Synergistic Selection
How Cooperation Has Shaped Evolution and the Rise of Humankind
Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Biological Sciences, Evolution
| Author: | Peter Corning | ISBN: | 9789813230958 |
| Publisher: | World Scientific Publishing Company | Publication: | December 28, 2017 |
| Imprint: | WSPC | Language: | English |
| Author: | Peter Corning |
| ISBN: | 9789813230958 |
| Publisher: | World Scientific Publishing Company |
| Publication: | December 28, 2017 |
| Imprint: | WSPC |
| Language: | English |
"Nothing about the evolution of biological complexity makes sense except in the light of synergy." Peter Corning's new book is being hailed as a major contribution to what is perhaps the greatest shift in our understanding of evolution since The Origin of Species. It's a tour de force that takes us on a synergy-guided tour of the history of life. As Corning puts it, "life on Earth has been a synergistic phenomenon from the get go." Corning also shows how synergy has been a key to human evolution, including the rise of complex modern societies. "Cooperation may have been the vehicle, but synergy was the driver." As we now face a tipping point and another major transition in evolution, Corning offers us a synergy-based road-map to the future. "One of the great take-home lessons from the epic of evolution is that cooperation produces synergy, and synergy is the way forward. The arc of evolution bends toward synergy."
Contents:
- Explaining Complexity
- A New View of Evolution
- How Cooperation Trumps Competition
- Evolution as a "Combination of Labor"
- A Tale of Two Theories
- The Major Transitions in Evolution
- The Self-Made Man I: Australopithecine Entrepreneurs
- The Self-Made Man II: From erectus to Homo sapiens
- The Rise of Complex Societies
- The Next Major Transition
Readership: Undergraduate, graduate students and the general public interested in general science, general life sciences, evolutionary biology, human biology/anthropology/primatology, and public policy.
Key Features:
- It is an in-depth treatment of a still little-known Darwinian theory of complexity in living systems that is focused on the causal role of synergy in evolution
- The book also highlights the important causal role of behavior in evolution, and it offers a new theory about human evolution called the Self-Made Man Scenario
"Nothing about the evolution of biological complexity makes sense except in the light of synergy." Peter Corning's new book is being hailed as a major contribution to what is perhaps the greatest shift in our understanding of evolution since The Origin of Species. It's a tour de force that takes us on a synergy-guided tour of the history of life. As Corning puts it, "life on Earth has been a synergistic phenomenon from the get go." Corning also shows how synergy has been a key to human evolution, including the rise of complex modern societies. "Cooperation may have been the vehicle, but synergy was the driver." As we now face a tipping point and another major transition in evolution, Corning offers us a synergy-based road-map to the future. "One of the great take-home lessons from the epic of evolution is that cooperation produces synergy, and synergy is the way forward. The arc of evolution bends toward synergy."
Contents:
- Explaining Complexity
- A New View of Evolution
- How Cooperation Trumps Competition
- Evolution as a "Combination of Labor"
- A Tale of Two Theories
- The Major Transitions in Evolution
- The Self-Made Man I: Australopithecine Entrepreneurs
- The Self-Made Man II: From erectus to Homo sapiens
- The Rise of Complex Societies
- The Next Major Transition
Readership: Undergraduate, graduate students and the general public interested in general science, general life sciences, evolutionary biology, human biology/anthropology/primatology, and public policy.
Key Features:
- It is an in-depth treatment of a still little-known Darwinian theory of complexity in living systems that is focused on the causal role of synergy in evolution
- The book also highlights the important causal role of behavior in evolution, and it offers a new theory about human evolution called the Self-Made Man Scenario
