Biologists such as Lynn Margulis and James Lovelock have argued that the driving force of evolution is not competition but co-operation. Living beings do not survive by fighting against one another, but by interaction and mutual dependence. Strictly speaking, “the survival of the fittest” does not mean the survival of the strongest or the most selfish, but the survival of those who interact most effectively. Systems theorists have shown that natural systems and organisms have an innate tendency to move towards complexity, creating structures which are more than the sum of parts. Apparent order and complexity are not created by genetic mutations, but by the innate “emergent” properties of matter.

Biologists such as Lynn Margulis and James Lovelock have argued that the driving force of evolution is not competition but co-operation. Living beings do not survive by fighting against one another, but by interaction and mutual dependence. Strictly speaking, “the survival of the fittest” does not mean the survival of the strongest or the most selfish, but the survival of those who interact most effectively. Systems theorists have shown that natural systems and organisms have an innate tendency to move towards complexity, creating structures which are more than the sum of parts. Apparent order and complexity are not created by genetic mutations, but by the innate “emergent” properties of matter.