ABSTRACT

What this metaphor helps to obfuscate is the quite sharp difference between these two types of systems. First, there are the self-organizing living systems that survive effectively because of a fit with the external environment based on past processes of variation and selective retention, which are wholly blind. On the other hand, modern human adaptive systems possess a supplementary, rational, preselective mechanism that is clearly purposive, in terms of intentions to modify environmental adaptations in complex ways. These purposive intentions are accompanied by the technological expertise needed to succeed sometimes in implementing these intended modifications. So far, this contrast has not been taken account of adequately in the formulation of theories of cultural ecology or of cultural evolution.