Douglas H. Erwin, "The Origins of the New: Novelty and Innovation in the History of Life, Culture, and Technology" (Princeton UP, 2026)

About this episode

Douglas H. Erwin discusses his book 'The Origins of the New', exploring the concepts of novelty and innovation across biology, culture, and technology.

The Origins of the New (Princeton University Press, 2026) presents a revolutionary approach to evolutionary success in all realms of life. In this groundbreaking book, Douglas Erwin takes readers on a dazzling excursion across science and history to explore how evolution generates new and enduring features in biology, culture, and technology.Erwin begins by tracing how thinkers from Darwin’s time to the present day have sought to discover the driving mechanisms of evolutionary novelty. He then lays out compelling empirical evidence for separating novelty from innovation, showing that novelty involves the emergence of unique characteristics, while innovation concerns the success of those characteristics over time. Erwin develops a unifying conceptual framework for these powerful dynamics, demonstrating how they have shaped everything from the evolution of avian feathers and flight to the creation of human language and the breathtaking advances in digital computing we’re witnessing today.A landmark work that redefines our understanding of the changes happening all around us, The Origins of the New reveals how the forces of novelty and innovation are the same across nature and…

People in this episode

Guest: Douglas H. Erwin

Topics covered

• evolutionary biology
• novelty and innovation
• history of life
• cultural evolution
• technology advancements

Keywords

• evolution
• novelty
• innovation
• biology
• culture
• technology
• Darwin
• empirical evidence
• digital computing

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Princeton University Press, Santa Fe Institute, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

Books & works: The Origins of the New

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