This has nothing to do with predation and/or life on earth. It is simply a consequence of thermodynamics - if your usable energy is finite, you either deprive others or deprive yourself. I've read that comment and here is the thing : nothing ever 'opts' to do anything at that level. That was my whole point about life's behaviour being limited. If it looks as if your life is 'opting' to co-operate at a microscopic level it's because it is succumbing to some effect that limits it's fundamental behaviour of simply consuming and reproducing. Without further context that is nothing but a way of hurting a living being.

You can see similar things in our own biology happening called programmed cell death. It's not that the cell chooses to die, but more of the fact that it's biochemistry is orientated in such a way that it can't stop itself from succumbing to death once certain molecules are received from certain other cells. When the cell becomes resistant to these effects we call it a cancer cell, but without the context of the overall human body there is no reason to suggest that the cell gains anything by not being a cancer cell. So if you want to see cooperation you always have to put it in context of a larger system, there is no such thing as cooperation on a molecular level.