The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge

Atheist Evolutionary Predestined Libertarianism. That pretty much sums up the Ridley's principles. He is advocating the opposite of the "great man" view of history. Everything was destined to happen. Some people may slow progress through their interventions, but can do little to help things along. The best course of action is for government and culture to get out of the way and let things happen. 

Areas that have the most government involvement (such as education and healthcare) tend to stagnate, with cost going up without significant innovation. The background on education is quite interesting. Private education was taking off in a big way in the United States. However, people saw what was going on in Prussia and decided that would be a good model. (The Prussians were upset about the condition of their troops, so they wanted to train them to be high quality conformists ready to fight.) This manner of education continues to serve as our basic model. When asking for funding, the education establishment will bring about the need to teach people basic skills. However, that could be carried out much more effectively for a small fraction of the cost. What public education really provides is indoctrination. The goal is for students to have the appropriate beliefs that the current establishment desires. The education institutions also have a vested interest in protecting their jobs and continue their rent seeking behavior. Instead of keeping the ossified structure in place, we should let it continue to evolve to better provide for students. (Even formal private education is often over-regulated today.)

There are often many bad policies put in place as the elite tries to "help" others like the poor. They assume that they know what other people need and want, so they mandate it, rather than let things evolve. Zoning regulations were put in place to separate living conditions from jobs. Parking requirements, floor area ratios and other regulations were put in place to provide ideal living conditions. Isn't it ironic, they people still flock to live in old parts of cities that did not adhere to those regulations? If we just let things evolve, some might be that way. But others would not. Government gets in the way. We try to guess how things will turn out, but really only slow things down. Children are most influences by their genes and their peers. I guess that gives parents a role in picking a location for their peers. But, most of the future will just "evolve".