Social Justice in our DNA?

Tim Flannery, author of Here on Earth and The Weather Makers, explains why he thinks Darwin’s theory of evolution points to the development cooperative social systems like ant colonies, cockroach agriculture, and human cities — what he calls “intelligent super-organisms”.

Others, like Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene, see “Survival of the Fittest” as justification for unfettered, and uncaring, competition. Flannery points out that the actual legacy of evolution, the world we live in today, is made up of highly complex, species interdependent, bio-systems. And, that it is social consciousness, with the evolution of ideas and the technology, that is actually driving us forward.

Interview by Allan Gregg. Watch the whole thing, or start at minute 4:12 to see the discussion of evolution as a story of “extraordinary collaboration, cooperation and co-evolution”.