1st Edition
The Benefits of Imperfection Biology, Society, and Beyond
The cult of performance leads our society to emphasise the values of success and continuous optimisation in all areas. Slowness, redundancy and randomness are therefore negatively perceived. Olivier Hamant, in this book, attempts to rehabilitate them by his knowledge of biological processes.
What can we learn from life sciences? While some biological mechanisms certainly boast formidable efficiency, recent advances instead highlight the fundamental role of errors, incoherence and slowness in the development and the robustness of living organisms. Should life be considered suboptimal? To what extent could suboptimality become a counter-model to the credo of performance and control in the Anthropocene?
In the face of pessimistic observations and environmental alerts, the author outlines solutions for a future that is viable and reconciled with nature.
Key Features
· Solidly documents with data reflecting a post-collapsophobic stance
· Contributes to a necessary debate fuelled by current events
· Offers energetic thinking instead of lamentations and criticizing focusing on solutions
1. Preamble, as an executive summary. 2. The Age of Performance. 3. Which Third Way? 4. Suboptimality. 5. Robustness of Life. 6. A Counter-Model. 7. Some Chronological Reference Points. 8. Acronyms and Abbreviations. 9. References.
Biography
Olivier Hamant is a researcher at the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, INRAE) at École Normale Supérieure de Lyon. As an interdisciplinary biologist, he has published ca. 100 scientific articles, notably on the development of plants and their ability to perceive their own shape. He also heads the Michel-Serres Institute and is involved in training programmes on the new relationship between humanity and nature.
