Brett: Popper’s book is called “Objective Knowledge,” and it’s subtitled “An Evolutionary Approach.” And that’s no accident, either. The

Genetic Evolution Was a Prelude to Mimetic Evolution

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2021-10-20 17:00:04

Brett: Popper’s book is called “Objective Knowledge,” and it’s subtitled “An Evolutionary Approach.” And that’s no accident, either. There’s a symmetry between the theory of epistemology and the theory of evolution as we understand it.

Before we understood what is known as the Darwinian theory of evolution, the only idea that people had was that these entities had to be created. All the plants and animals that you see around you had to be created by a creator. There was no other explanatory mechanism.

Some people came up with the idea of gradual change over time. Lamarck was one. The reason why giraffes have long necks is that their ancestors had slightly shorter necks, so they tried to stretch their necks to reach the leaves they couldn’t reach. 

But again, there was no mechanism for this beyond the fact that an individual goes off to the gymnasium and works on their biceps and their biceps get a little bigger over time. Although you can work out in the gym and increase the size of your biceps, that doesn’t mean your children are going to inherit those characteristics.

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