INTRODUCTION

The concept of “progress” hovers about all questions pertaining to complexity but since progress is inherently a normative or evaluative concept it cannot be answered scientifically. The scientific problem of complexity can be divided into three broad categories – ecological, individual and social. The problem of ecological complexity is what determines the number of kinds of things (species), how new kinds arise (the process of speciation), and whether there is an overall trend toward increased complexity as they do. These are discussed in Section 8.2 below.

The problem of individual complexity is the problem of, apart from the issue of more kinds and trends – when new, more complex kinds of individuals do arise, how they do so. Biologically, how did life get from prokaryotic cells to the eukaryotic to multicellular individuals to eusocial colonies? How did human societies get from lineages to clans to tribes to nations to empires? How did weapons get all the way from spears to Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles and joint stock companies all the way from the East India Company to behemoths like Exxon Mobil, General Electric and Wal-Mart? This is discussed in Section 8.3 below.

The problem of social complexity is a kind of half-way house between these, the problem of how interacting social groups coalesce but also disaggregate so that while selection on a higher level may be involved, nevertheless they do not form new permanent aggregate individuals.