Idea

Why a book about sex?

Initially, I wanted to write a book about the evolution of matter. When I wrote my first outline for a literary agent, I realized that the subject wouldn’t fit into one book. So I had to choose. What area of evolution is the most exciting?

Should I write about

  • how the molecules came together to create something funny like life?
  • how well-equipped and well-adapted unicellular organisms merged into poorly functioning multicellular organisms?
  • why most ants don’t bother to reproduce, but work themselves to death?
  • that there is evolution in culture?
  • that there is mutation and selection in fashions, jokes and world views?

It’s all very interesting. But what to choose?

So, I had to think commercially. What is the most straightforward subject to find a publisher for? Exactly! So, a book about sex. But actually, it didn’t become a book about sex at all, but a book about how we have been formed by sex and evolution, about how the history of sex has shaped our bodies and our brains. The working title for a long time was: “What Sexuality Made of Us”. (What do you think of when you see the two harmless pears?)

Why a book about evolution?

The book was originally intended to be a book about the evolution of matter. Why a book about the evolution of matter?

Just as you cannot fully understand chemistry unless you understand the physical particles – the atoms – you cannot truly understand culture unless you understand the biological particles – the people.

We want a just, peaceful, prosperous, free and sustainable society. Societies are made up of power structures, a plethora of ideas, and people. Power structures, ideas and people are shaped by evolution – by the evolution of power structures, by the evolution of ideas and by the evolution of people. If you want to understand and influence societies, you have to deal with all three evolutionary histories.

Projects

Ideas for future books:
In progress: Mind is Matter Too – The Origin of Species and the Ontology of Mind – Life, Consciousness, and Civilization as a Thermodynamic Special Case
Mind is Matter: The Derivation of the Concepts of Data, Information and Information Processing from Thermodynamics and Physics.
The Evolution of Information in Culture. The evolution of jokes, fashions, views, structures and societies.
Emergences – the emergence of higher complex forms of matter and culture through self-organization. The evolution of matter from the Big Bang to the evolution of dust and life to ant colonies and human hordes.
How art, humor and language evolved. How evolution created our cultural brain.
What is society?
What drives change in society and culture?

My dream: A thick, color illustrated book about the evolution of arthropods (spiders, crabs, insects, etc.).