Measuring Evolution

Second in a series of six new books for a Darwin Anniversary Book Cycle, Measuring Evolution: A User's Guide to the Health and Wealth of Nations tells the inspiring story of the development, and provides a guide to the use, of the Global Sounding. This is a new instrument for measuring our local, national, and planetary health and well-being on 15 basic indicators of evolution. Of widespread prospective interest is the fact that, for the first time, this new measure bridges what both progressive scientists and progressive religious leaders increasingly view as a socially, economically, politically, and morally disastrous gap between science and spirituality. With hundreds of studies of evolution by natural, social and systems scientists behind it, the Global Sounding has been designed to provide a relatively simple new way of measuring the impact of our human actions, or inactions, on the range from cosmic, chemical, and biological evolution, through the evolution of the brain, into the spread of cultural evolution through personal, social, economic, political, educational, and technological into moral and spiritual evolution, capped by the evolution of consciousness and personal and social action to change our world for the better. The name for the new measure comes from Darwin's famous voyage of the Beagle-the ship originally commissioned to circle the world to obtain soundings indicating peaceful harbors and safe channels for navigation. The book is animated by colorful, engaging, and often humorous stories to illustrate how the new measure can be put to use by progressives during the customary behind-scenes battles with advocates for the status quo or regressives in key decision-making situations that determine whether we move ahead, are checked in place, or shoved backward in evolution. Along with illustrative test matrixes for each of the following situations, the Global Sounding has been designed to advance the successful advocation of and motivation for globally-responsible programs, practices, and policies by decision-makers in business, government, politics, science, education, foundations, religions, and the media. The author, David Loye, is an internationally known evolutionary systems scientist and author of the award-winning The Healing of a Nation. Titles for further books in the new series are Darwin's Lost Theory, Darwin on Love, The Derailing of Evolution, and Telling the New Story, first for a series of books by leading world educators on how to globally shift from the old to the new Darwinian model in schools and the media. In addition to more information on the Darwin Anniversary Book Cycle, the website for the publisher, www.benjaminfranklinpress.com, provides a marketing analysis of prospective appeal to readers in editions for other languages in Europe, Asia, and South as well as North America. The publisher has also launched an online Darwin Anniversary Report (www.darwinanniversary.com) to provide a central news source for scores of events now underway around the world during the current global buildup for the 200th Anniversary of Darwin's birth.