The Social Conquest of EarthFrom the most celebrated heir to Darwin comes a groundbreaking book on evolution, the summa work of Edward O. Wilson's legendary career. Where did we come from? What are we? Where are we going? In a generational work of clarity and passion, one of our greatest living scientists directly addresses these three fundamental questions of religion, philosophy, and science while “overturning the famous theory that evolution naturally encourages creatures to put family first” (Discover magazine). Refashioning the story of human evolution in a work that is certain to generate headlines, Wilson draws on his remarkable knowledge of biology and social behavior to show that group selection, not kin selection, is the primary driving force of human evolution. He proves that history makes no sense without prehistory, and prehistory makes no sense without biology. Demonstrating that the sources of morality, religion, and the creative arts are fundamentally biological in nature, Wilson presents us with the clearest explanation ever produced as to the origin of the human condition and why it resulted in our domination of the Earth’s biosphere. |
Contents
Why Does Advanced Social Life Exist? | 5 |
How Social Insects Conquered | 107 |
Inventions That Advanced the Social Insects | 120 |
THE FORCES OF SOCIAL EVOLUTION | 131 |
The Scientific Dilemma of Rarity | 133 |
Insect Altruism and Eusociality Explained | 139 |
Insects Take the Giant Leap | 148 |
How Natural Selection Creates Social Instincts | 158 |
How Culture Evolved | 212 |
The Origins of Language | 225 |
The Evolution of Cultural Variation | 236 |
The Origins of Morality and Honor | 241 |
The Origins of Religion | 255 |
The Origins of the Creative Arts | 268 |
WHERE ARE WE GOING? | 285 |
A New Enlightenment | 287 |
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Academy of Sciences Africa allele altruism ancestors animals ants australopithecines bees Bert Hölldobler biological biologists birds bonobos brain breakout chimpanzees cognition colony color complex cooperation create cultural evolution dominance early Edward environment epigenetic epigenetic rules eusocial insects evidence evolution of eusociality evolutionary evolved example existence favor forest Gauguin gene-culture coevolution genes genetic genome group selection hominid Homo erectus Homo sapiens human nature hunter-gatherers hunting incest inclusive fitness inclusive-fitness theory individual selection Insect Societies instinct kin selection language learning least living mammals mate Michael Tomasello million years ago modern humans mutations National Academy natural selection Neanderthals nest occurred offspring organization origin of eusociality Paleolithic percent population preadaptations prehumans primitively eusocial Proceedings queen religions reproduction social behavior social evolution social insects solitary species spread Superorganism termites territory tion traits trees tribe variation visual wasps Westermarck effect Wilson workers