This book review was written by Eugene Kernes
“The word ‘evolution’ originally means ‘unfolding.’ Evolution is a story, a narrative of how things change. It is a word freighted with many other meanings, of particular kinds of change. It implies the emergence of something from something else. It has come to carry a connotation of incremental and gradual change, the opposite of sudden revolution. It is both spontaneous and inexorable. It suggests cumulative change from simple beginnings. It brings the implication of change that comes from within, rather than being directed from without. It also usually implies change that has no goal, but is open-minded about where it ends up. And it has of course acquired the very specific meaning of genetic descent with modification over the generations in biological creatures through the mechanism of natural selection.” – Matt Ridley, Prologue, Page 7
“As this illustrates, the chief reason that copying is not
much cheaper than original discovery is ‘tacit knowledge’. Most of the little tricks and short cuts that
industrialists follow to achieve their results remain in their heads. Even the most explicit paper or patent
application fails to reveal nearly enough to help another to retrace your steps
through the maze of possible experiments.
One study of lasers found that blueprints and written reports were quite
inadequate to help others copy laser design: you had to go and talk to people
who had done it.” – Matt Ridley, Chapter 7: The Evolution of Technology, Page 126
“The very purpose of education has been distorted all too often by a top-down fantasy. Rarely, if ever, has the purpose of state education been to add scholarship and generate knowledge. The purpose instead is to train an obedient citizenry, loyal to the nation, likely to deliver economic growth and brainwashed with the latest fashion in ideology.” – Matt Ridley, Chapter 10: The Evolution of Education, Page 176
Is This An Overview?
Evolution is a narrative of
change. An internal incremental
transition into something else. A
spontaneous change, without an end goal.
Evolution effects species, through natural selection, but has
applications beyond biology. Biology and
culture co-evolved as biology enabled culture but culture shaped biology. Morality evolves based on how people
behave. Common laws are not given by government,
but emerge from precedent and adversarial argument. Markets are a form of coordinating behavior
which evolve through error correction of products and the behavior of
participants. Technology evolves through
the tacit knowledge of tinkerers, with their chance discoveries and
experimentation.
Caveats?
This book is based on examples. Interest in the examples depends on the
reader. Examples and data that are used
to support biases such as favoring local individual action. Examples which reference how an evolutionary
approach produces mainly beneficial outcomes.
Examples in which the evolutionary approach produces inappropriate
results, are absent.
