene drift you could come to the conclusion that the primary evolutionary flexibility of a species is not within the individual but within the probability of certain gene variants in the shared gene pool at a given time, especially when it comes to multi-gene variant phenotypes. The restricting factor on biological live is usually energy ... it can be invested in resilience, it can be invested in outright reproduction. Under "benign" conditions a population will shift its reproductive pattern towards high offspring, saving on the resilience genes. This however does not mean the resilience genes disappear, they simply go towards a very low overall prevalence. Once conditions worsen most without resilience genes will then come under extreme negative selection while the few with the resilience genes thrive and keep the species alive, only for the cycle to begin anew. All of this has happened before ...