When and how did astronomers and biologists come to believe in cosmic evolution as a guiding principle for their work, and how did it become a serious research program? In her pioneering book, Unifying Biology: The Evolutionary Synthesis an…Since Darwin propounded his theory of evolution by natural selection, evolution has been much more than a science. It has been a worldview that has affected culture in numerous ways, and different cultures in diverse ways.[^23] As we have n…
Betty Smocovitis
historian · 2 mentions across 1 reading
In this course
Smocovitis is a historian of science whose work on the evolutionary synthesis traces how evolution became not merely a scientific theory but a unifying worldview across disciplines. Her scholarship appears in the course to ground discussions of how major scientific paradigms—like evolution—transcend their original domain to become organizing principles for culture and knowledge more broadly, a pattern relevant to understanding how AI and cybernetics function similarly as contemporary master narratives. She's cited here to establish historical precedent for how scientific concepts acquire cultural authority and reshape institutional practice.
Mentioned in 1 reading
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