The Age of Design

Abstract

In this final chapter I want to turn to human ecosystems and to those aspects of evolution which man now can take into his own hands. The issue of predictability becomes one of practical importance. I shall argue that the basic trends which obtain in prehuman ecosystems hold as well in ecosystems dominated by humans, and that they hold with greater force due to guiding ideas about prediction, planning, and efficiency which are unsound from the standpoint of adaptability. In considering this question I draw out some lines of contact between the theory already developed and economics. It is evident that the problem of economic adaptability has many special features to which a single section of a single chapter could never do justice. But I believe that viewing an economy as a part of the ecosystem process and treating the problem of economic adaptability as a component of ecosystem adaptability are most suitably begun here.