The Darwinian Trap

The Hidden Evolutionary Forces That Explain Our World (and Threaten Our Future)

By: Kristian Rönn

Narrated by: Jamie Renell

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 Audio

Critic 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

A must read

A must read for everyone interested in AI Safety and preserving humanity and our planet: highly recommend

Full of great ideas

Why do people sometimes do bad things? Why do some corporations take actions that risk the health of the planet, or even the end of civilisation? We may blame individual people for bad behaviour, bad philosophy, bad psychology, and so on, but from another level of analysis, we should expect that kind of bad behaviour, bad philosophy, and bad psychology to continue until destructive incentives are removed from our environment.

That's the analysis in this fascinating book by Kristian Rönn. The book provides excellent insight into why individuals keep pursuing objectives that end up harming the group in which they belong - and, in time, harming themselves too.

Rönn introduces the concept of "Darwinian demon", to describe destructive incentives, but he also postulates that "Darwinian angels" can arise, which lead individuals away from behaviours that cause group-harm and ultimately self-harm.

Along the way, Rönn explains the "group selection vs. individual selection vs. gene selection" controversy in evolutionary theory. He shows how, when matters are organised appropriately, selection happens on multiple levels in parallel. This has implications for humanity today.

The book analyses three fundamental races - the race for more resources, the race for more power, and the race for more intelligence. In our present world, each of these races is poised to bring humanity to catastrophe. Can we organise Darwinian angels in time?

Rönn reviews two ways in which destructive incentives can be changed: top-down control (which, alas, involves its own risks of catastrophe) and bottom-up decentralised adoption of reputation markets (which have their own drawbacks). The best solution may be a hybrid.

The solutions suggested in the book are unlikely to be sufficient, in the form presented, but they have the great benefit of encouraging a richer discussion of this important topic.