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 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 them 'Lamarckian' 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 organisations? These are only some of the many questions stimulated and partially answered by this powerful metaphor. With 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.
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'... an important and novel contribution to the development of evolutionary theory ...'. Research Policy
Book Description
Only those inventions that survive the test of use are reproduced. Technological artefacts thus 'evolve' like biological organisms. For the first time, leading experts from many disciplines discuss this analogy thoroughly in non-technical language, showing how it throws a new light on many aspects of social and economic change.
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4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beyond the ordinary, context-dependent realization,
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This review is from: Technological Innovation as an Evolutionary Process (Hardcover)
The books union of detail with a wide perspective is one of the best I have read combining traditional and sometimes restrictive scientific research with a wider perspective while maintaining rigor. My favorite phrases include "Is evolution compatible with design", "coevolution of marketable artifacts", "genus of complex systems" and "context-dependent realization", "soft inheritance" the list goes on, but the book is a wonderful modern synthesis of classical memes with new knowledge.My perspective is teh development of things from memes to chips to organisms and everything in-between, thus epigenesis, computer science, are a continuum with in my context.
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Go to a technology museum and look at the bicycles. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Tacoma Narrows, Western Union, Donald Campbell, United States, Battle of Britain, First World War, Gerry Martin, Britannia Bridge, Second World War, Kodansha International, Menai Strait, British Museum Press, Bronze Age, Courtesy of Richard, Middle Ages New!
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Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Go to a technology museum and look at the bicycles. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Tacoma Narrows, Western Union, Donald Campbell, United States, Battle of Britain, First World War, Gerry Martin, Britannia Bridge, Second World War, Kodansha International, Menai Strait, British Museum Press, Bronze Age, Courtesy of Richard, Middle Ages New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
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29
books
cite this book:
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- The Craft of the Japanese Sword by Leon Kapp on 5 pages
- Inventive Minds: Creativity in Technology by Robert J. Weber in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- History of Technology (2nd Annual Volume) by A. Rupert Hall in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Nature of Insight (Bradford Books) by Robert J. Sternberg in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Concepts and Approaches in Evolutionary Epistemology: Towards an Evolutionary Theory of Knowledge (Theory and Decision Library) by Franz M. Wuketits in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 100 books this book cites
- Predicting Technology by Thomas E. Vass on 6 pages
- The Gifts of Athena: Historical Origins of the Knowledge Economy by Joel Mokyr on 4 pages
- Organisms and Artifacts: Design in Nature and Elsewhere (Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology) by Tim Lewens in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Technological Systems in the Bio Industries: An International Study by B. Carlsson on page 51, and page 362
- The Myths We Live By by Mary Midgley on page 83, and Back Matter
See all 29 books citing this book
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