The evolution of everything
by Matt Ridley · first published 2015
63% recommend25% neutral13% critical
Why HN recommends it
Argues that institutions, technologies and ideas emerge bottom-up through gradual, evolutionary processes rather than deliberate design; suits readers curious about how social and economic systems self-organize.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"The New York Times bestselling author of The Rational Optimist and Genome returns with a fascinating, brilliant argument for evolution that definitively dispels a dangerous, widespread myth: that we can command and control our world.The Evolution of Everything is about bottom-up order and its enemy, the top-down twitch--the endless fascination human beings have for design rather than evolution, for direction rather than emergence. Drawing on anecdotes from science, economics, history, politics and philosophy, Matt Ridley's wide-ranging, highly opinionated opus demolishes conventional assumpti
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…adding new changes to the copy is the lifeblood of open-source innovation and the nature of decentralized systems as well as human biological evolution. A great book that explores these ideas is 'The Evolution of Everything' by Matt Ridley. I recommend it. "much of the “Efficiency” America has traded for lower cost manufacturing has come at the cost of our ability to bring all of the key pieces together at home." - There…
on “The Chaos and the Craftsmanship of Shenzhen” ↗…discrete progress and that the idea that a few brilliant souls are responsible for most of the advances in human hostory is a bunch of hogwash, Matt Ridley has written an excellent book on the subject, The Evolution Of Everything (amazon.com/Evolution-Everything-How-Ideas-Emerge/dp/0062296000). Coincidentally he's also written a fabulous book on the human genome, either way it's great stuff and absolutely critical to understanding…
on “The genomic era arrives, and this time is probably real” ↗A good book on this theme is Matt Ridley's "The Evolution of Everything", which argues that social institutions are generally a lot more evolved and a lot less designed than people realise, and that we forget this at our peril.
on “Like startups, most intentional communities fail. Why?” ↗This reminds me a lot of the book The Evolution of Everything by Matt Ridley (author of the Red Queen). It's effectively an anthropological study that goes over how bottom-up self organizing systems occur even in human sub-cultures
on “Life is fractal, but markets are square” ↗Books by Matt Ridley: - The Evolution of Everything: How Ideas Emerge - How Innovation Works - Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code
on “Ask HN: Any recommendation for a good History of Science book?” ↗…results in science and technological innovation. If you want to read more worthless fluff (the not-at-all pompously titled book is available in a book store near you): > Mr. Ridley is the author of “The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge,”
on “Technological evolution has a momentum of its own” ↗…sarcastic remark by a frustrated pilot of a reconnaissance plane in the First World War, when told to stay in the same place for an hour: "This machine is not fitted with skyhooks," he replied. From, "The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge" by Matt Ridley
on “Graphene-Fed Silkworms Produce a Super-Strong Silk That Conducts Electricity” ↗The significance between top-down vs. bottom-up has been compiled and showcased by Matt Ridley, in his book, "The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge." It says most of human beings are incapable of comprehending evolutionary design like free market. It's true. OP labeled markets as an example of top-down phenomenon.
on “Life is fractal, but markets are square” ↗…classical liberalism and, in particular, David Hume. In the economic sphere, Hayek devoted his entire life to the idea of emergent phenomenon. And lastly, most of the examples here are taken from "The Evolution of Everything" by Matt Ridley.
on “Small payments sharply diminish gap in responses to partisan factual questions” ↗