The Darwinian Trap: The Hidden Evolutionary Forces That Explain Our World

by Kristian Rönn

A provocative exploration of how humans are wired to seek short-term success at the expense of long-term survival—an evolutionary "glitch” that explains everything from toxic workplaces to climate change

When people talk about today’s biggest challenges—pollution, misinformation, artificial intelligence, inept CEOs, and politicians—they tend to frame the conversation around “bad people” doing “bad things.” But is there more to the story?

Humans, it turns out, are intrinsically wired to seek short-term success at the expense of long-term prosperity. Kristian Rönn, an entrepreneur formerly affiliated with the University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute, calls these deeply rooted impulses “Darwinian demons.” These forces, a by-product of natural selection, can lead us to act in shortsighted ways that harm others—and even imperil our survival as a species. Left unchecked, the consequences of this evolutionary glitch will grow in magnitude as the power of technology accelerates.

In this eye-opening work, Rönn shows that we must learn to cooperate in new ways if we are to escape these evolutionary traps in our daily lives and solve our biggest existential threats. Evolution may be to blame for the trap—but humans need not fall for it. Our salvation, he writes, will involve the creation of new systems that understand, track, and manage what humankind values most.

Bold, brilliant, and ultimately optimistic, The Darwinian Trap gives readers a powerful new lens on our world and its problems, and invites us to rethink our priorities for the sake of generations to come.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Philosophy, Politics, Audiobook, Evolution, Society

293 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 24, 2024

About the author

Kristian Rönn is the CEO and co-founder of Normative, a software tool for sustainability accounting. He has a background in mathematics, philosophy, computer science, and artificial intelligence. Before he started Normative, he worked at the University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute on issues related to global catastrophic risks.

Reviews

[Hampus Jakobsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are many "Evolutionary Traps"—slippery slopes where things get worse because short-term incentives drive us all there. Look at food, which is getting less healthy as it is getting "tastier." As fewer and fewer cook and yet fewer grow/produce, we lose "literacy" and create a more opaque system. Price, convenience, and "primitive drives" are hyper-aligned, but the long-term effects are detrimental. How can we get out of it when we "don't want to get out of it?"

Kristian Rönn has worked with aligning corporates with the climate crisis as a CEO of a startup and has also been very active in the AI alignment community for years. With The Darwinian Trap, he explains how these traps can be more dangerous, especially given different tipping points.

With the food system, the effect is just a slippery slope of health, mental illness, obesity, and diabetes, but it is a slope - with the climate crisis and AI, there are events we can't reverse (or at least it would be very hard and take a lot of time.) But corporate greed, politicians fighting to get elected, and other things mean we're sliding towards a precarious place.

I love so many things about the book, but sadly, I don't believe in Kristian's proposed solutions. The solution, according to the book, is to create a "meta market and meta governance"—creating a "stock exchange of alignment" and awarding entities that are long-term aligned with humanity's health. (To clarify, I don't have better suggestions and have felt dystopic about this for years.)

I think the topic should be discussed way more, and ideally not only in "intellectual forums" but in the agora of the world. Thank you, Kristian, for writing this easy-to-read and enjoyable contribution.

[Kindra · Rating 3 out of 5]

With the current political climate in particular, after Trumps re-election, this was just far too depressing to finish.

It was an interesting topic, and while I did enjoy reading the first half, after the first half it just continued in the doomsday and death and destruction are unavoidable progression.

Which to be fair is it’s whole premise essentially, and it’s not a surprise. I just became fatigued and burdened by the topic, especially as the current American politics seem to be running headfirst into all of these paths of destruction he outlines.

So I skipped ahead to the last chapter after reading 3/4 of the book, entitled something like “what we can do”. And the grand conclusion, after introducing so many topics of certain doom for the human race, was: vote, and shop conscientiously/intentionally.

Which, while I completely agree with those suggestions, just felt like an enormous let down. So perhaps if I’m feeling more hopeful for the state of humanity I may return, but I doubt it. It was just too depressing for me.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Darwinian Trap is one of those rare books that doesn’t just inform, it transforms. Reading it felt like putting on a new set of glasses, suddenly seeing the world in sharper focus. Kristian Rönn’s exploration of how our evolutionary instincts drive short-term gains at the expense of our future survival on earth mind-blowing. It connects seemingly disparate global challenges—climate change, the AI arms race, misinformation, and the science replication crisis, into a cohesive framework that reveals the root cause of so many modern crises. This book doesn’t just analyze problems; it offers profound insights into how we can escape these evolutionary traps and build a better future. Highly recommended for anyone who loves to have their worldview challenged and expanded.

[Martin Smedjeback · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Darwinian Trap offers numerous relevant examples of how we humans are ill-equipped to handle the large-scale, far-reaching dangers that lie ahead. Our evolution on the savanna has prepared us well to react to immediate and close threats, like a lion attacking our family. However, we struggle to manage slow-moving crises, such as climate change, or potential existential risks like superintelligent AI. Fortunately, our brains may offer a solution. We have the ability to reflect on our shortcomings and can potentially build systems to compensate for our inadequacies.

