The Gambling Animal: Humanitys Evolutionary Winning Streak - and How We Risk It All

(Hardback, Main)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Evolution is a series of bets and no animal gambles the way humans do. This has led us to unprecedented ecological dominance, via the steepest odds and unlikeliest of outcomes. But our winning streak cuts both ways: the secret to our success may yet be our downfall.Ever since evolution accelerated our species away from all other living things on earth, we have existed outside our evolutionary comfort zone. This allowed us to continue moving into new ecological niches, and eventually take over the world. But it also bred a whole host of ills.Join economists Don Ross and Glenn Harrison for a profoundly unsettling account of human exceptionalism, and a revelatory retelling of the human story. Drawing on their own research into the risk psychology of humans and other animals - including our most impressive rivals, elephants - they reveal the hidden logic of our rise. Even before the dawn of civilisation, we bet the Earth on our ability to keep doubling down. It is time we finally understood the odds.

Reviews

'Praise for Every Thing Must Go: Metaphysics Naturalised (with James Ladyman):

A book can be important, although its main claims seem to the reader to be as controversial at the end of the book as they were at the beginning ... So it is with Every Thing Must Go ... An enticing work' - Jeremy Butterfield

'Ross's broadside against traditional analytic metaphysics embodies the most admirable characteristics of a good slap across the face: it is forceful, frank, and delivered in response to sufficient provocation' - P. Kyle Stanford, author

Author Bio

Don Ross is the head of the School of Society, Politics and Ethics at University College Cork, Ireland, Professor of Economics at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and the Program Director for Methodology at the Center for Economic Analysis of Risk at Georgia State University. His research focuses on the foundations of economic theory, and the psychology of addiction, risk, and time preference.Glenn Harrison is professor of risk management and Director of the Center for the Economic Analysis of Risk at Georgia State University. He also consults for bodies including the World Bank, the Swedish and Danish governments, the E.P.A., the Australian Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, and governments suing tobacco and drug companies in the U.S. and Canada.