Blind Variation and Selective Retention in Knowledge

Starting in the 1950s, Popperian Donald Campbell developed a theory of "evolutionary epistemology" (coining that term in the process) that expanded Karl Popper’s ideas about scientific knowledge and learning into the natural world.

Campbell intended a universal theory of how 'all increases in fit of system to environment' work based on a meta-algorithm (or class of algorithms sharing certain features) he called blind-variation-and-selective-retention. Could it be that nature creates knowledge through processes analogous to biological natural selection? How far reaching is Popper’s theory? Could this be how cultures create knowledge? Perhaps this even has cosmological implications. Is this just how the universe works?

And what did Karl Popper think of Campbell's evolutionary epistemology?

This episode attempts to summarize two of Campbell's less available papers on the subject as a resource for critical rationalists.

In future podcasts we'll challenge Campbell's views and also discuss the myriad of possible interpretations of his theory as well as the CritRat communities response to his theory.