Having read or listened to many books on the gravest dangers facing humanity, I’ve grown increasingly concerned about how our species will survive the coming decades. However, most of these books fall short in offering effective remedies to our dire situation. That’s where The Darwinian Trap stands out. The author suggests creating a reputation system to incentivize companies that prioritize safety and cooperation. Still, he acknowledges that this alone likely won’t suffice, which is why regulation of the most dangerous technologies is also necessary.

A world government, or at least a powerful international political body, could be invaluable in addressing these risks. While I agree with this, I doubt whether we can establish such a system in time. The author notes how countries within the EU willingly cede power to international bodies because it benefits them all, but could we create something similar on a global scale with enough authority to mitigate our shared dangers? I’m unsure, especially in the current political climate, but I greatly appreciate that The Darwinian Trap sparks a serious conversation about how humanity must evolve to tackle our most pressing issues for the future of our existence.

[Kindra McRobbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

With the current political climate in particular, after Trumps re-election, this was just far too depressing to finish.

It was an interesting topic, and while I did enjoy reading the first half, after the first half it just continued in the doomsday and death and destruction are unavoidable progression.

While to be fair is its whole premise essentially, and it’s not a surprise. I just became fatigues and burdened by the topic, especially as the current American politics seem to be running headfirst into all of these paths of destruction he outlines.

So I skipped ahead to the last chapter after reading 3/4 of the book, entitled something like “what we can do”. And the grand conclusion, after introducing so many topics of certain doom for the human race was: vote, and shop conscientiously/intentionally.

Which, while I completely agree with those suggestions, just felt like an enormous let down. So perhaps if I’m feeling more hopeful for the state of humanity I may return, but I doubt it. It was just too depressing for me.

[Andrea Wenger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book argues that our biggest challenges are rooted in evolutionary instincts to seek short-term gain. To escape this trap, we must learn to cooperate and create systems that prioritize long-term values.

This book is full of interesting stories and insightful arguments. Ultimately, though, I’m not sure I accept the premise. Indigenous groups often use long-term strategies to ensure sustainability. Short-term thinking may be more a result of capitalism and colonialism than human evolution.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Cf · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a time when discussions around AI and global governance are heating up, The Darwinian Trap couldn’t be more timely. Rönn's analysis of the "evolutionary glitch" that drives us toward short-term success at the expense of long-term survival is both eye-opening and hopeful. The proposed decentralized governance model is bold, innovative, and exactly what the world needs right now.

[Bernd Schnabl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing new ... prisoners's dilemma and the tragedy of the commons

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review to come...

[Scott Bolick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book wasn't what I was expecting but overall I enjoyed it. The author has a very optimistic view of human nature, but the processes they lay out are interesting and worth thinking about.

[David W. W. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why do people sometimes do bad things? Why do some corporations take actions that risk the health of the planet, or even the end of civilisation? We may blame individual people for bad behaviour, bad philosophy, bad psychology, and so on, but from another level of analysis, we should expect that kind of bad behaviour, bad philosophy, and bad psychology to continue until destructive incentives are removed from our environment.

That's the analysis in this fascinating book by Kristian Rönn. The book provides excellent insight into why individuals keep pursuing objectives that end up harming the group in which they belong - and, in time, harming themselves too.

Rönn introduces the concept of "Darwinian demon", to describe destructive incentives, but he also postulates that "Darwinian angels" can arise, which lead individuals away from behaviours that cause group-harm and ultimately self-harm.

Along the way, Rönn explains the "group selection vs. individual selection vs. gene selection" controversy in evolutionary theory. He shows how, when matters are organised appropriately, selection happens on multiple levels in parallel. This has implications for humanity today.

The book analyses three fundamental races - the race for more resources, the race for more power, and the race for more intelligence. In our present world, each of these races is poised to bring humanity to catastrophe. Can we organise Darwinian angels in time?

Rönn reviews two ways in which destructive incentives can be changed: top-down control (which, alas, involves its own risks of catastrophe) and bottom-up decentralised adoption of reputation markets (which have their own drawbacks). The best solution may be a hybrid.

The solutions suggested in the book are unlikely to be sufficient, in the form presented, but they have the great benefit of encouraging a richer discussion of this important topic.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some really novel ideas that I had not come across. Loved the read

[Julian Blanc · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book, or one of the books, I would’ve wanted to write.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Appears to be part of a marketing campaign for the author's good boy certification software.

[Mary Argetsvell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an engaging look at applications of ideas like "survival of the fittest" beyond biology. Rönn tackled familiar concepts like the prisoners dilema and the tragedy of the commons while likening them to the origins and changes within life. There were an abundance of strong examples along the way and some analogies that fit better than others.

Overall, this book flowed well and covered difficult concepts in an accessible way. My only complaint was that some of the suggested solutions to overcoming the problems stated within, were excellent in theory, but seemed completely unachieveable out in the world.