Madsen Pirie

It was a brilliant idea to hold a conference in the Galapagos to bring evolution science into market economics, liberty and the social order. What was most remarkable of all was the number of different disciplines that were featured. These included neuroscience and anthropology, as well as game theory and an enthralling account of violence among other primate species. We were treated to accounts of how evolution has selected for characteristics that drive an entrepreneurial economy. What also emerged was how the evolving brain has developed instinctive strategies that work to mutual advantage in people’s dealing with each other. It was a meeting marred by accidents and misfortunes to several of the delegates, indicating that the islands are not the safest places, or perhaps that the MPS features a fair measure of older people who injure more easily. The sad death of Kenneth Minogue on the flight back was the most shocking, but it came at the end of what was for him a successful last conference that saw him reunited with many old friends. The society next meets in Hong Kong, in the late summer of 2014.

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