Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- 1 Prologue: The New Evolutionary Paradigm
- 2 The “Enchanted Loom”
- 3 The Magic Castle
- 4 “Black Magic”
- 5 The Synergism Hypothesis
- 6 “The Sorcerer's Apprentice”
- 7 Conjuring Human Evolution: The Synergistic Ape
- 8 Conjuring History: Does Cultural Evolution Have an “Arrow”?
- 9 The Science of History
- 10 Conjuring the Future: What Can We Predict?
- Afterword
- Notes
- References
- Index
4 - “Black Magic”
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- 1 Prologue: The New Evolutionary Paradigm
- 2 The “Enchanted Loom”
- 3 The Magic Castle
- 4 “Black Magic”
- 5 The Synergism Hypothesis
- 6 “The Sorcerer's Apprentice”
- 7 Conjuring Human Evolution: The Synergistic Ape
- 8 Conjuring History: Does Cultural Evolution Have an “Arrow”?
- 9 The Science of History
- 10 Conjuring the Future: What Can We Predict?
- Afterword
- Notes
- References
- Index
Summary
That old black magic has me in its spell,
That old black magic that you weave so well,
Those icy fingers up and down my spine,
The same old witchcraft when your eyes meet mine …
Johnny Mercer/Harold ArlenFrom nature's chain whatever link you strike,
tenth or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike.
Alexander PopeI try hard to be punctual for appointments. It's a discipline that is ingrained from my successive careers as a naval aviator, a science journalist (Newsweek), a college professor (in Human Biology at Stanford University), and a private-sector consultant. Hence, I was acutely embarrassed recently when I was more than a half-hour late for a meeting with a visiting colleague at a hotel located in an unfamiliar nearby town. As I pulled into the hotel parking lot, it dawned on me that I had been a victim of negative synergy. No single thing was responsible; there had been a “convergence” of problems. First, I had to make an unforeseen stop for gas. Then there was an accident on the highway; traffic had slowed to a crawl. This cost me several more minutes. My friend's directions were a bit ambiguous, so I got off the highway at the wrong exit. It took me a few minutes to identify the problem, check the map, and make my way back to another highway on-ramp.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Nature's MagicSynergy in Evolution and the Fate of Humankind, pp. 77 - 102Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003