Material Cultural Evolution: An Interview with Niles Eldredge

Abstract

This article is the edited version of a discussion that took place between Professor Niles Eldredge and Belinda Barnet in March 2004. Niles is one of the world's most accomplished scientific thinkers in the field of evolutionary biology, and in this discussion he relates his ideas on the mechanisms for change in material cultural systems for a lay audience. The utility of comparing material cultural and biological systems is also discussed, and opportunities opened for further cross-disciplinary discussion between the social sciences and evolutionary biology.

Keywords

• evolutionary biology and technology
• cornets