New Books in Science

Mark Vellend, "Everything Evolves: Why Evolution Explains More than We Think, from Proteins to Politics" (Princeton UP, 2025)

Sep 27, 2025
Mark Vellend, a biology professor and author of *Everything Evolves*, dives into how evolution shapes all aspects of existence, from the tiniest microbes to massive societal structures. He introduces the concept of 'Second Science', blending evolutionary theory with physics to uncover universal patterns. Vellend discusses how evolutionary principles inform advances in AI and genetic engineering, and critiques the narrow focus on Darwinian narratives. With a sweeping examination of cultural and biological evolution, he presents an enlightening guide to understanding our world.
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INSIGHT

Two Sciences Explain Everything

  • Evolution (the 'second science') complements physics by explaining how complex things arise over time under physical constraints.
  • Physics sets constraints while evolution sets the rules that generate complexity in biology and culture.
INSIGHT

Physics Constrains; Evolution Explains

  • Physical laws constrain what is possible but do not explain the stepwise emergence of pizza, language, or blue whales over time.
  • Evolutionary processes explain how complex, historically contingent forms arise within those physical constraints.
INSIGHT

Ideas Flowed Into And Out Of Biology

  • Evolutionary ideas predate Darwin in fields like linguistics and economics and influenced early biological thinking.
  • After Darwin, the flow reversed: biological evolution was then applied broadly to culture and technology.
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