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Technological artefacts and biological organisms
'evolve' by very similar processes of blind variation and
selective retention. This analogy is explored systematically,
for the first time, by a team of international experts from
a number of disciplines -- evolutionary biology, history
and sociology of science and technology, cognitive and computer
science, economics, psychology, education, cultural anthropology
and research management. Do technological 'memes' play the
role of genes? In what sense are novel inventions 'blind'?
does the element of design make innovation 'Lamarkian' rather
than 'Darwinian"? Is the recombination of ideas the
essence of technological creativity? Can invention be simulated
computationally? What are the entities that actually evolve
-- artefacts, ideas or organizations? Why are some societies
technologically static? How should technological innovation
be fostered economically? These are only some of the many
fruitful questions stimulated and partially answered by
this powerful metaphor. By its practical demonstration of
the explanatory potential of 'evolutionary reasoning' in
a well-defined context, this book is a ground-breaking contribution
to every discipline concerned with cultural change.
John Ziman is well-known internationally
for his many scholarly and popular books on condensed-matter
physics and on science, technology and society. He was born
in 1925, and was brought up in New Zealand. He took his
DPhil at the University of Oxford and lectured at the University
of Cambridge before becoming Professor of Theoretical Physics
at Bristol University in 1964. His research on the electrical
properties of metals earned his election to the Royal Society
in 1967. After voluntary early retirement from Bristol University
in 1982 he devoted himself to the systematic analysis and
public exposition of various aspects of the social relations
of science and technology, on which he is a recognized world
authority. In 1997, as Convenor of the Epistemology Group,
which studies the evolution of knowledge and invention,
he invited leading scholars from a number of disciplines
to work together on this book.
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