Sublime

As evolutionary learning occurs, life is effectively updating its model’s “beliefs” about the world around it to be more accurate and comprehensive.

Darwin believed that morality was an adaptation that evolved by natural selection operating at the individual level and at the group level.

Survivors determine the future. Ruthless, but effective. But biologists

A central debate within Darwinism concerns the unit that is actually selected: what kind of entity is it that survives, or does not survive, as a consequence of natural selection.

“The secret of our species’ success lies not in our raw, innate intelligence or in any specialized mental abilities,” writes Harvard anthropologist Joseph Henrich. Instead, he argues it’s the ability to learn easily from the innovations of others that makes us uniquely capable as a species.

The aim of the research is to determine whether the treated group improves more than regression can explain.

Hence, we are more likely to accept a dangerous idea if it aligns with our own experiences and is supported by the people we value.

for greater scientific understanding (23andMe) or in propagating user-submitted data to motivate behavior change in others (traineo).

An internationally renowned scientist (whom you will meet toward the end of this book) told me that increasing specialization has created a “system of parallel trenches” in the quest for innovation. Everyone is digging deeper into their own trench and rarely standing up to look in the next trench over, even though the solution to their problem happ