The Economics of Eden

Dr Steve Jones, Reader in Genetics at University College, London gives a series of lectures on the new biological insight into humanity.

In his fourth lecture, Dr Jones examines the correlation between genetic change and economic development. While society tends not to be driven by its genes, social and economic changes produce many of the genetic patterns seen in the world today.

He also draws parallels between the evolution of languages and the evolution of genes. Languages evolve, he argues, like genes, producing dialects and whole new languages and lines of descent can be produced using languages as well as genetics.