3
3
reg
arded as no more than a fanciful metaphor. Evolution is thought to
produce individuals who are designed to relentlessly pursue their own
reproductive success. Society is merely the byproduct of individual
striving and should not be regarded as an organism in its own right.
Even individuals can be decomposed into selfish genes whose only
purpose is to replicate themselves.
It is a mark of Howard Bloom's independence of thought that he
resisted the extreme reductionism that pervades modern evolutionary
biology. He believes that the Leviathan, or society as an organism, is not
a fanciful metaphor but an actual product of evolution. The Darwinian
struggle for existence has taken place among societies, as well as among
individuals within societies. We do strive as individuals but we are also
part of something larger than ourselves, with a complex physiology and
mental life that we carry out but only dimly understand. That is the
vision of evolution and human behavior found in The Lucifer Principle
and at the moment it can be found no where else.
When Howard Bloom wrote The Lucifer Principle, he studied
numerous developments taking place within the halls of academe, but
was unaware of others. Evolution is increasingly being studied as a
process that operates on a hierarchy of units. Even individual organisms
are higher level units, composed of parts that were themselves
free-living organisms in the distant past. Truly organismic societies have
evolved in insects and even some recently discovered mammal species.
As for ourselves, human society may turn out to be far more organismic
than the vast majority of evolutionary biologists imagined only a few
years ago. These discoveries are unfolding within the scientific
community, and many of them have been anticipated by Bloom.
Scientists and other Academicians might find themselves treading a path
forged by an outsider.
As a scientist who has been developing a hierarchical view of
evolution from within academia, I have learned from Howard Bloom
and value him as a fellow traveler. I do not agree with everything he
<< < GO > >>
3
3
reg
arded as no more than a fanciful metaphor. Evolution is thought to
produce individuals who are designed to relentlessly pursue their own
reproductive success. Society is merely the byproduct of individual
striving and should not be regarded as an organism in its own right.
Even individuals can be decomposed into selfish genes whose only
purpose is to replicate themselves.
It is a mark of Howard Bloom's independence of thought that he
resisted the extreme reductionism that pervades modern evolutionary
biology. He believes that the Leviathan, or society as an organism, is not
a fanciful metaphor but an actual product of evolution. The Darwinian
struggle for existence has taken place among societies, as well as among
individuals within societies. We do strive as individuals but we are also
part of something larger than ourselves, with a complex physiology and
mental life that we carry out but only dimly understand. That is the
vision of evolution and human behavior found in The Lucifer Principle
and at the moment it can be found no where else.
When Howard Bloom wrote The Lucifer Principle, he studied
numerous developments taking place within the halls of academe, but
was unaware of others. Evolution is increasingly being studied as a
process that operates on a hierarchy of units. Even individual organisms
are higher level units, composed of parts that were themselves
free-living organisms in the distant past. Truly organismic societies have
evolved in insects and even some recently discovered mammal species.
As for ourselves, human society may turn out to be far more organismic
than the vast majority of evolutionary biologists imagined only a few
years ago. These discoveries are unfolding within the scientific
community, and many of them have been anticipated by Bloom.
Scientists and other Academicians might find themselves treading a path
forged by an outsider.
As a scientist who has been developing a hierarchical view of
evolution from within academia, I have learned from Howard Bloom
and value him as a fellow traveler. I do not agree with everything he
<< < GO > >>