Book review
The Evolution of Everything
The Evolution of Everything is the second book of his that I’ve read (after The Rational Optimist) from Matt Ridley. It takes on many large topics and argues that everything is bottom-up evolution, and not top-down planning (sky-hooks). He makes a convincing argument.
The Evolution of Everything is the second book of his that I’ve read (after The Rational Optimist) from Matt Ridley. It takes on many large topics and argues that everything is bottom-up evolution, and not top-down planning (sky-hooks). He makes a convincing argument. Sometimes the topics are a bit too wide/shallow for my taste. Yet I am convinced by his main thesis, that everything organises bottom-up and that top-down planning breaks more things than it helps.
An external synopsis in my original notes describes Ridley's thesis as bottom-up change across technology, institutions and society.
I do also get some of the critique that he goes too wide with his theory. An unnamed review I saved argued that calling specific, deliberately planned changes to education "evolution" stretches the concept beyond spontaneous change. I found that objection worth considering.