Tag Archives: evolution

Art & Evolution; Dennis Dutton’s “The Art Instinct”

By | May 1, 2009

I recently listened to this interview with Denis Dutton on Bloggingheads.tv about his new book “The Art Instinct“. I haven’t read the book, so I can’t comment on it in detail, but I can definitely tell I want to read it. The basic premise is that the art can be explained in evolutionary terms as… Read More »

Concerning the origin of games

By | January 9, 2009

Like most things, games evolve. Modifications arise over time, sometimes by design, sometimes casually – examples include deliberate design, house rules, misinterpretation, and our innate tendency to search for parsimony and avoid unnecessary complexity. Since game designs are socially transmitted between both players and designers, and elements of game design can be recombined to form… Read More »

Evolution as medicine

By | May 23, 2008

Recently, I’ve encountered two ways in which evolutionary principles can be applied to medicine. Rather than using brute force to kill pathogens, these are more subtle, systemic approaches. Viruses and bacteria evolve, just like all other living creatures. The difference is that they do it really fast. This means we can use evolution as a… Read More »