Children of Time
An epic tale of evolution, featuring uplifted spiders developing civilization over millennia
"We are climbing the ladder evolution left us."
— Adrian Tchaikovsky
My Review
The best science fiction exploration of evolution and emergence I've encountered. Watching spider society evolve through accelerated generations illuminates how intelligence and cooperation can emerge from simple selection pressures. Fiction that teaches biology better than most textbooks.
Why It Matters
This novel dramatizes evolutionary concepts - variation, selection, adaptation, emergence - more effectively than most textbooks. It's a powerful demonstration of how selection pressure shapes intelligence and society.
Key Ideas
- Evolution can produce radically different but equally valid forms of intelligence
- Cooperation emerges from selection pressure, not intention
- Cultural inheritance can evolve faster than genetic inheritance
- Path dependence shapes the form intelligence takes
How It Connects to This Framework
The concepts of emergence, evolution, and adaptive intelligence throughout the framework. Fiction that illuminates biology.
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The full Biology of Business book explores these concepts in depth with practical frameworks.