Ecological Interactions: A Genetic and Phylogeographic Framework for Growing New Innovations
by Jonathan Minchin | Supervisor: Dennis Dollens
Contemporary analyses indicate that with our current means we have reached the limit of the earth’s carrying capacity. Exponential population growth and depleting resources are measures of the extent of our own growth and like all species; a limit is set by the ecosystems that sustain us. A case is presented here that technological innovation allowed humans to break the chains of their historic environmental limits, beginning in a significant way during the Neolithic agricultural revolution around 12,000 years ago.
Technology is understood as points of linkage; connecting human needs, environmental conditions and ecological resources. Founding the premise that like biological species, innovations are derived and evolve as a result of these factors. Natural selection has favored those species that over time adapted to the conditions and capacity of their habitats, evolving to interact in a symbiotic way. It follows then that our technologies should also adapt to conserve the habitat that provides the chance for future survival.
This study focuses on populations of innovations that have evolved evolvability, having through time adapted their ecological interactions to the limits of their habitats and resolved to form a lasting symbiosis.