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A batch of the best highlights from what Louis's read, .
Dawkins saw cultural transmission as analogous to genetic transmission and thus a mechanism of evolution in its own right. Language in particular can evolve much faster than organisms do, and nowhere is cultural transmission more important than in the form of ‘communicable’ ideas.
Darwin's Blind Spot: The Role of Living Interactions in Evolution
Frank Ryan
In reflecting upon the part played by chance in the development of new concepts, he recalled the story of the three princes of Serendip who set out to find some interesting object on a journey through their realm. They did not find the particular object of their search, but along the way they discovered many new things simply because they were looking for something.
Men, Machines, and Modern Times
Morison, Elting Elmore
It is the same logic Microsoft would follow in the 1990s, when its Windows operating system was similarly run as a partially open system. Like AT&T, Microsoft invited its enemies to connect, to take advantage of an open platform, hoping they wouldn’t notice or worry that the platform came with a spring trap. For as with Bell, once having made one’s bargain with Microsoft, there was no going back.
The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires
Tim Wu
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