In Episode 2 of this season, we explore the evolution of beauty (especially in birds) and the beauty of innovation, with guest Matt Ridley.
Matt Ridley’s books have sold over a million copies, been translated into 31 languages and won several awards. His books include The Red Queen, Genome, The Rational Optimist, The Evolution of Everything, How Innovation Works, and Viral: the search for the origin of covid-19. His latest book is Birds, Sex and Beauty: The Extraordinary Implications of Charles Darwin’s Strangest Idea (2025).
He served the House of Lords between 2013 and 2021 and served on the science and technology select committee and the artificial intelligence select committee.
He was founding chairman of the International Centre for Life in Newcastle. He created the Mind and Matter column in the Wall Street Journal in 2010 and was a columnist for the Times 2013-2018.
He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Academy of Medical Sciences, and a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He lives in Northumberland.
In this episode, we talk about:
How Ridley’s childhood fascination with birds led him to study evolution
The courtship rituals of black grouse and the surprising role of female choice
How Ronald Fisher’s “sexy sons” hypothesis changed everything
What bowerbirds can teach us about aesthetics and art
Sexual selection as a driver of creativity, humor, and the human brain
To learn more about Matt’s work, you can find him at:
https://www.mattridley.co.uk/
Books and resources mentioned:
Birds, Sex and Beauty (by Matt Ridley)
How Innovation Works (by Matt Ridley)
The Rational Optimist (by Matt Ridley)
The Mating Mind (by Geoffrey Miller)
The Descent of Man (by Charles Darwin)
The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection (by Ronald Fisher)
Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty (by Nancy Etcoff)
The Rational Optimist Society – rationaloptimistsociety.com
This season of the podcast is sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust.
