Matt Ridley
Matt Ridley
Matthew White Ridley, 5th Viscount Ridley DL FRSL FMedSci, known commonly as Matt Ridley, is a British journalist who has written several popular science books. He is also a businessman and a Conservative member of the House of Lords...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth7 February 1958
enable inch wide
I thought journalism would enable me to be a mile wide and an inch deep.
anytime coming convinced imagine lived
I can't imagine not coming back to New Orleans, ... We've lived here all of our lives, and we don't take it for granted. We don't know how long it's going to be before we have to make this choice. We're pretty convinced that we're not coming back anytime real soon.
changed fast life people society species
If people are all the same underneath, how has society changed so fast and so radically? Life now is completely different to how it was 32,000 years ago. It's changed like that of no other species has. What's made that difference?
means
I opted for a freelance writing career. I was lucky enough to have the means to do it.
bound faster mate meet
Nowadays, ideas can meet and mate very much faster than before, and the Internet is only accelerating this process. So innovation is bound to accelerate.
capital hard misery people sorry television watching
Watching those people on television made it hard to feel sorry for myself, ... That was misery - capital M.
evolution ancient products
Society works not because we have consciously invented it, but because it is an ancient product of our evolved predispositions. It is literally in our nature.
ignorance discovery bored
A true scientist is bored by knowledge; it is the assault on ignorance that motivates him - the mysteries that previous discoveries have revealed.
zero lying heart
It is not a zero sum game. The simple idea of the gains from trade lies at the heart of the modern and the ancient economy, not the power of capital. There is nothing else to it.
prosperity nostalgic stressful
Prosperity has brought complications. Our lives are busier, faster, more stressful. They're nostalgic for a simpler, slower time.
dream lying book
It is the assumption of this book that there is a typical human nature. It is the aim of this book to seek it. Just like a surgeon, a psychiatrist can make all sorts of basic assumptions when a patient lies down upon the couch. He can assume that the patient knows what it means to love, to envy, to trust, to think, to speak, to fear, to smile, to bargain, to covet, to dream, to remember, to sing, to quarrel, to lie. The 'smile' of a baboon is a threat; the smile of a man is a sign of pleasure: it is human nature, the world over.
forever genetics states
Ecology, like genetics, is not about equilibrium states. It is about change, change and change. Nothing stays the same forever.
imitation memes term
The evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in 1976 coined the term ‘meme’ for a unit of cultural imitation.
selfish mind evolution
Our minds have been built by selfish genes, but they have been built to be social, trustworthy and cooperative.