The application of Darwin's core principles—variation, heredity, and differential survival—explicitly to communities as super-organisms. It argues that environmental pressures (climate, war, economic competition) naturally select for communities with the most adaptive bundles of institutions, technologies, and social norms. Communities that fail to adapt disintegrate or are absorbed. This frames history as the natural selection of social organisms.
Community Natural Selection Theory Example: Ancient Mesopotamian city-states that developed writing and codified law (adaptive traits) outcompeted and absorbed neighboring tribal societies that relied on oral tradition. Their social "organism" was more fit for complex administration and trade. This Community Natural Selection led to the dominance of a new, more complex community form.
by Dumuabzu February 5, 2026
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