Scientific Publishing Synergistic Selection: How Cooperation Has Shaped Evolution and the Rise of Humankind (Evolution Biology)

Synergistic Selection is an important contribution to our understanding of evolution … An essential read at the intersection of science, inspiration, and sustainability. Michael Dowd, author of Thank God for Evolution and host of The Future Is Calling Us to Greatness A brilliant, timely, and much needed contribution. David Korten, co-founder & Board Chair of YES! Magazine and author of When Corporations Rule the World This magnificent book reveals the critical role of synergy in evolution and in all of biology, including especially in humankind. Synergy is fundamental in so many areas of science and knowledge. And in his final chapter, on how to change our current dysfunctional course as a species and avoid the destruction of our planet, Peter Corning offers us a unique and hopeful new vision. Anthony Trewavas, FRS, Emeritus Professor, Institute of Molecular Plant Science, University of Edinburgh and author of Plant Behaviour and Intelligence Peter Corning has once again given us a book that not only expertly summarizes the current state of the art in evolutionary biology, it also points the way to a compelling new understanding of how we arrived at our place in the natural world. John M Gowdy, Professor of Economics and Professor of Science and Technology Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and co-author of Paradise for Sale Peter Corning's approach is wise and he is astonishingly well read. The scope of his excellent book is broad and ambitious, running from the origins of life to modern economics in human societies. Many of his examples are described in clear and fascinating detail … He writes extremely well and I read every word with great pleasure and interest … I am full of admiration and strongly recommend it. Sir Patrick Bateson, FRS,Emeritus Professor of Biology, Cambridge University president of the Zoological Society of London and the author of (among others) Behaviour, Development and Evolution Peter Corning's new book presents a grand view of evolution and highlights the role of synergy in the accelerating complexity of our modern world. From this vantage point, he is able to cast new light on some of the major challenges of our century from economic inequality and political governance to climate change. Geoffrey Hodgson, Research Professor of Business Studies, University of Hertfordshire, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Institutional Economics and author of (among others) Conceptualizing Capitalism Nothing about the evolution of biological complexity makes sense except in the light of synergy. Peter Corning's new book is being hailed as a major contribution to what is perhaps the greatest shift in our understanding of evolution since The Origin of Species. It's a tour de force that takes us on a synergy-guided tour of the history of life. As Corning puts it, life on Earth has been a synergistic phenomenon from the get go. Corning also shows how synergy has been a key to human evolution, including the rise of complex modern societies. Cooperation may have been the vehicle, but synergy was the driver. As we now face a tipping point and another major transition in evolution, Corning offers us a synergy-based road-map to the future. One of the great take-home lessons from the epic of evolution is that cooperation produces synergy, and synergy is the way forward. The arc of evolution bends toward synergy.