“In history and in evolution, progress is always a futile, Sisyphean struggle to stay in the same relative place by getting ever better at things. Cars move through the congested streets of London no faster than horse-drawn carriages did a… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
“This concept, that all progress is relative, has come to be known in biology by the name of the Red Queen, after a chess piece that Alice meets in Through the Looking-Glass, who perpetually runs without getting very far because… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
I felt cheated by the way grown-ups told me that the future of the world was bleak when I became a teenager in the… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
“If you attend a meeting of evolutionary biologists somewhere in America, you might be lucky and spot a tall, gray-whiskered, smiling man bearing a… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
“Merchants and craftsmen make prosperity; chiefs, priests and thieves fritter it away.” — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
At some point, human intelligence became collective and cumulative in a way that happened to no other animal. — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
We consciously decide whether to consider people; we fall in love despite ourselves; we entirely fail to fall in love with people who fall… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
It's terrifying the way molecular biology has become more and more jargon ridden. But I strongly believe that my book can be read by… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
“The gene contains a single 'word', repeated over and over again: CAG, CAG, CAG, CAG ... The repetition continues sometimes just six times, sometimes… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
“If you think being descended from apes is bad for your self esteem, then get used to the idea that you are also descended… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
Government can encourage innovation, but mainly by doing less, not doing more. — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
Note even Jonathan Swift would dare to write a satire in which politicians argued that - in a world where species are vanishing and… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
The evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in 1976 coined the term ‘meme’ for a unit of cultural imitation. — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
This idea holds out hope that the human race will prosper mightily in the years ahead-because ideas are having sex with each other as… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
“Well, in OUR country,’ said Alice, still panting a little, ‘you’d generally get to somewhere else—if you ran very fast for a long time,… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
“Far from being choosy, female primates seemed to be initiators of much promiscuity. Hrdy began to suggest that there was something wrong with the… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
Every minute, every second, the pattern of genes being expressed in your brain changes, often in direct or indirect response to events outside the… — Matt Ridley Copy Share Image
