The Darwinian Trap
The Hidden Evolutionary Forces That Explain Our World (and Threaten Our Future)
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Narrated by:
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Jamie Renell
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By:
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Kristian Rönn
About this listen
A provocative exploration of how humans are wired to seek short-term success at the expense of long-term survival—an evolutionary “glitch” that explains everything from toxic workplaces to climate change
“Essential reading . . . a lively, ultimately hopeful examination of how incentivizing the wrong values and actions has led to some of our most intractable problems.”—Eric Ries, New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Startup
When people talk about today’s biggest challenges—pollution, misinformation, artificial intelligence, inept CEOs, and politicians—they tend to frame the conversation around “bad people” doing “bad things.” But is there more to the story?
Humans, it turns out, are intrinsically wired to seek short-term success at the expense of long-term prosperity. Kristian Rönn, an entrepreneur formerly affiliated with the University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute, calls these deeply rooted impulses “Darwinian demons.” These forces, a by-product of natural selection, can lead us to act in shortsighted ways that harm others—and even imperil our survival as a species. If this evolutionary glitch is left unchecked, the consequences will grow in magnitude as the power of technology accelerates.
In this eye-opening work, Rönn shows that we must learn to cooperate in new ways if we are to escape these evolutionary traps in our daily lives and solve our biggest existential threats. Evolution may be to blame for the trap—but humans need not fall for it. Our salvation, he writes, will involve the creation of new systems that understand, track, and manage what humankind values most.
Bold, brilliant, and ultimately optimistic, The Darwinian Trap gives listeners a powerful new lens on our world and its problems, and invites us to rethink our priorities for the sake of generations to come.
* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF containing charts, graphs, and diagrams.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2024 Kristian Rönn (P)2024 Random House AudioCritic reviews
“Kristian Rönn has written a vital and inspiring book, one that has the potential to break the spiral of self-interest. The Darwinian Trap is a must-read for anyone who cares about our collective future.”—Chris Anderson, head of TED and author of Infectious Generosity
“This is a timely and engaging exploration of why division makes humanity fall short of its potential, and of how and why we must collaborate to secure a more humane future.”—Max Tegmark, author of Life 3.0 and Our Mathematical Universe
“How can we recalibrate society’s reward function to align with what humans intrinsically value? From addressing climate change to regulating artificial intelligence, Kristian Rönn stands out as one of the world’s most insightful thinkers. In this panoramic book, Rönn makes a compelling case that by focusing on objectives that are too narrow, we risk undermining our collective future. Agree or disagree, The Darwinian Trap is unmissable.”—Carl Benedikt Frey, associate professor of AI and work, Oxford University
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Story
Your body contains a symphony of tiny timepieces, synchronized to the sun and subtle signals in your environment and behavior. But modern insults like artificial light, contrived time zones, and late-night meals can wreak havoc on your internal clocks. Armed with advances in biology and technology, a circadian renaissance is reclaiming those lost rhythms. The Inner Clock explores the emerging science and its transformative applications: How could taking a walk in the morning and going to bed at the same time each night keep your body in sync?
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a must read!
- By Amazon Customer on 11-07-24
By: Lynne Peeples
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Waves in an Impossible Sea
- How Everyday Life Emerges from the Cosmic Ocean
- By: Matt Strassler
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In Waves in an Impossible Sea, physicist Matt Strassler tells a startling tale of elementary particles, human experience, and empty space. He begins with a simple mystery of motion. When we drive at highway speeds with the windows down, the wind beats against our faces. Yet our planet hurtles through the cosmos at 150 miles per second, and we feel nothing of it. How can our voyage be so tranquil when, as Einstein discovered, matter warps space, and space deflects matter? The answer, Strassler reveals, is that empty space is a sea, albeit a paradoxically strange one.
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Thought provoking
- By Lee Ann Moyer on 12-09-24
By: Matt Strassler
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Abortion
- Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win
- By: Jessica Valenti
- Narrated by: Jessica Valenti
- Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In her most urgent book yet, New York Times bestselling author Jessica Valenti shines a light on the conservative assault on women’s freedom, cutting through the misinformation and overwhelm to inform, engage, and enrage. From the attacks Americans know about to the ones anti-abortion lawmakers and groups are trying to hide, Valenti details the tactics and horrors that she’s been painstakingly tracking in her acclaimed newsletter, Abortion, Every Day.
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Incredible
- By Morgan G on 12-20-24
By: Jessica Valenti
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Memento Mori
- The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life
- By: Joanna Ebenstein
- Narrated by: Joanna Ebenstein
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Talking about death has been deemed morbid, taboo, or even pathological. But in order to fully embrace life, scientists, psychologists, and spiritual leaders all agree—contemplating death is the key to living a life with meaning. This life-changing book will give you a 12-week program to befriend death in your own way, creating your own personal, daily meditation on what it means to be mortal.
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Enlightening
- By Brian Emerson on 12-23-24
By: Joanna Ebenstein
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The Demon-Haunted World
- Science as a Candle in the Dark
- By: Carl Sagan
- Narrated by: Cary Elwes, Seth MacFarlane
- Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don’t understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? Pulitzer Prize-winning author and distinguished astronomer Carl Sagan argues that scientific thinking is critical not only to the pursuit of truth but to the very well-being of our democratic institutions.
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Some good points, but not a great book
- By William Jenks on 07-25-19
By: Carl Sagan
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The Grand Biocentric Design
- How Life Creates Reality
- By: Robert Lanza, Matej Pavšič
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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What is consciousness? Why are we here? Where did it all come from - the laws of nature, the stars, the universe? Humans have been asking these questions forever, but science hasn't succeeded in providing many answers - until now. In The Grand Biocentric Design, Robert Lanza, one of Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People", is joined by theoretical physicist Matej Pavšic and astronomer Bob Berman to shed light on the big picture that has long eluded philosophers and scientists alike.
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Should be in the fiction section.
- By Frank on 12-29-20
By: Robert Lanza, and others