This View of Life
Magazine

Systems engineering can be seen as an exceptionally pure form of artificial cultural group selection, which explicitly treats a physical or a social system as the unit of selection and employs highly refined processes for evolving the system’s component parts.

The logic of cultural evolution is identical to that of biological evolution, even if the details differ.

Size matters in politics: America hasn’t seen a president shorter than 5’7” since William McKinley. A main culprit, unbeknownst to many, comes from voters’ cognitive biases—the work of evolution. And the conundrum took a theatrical turn early this year when Marco Rubio, a Republican presidential hopeful, was spotted wearing a pair of new boots. #bootgate

Evolved morality not only obscures universal morality but also creates an aversion to improvements to humans that would align our intuitions with actions that promote sentient well-being.

How do we create an overall building process rooted in an evolutionary framework?

Mental models that support our choice of leaders suffer from biases inherited from our evolutionary past, which are frequently mismatched with our current environments that change faster than our brains.

While humans are indeed the creators of literature and art, we are also life forms that have co-evolved with and are often dependent upon other forms of life.

Are sports evolving?

What previously was tolerated, if not actually approved, has become inadmissible, like imposing physical harm and theft of property. A norm is being created and enforced, much more strongly than before.

how can we help ourselves to move toward a peaceful and prosperous future? One that is also more just and equitable? Teach science. That’s right. Teach science early, teach science often, and teach science well.