This is how Darwin, reading Malthus, came up with the key. Unconscious selection: they compete amongst themselves. He realised that, although everything in nature appears to be alive, in reality almost everything’s dead, because of natural selection.”

functions of its own accord, that there’s no need for any intervention. That’s the basis of liberalism. The invisible hand of economics regulates everything, and leads to progress amongst nations.

a human being living in isolation isn’t a human being, it’s something else.

We human beings are a self-domesticated species.”

There’s a concept in ecology called ‘carrying capacity’.

Jungian synchronicity,” I said. “You’re talking about something, and it appears to you.”

all Darwin’s theories are based on proving that the watch made itself. In other words, that nature doesn’t require intelligent design.

an area that’s cultivated, or turned into pasture for livestock, will feed more human beings than a natural ecosystem. They

Darwin’s greatest single influence was Adam Smith. Smith believes in the ‘invisible hand’ of the market. He says it