So What Does It All Mean?

The Secrets of Life: From Big Bang to Trump

SS O'Connor

• Publisher: Otium Press
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN: 9781839786167
• Topic: Scienze biologiche
• Subtopic: Evoluzione

Why are humans neither 'good' nor 'bad'? How can so much chaos and confusion in the world actually lead to order? Why are we so often wrong when we're asked if the world's getting better?
In this, the last book in The Secrets of Life quartet, SS O'Connor pulls together the threads of genetic and cultural evolution, and then adds to these the conclusions of evolutionary game theory. As he does this, he ends with an intertwined narrative that explains why so many of the phenomena of our existence may not be the mysteries we think they are, but could in fact have the same underlying logic to them.
By examining the great currents at work in our collective story, the role that competition and cooperation have always played in the development of the world, and why each behavioural strategy is rational in what it's attempting to achieve, the book shows that the same cycles of collaboration and destruction have been present since time began.
But while the success of these strategies may ebb and flow, it is their interaction that results in the balance and order we see around us. This current is also the consistent vector of our human history.
Although we may have animal origins, and are also driven by the same need to respond to the profound Laws of Thermodynamics, we have developed our culture to the point where we can now choose to overrule so many of the instructions of our genes.
Why do we do this? What are the problems that arise from our free will? How have we come to realise that self-interest is quite different from selfishness? Why have we become obsessed with the need for fairness and trust in our societies?
And how have these forces resulted in us making the world a better place? Few of us believe this can be the case. But as the evidence of our progress becomes ever clearer, the series concludes by showing us why we are often wrong in our view of each other, and why we're so frequently mistaken in our pessimism about the future.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Copyright
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter One: So, what does it all add up to? And what might it mean?
• Chapter Two: Well, what about us humans? Are we really so special… or are we simply a slightly extended version of everything else?
• Chapter Three: If we’re still looking to pin down the reasons we’re so different from other organisms, perhaps we should take another look at our cultural evolution? What were the factors that had the greatest influence on our development?
• Chapter Four: Do game theory’s results suggest how to win in life? Are there guidelines for doing this? Or do we all know what we should be doing… but would just rather not?
• Chapter Five: If we’re such geniuses, then why are we so gloomy? And if our decision-making processes are so clever - then why aren’t we more certain about ourselves? More to the point, why do we so frequently feel as if we’re coming apart?
• Chapter Six: Do the conflicting forces at work in us mean that humans are incapable of objective analysis? Or can game theory show us whether we’re acting in our best interests… or not?
• Chapter Seven: The big lesson from the evolutionary process has always been that cooperation is the strongest force in life - and the explanation for the diversity, variety and safety nets that are so necessary for existence. This is also true in us humans. But what does it all mean for society?
• Chapter Eight: If we’re so endlessly cynical about our fellow man - and society - then how does this outlook fit in with game theory’s core message that cooperation is bound to evolve? It’s obvious that we all want to win - but is this really the way to do it?
• Chapter Nine: If symbioses and associations lead to order, then surely the best societies will be those with the most cooperative people in them? But does this mean that as long as we get rid of the defector types, we can move on to Utopia? There don’t seem to be many examples of this happening - but why not?
• Chapter Ten: If the argument is that evolution’s direction of travel has always been towards increasing levels of complexity and cooperation - and that this includes our cultural development - then why haven’t these forces led humans to make the world a better place? Instead of this, don’t we seem to be getting into an ever deeper mess?
• Chapter Eleven: Well, OK, maybe a few of the facts are encouraging… but haven’t the improvements all come from the rich countries bullying and exploiting the poorer ones into doing things their way?
• Chapter Twelve: All right… maybe the world is becoming more equal, incomes are up, birth rates are down, democracies have increased, despots are declining, people are healthier, they live longer, their children don’t die as much, women’s rights are progressively recognised and food security has improved. But isn’t everything else terrible?
• Chapter Thirteen: OK, maybe some of the world’s greatest ills are indeed being tackled… but aren’t we destroying our poor planet in the meantime?
• Chapter Fourteen: Although Ostrom-style cooperation is clearly kicking in, and collective actions are now trying to save the environment… have we left it all too late? Or could human ingenuity yet save the day?
• Chapter Fifteen: What’s the real scale of the environmental problems? How bad is it - and aren’t there things we can do to suck up the emissions and reduce the damage? And what about the world’s wildlife - is it true that we’re witnessing another mass extinction?
• Chapter Sixteen: If these books have been arguing that cooperation evolves naturally in human societies, then how is it that there seems to be so much anger and violence around these days?
• Chapter Seventeen: If our lives really have been getting so much better, easier and more secure… then why do we seem so miserable? In fact, why aren’t we all a little happier?
• Chapter Eighteen: And so, pulling everything together, is it now possible to see a direction in our evolutionary journey? Is there a logic that links the story of how life came to be on earth… and how we humans have come to prosper? If there really is, can it be summarised - even dumbed down?
• Chapter Nineteen: OK, if this long story truly hangs together… then is it possible to stick one’s neck out and suggest where the world is going?
• Acknowledgements
• Picture Credits