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Matt Ridley: When ideas have sex


alee228

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Ridley starts with the simple observation that exchanging one object for another is an activity unique to human beings. The implications of this are quite profound.

People trade because it allows them to save time and labour, and the ability to trade means that people tend to specialise in providing certain types of goods or services. The ability to specialise and trade allows people to compete, and competition encourages people to develop new technology and ideas.

Trading goods and services which embody new technology allows everyone to benefit it. As each new innovation becomes available in the market people have the ability to improve upon it or to create a completely new innovation which then competes in the market with the old one.

Over time, human society evolves as the most useful ideas survive and the older less useful ones die out.

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