July 17, 2006

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Evolution, Not Revolution

I believe the argument that Matt’s McClatchy colleague Howard Weaver makes in this post can be generalized beyond the news business:

But our change will be more lasting and better constructed if we apply the time-tested lessons of evolution and eschew the flashier but less productive posture of revolution. As we apply lessons learned from the changing climate to adapt our sturdy, battle-hardened structures, we’ll end up with operations that meet changed conditions without abandoning valuable lessons from our past.

He talks about punctuated equilibrium — the theory that evolution is not the gradual, continuous process we sometimes imagine, but actually a really fast survival response to a changed environment (e.g. meteor strike, Google).

Personally I am waiting for the equilibrium of American government to get punctuated. Viva la evolution!

P.S. Howard also links to Amazon in a way I haven’t seen before; it’s pretty cool and probably more useful than the normal book listing page.