Conservative evolution, sustainability, and culture

Abstract

In his article "Conservative Evolution, Sustainability, and Culture" Gábor Náray-Szabó argues that evolution is conservative in the sense that throughout the history of the universe old constructs like elementary particles, amino acids, and living cells remained conserved while the world evolved/evolves in complexity. A similar process can be observed in cultural evolution as components of society and culture continue to evolve. Considering the increasing pressure on natural resources by material consumption, a close alliance between past, present, and future generations is unavoidable and thus Náray-Szabó posits that concepts of conservative evolution and sustainability are related. However, in order to avoid blind alleys of evolution to be recognized easier and faster, material consumption should be reduced and instead of continuous economic growth, the increase of complexity should be sustained: the best frame for such a transition would be an ecosocial market economy tied to culture in general. © Purdue University.