Nature's Magic
Synergy in Evolution and the Fate of Humankind

This book presents a wonderfully written account of how synergy has influenced evolution, human society and technology.

Peter Corning (Author)

9780521825474, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 5 May 2003

468 pages
23.3 x 16 x 3.4 cm, 0.767 kg

Review of the hardback: 'Corning's book is a masterpeice of integrating the most far-reaching facts and theories of evolutionary biology and applying them with finesse to a variety of social phenomena … the most intriguing chapter in Nature's Magic is the last one, titled 'Conjuring the Future' … Dramatic environmental change, complex technologies, and institutions for social cohesion can destroy as well as create. Corning's final message is that if the current world system is to survive we must understand the negative as well as the positive forces of synergy … Peter Corning has written a delightful and profound book about the human species. It should be on the bookshelf of anyone interested in the exciting field of social evolution and in the possibilities for human cultural evolution in the 21st century.' Journal of Bioeconomics

Nature's Magic presents a bold vision of the evolutionary process from the Big Bang to the 21st century. Synergy of various kinds is not only a ubiquitous aspect of the natural world but it has also been a wellspring of creativity and the 'driver' of the broad evolutionary trend toward increased complexity, in nature and human societies alike. But in contrast with the many theories of emergence or complexity that rely on some underlying force or 'law', the 'Synergism Hypothesis', as Peter Corning calls it, is in essence an economic theory of biological complexity; it is fully consistent with mainstream evolutionary biology. Corning refers to it as Holistic Darwinism. Among the many important insights that are provided by this new paradigm, Corning presents a scenario in which the human species invented itself; synergistic, behavioral and technological innovations were the 'pacemakers' of our biological evolution. Synergy has also been the key to the evolution of complex modern societies, he concludes.

1. Prologue: the new evolutionary paradigm
2. The enchanted loom
3. The magic castle
4. Black magic
5. The synergism hypothesis
6. The 'Sorcerer's Apprentice'
7. Conjuring human evolution: the synergistic ape
8. Conjuring history: does cultural evolution have an 'arrow'?
9. The science of history
10. Conjuring the future: what can we predict?
Afterword
Endnotes
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Evolution [PSAJ], Biology, life sciences [PS], Popular science [PDZ]