280 ■ NOTES
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psychologists mentioned in the note to page 221 ; see also Crandall
(1984), and note to p. 198.The best English-language biography of Antonio Gramsci is by Giu
seppe Fiore (1973).Edison, Roosevelt, and Einstein. Goertzel & Goertzel (1962) detail
the early lives of 300 eminent men and women, and show how little
predictability there is between the conditions in which children grow up
and their later achievements.Cultural evolution is another concept prematurely discarded by social
scientists in the last few decades. Among the attempts to show that the
concept is still viable see, for instance, Burhoe (1982), Csikszentmihalyi
& Massimini (1985), Lumdsen &l Wilson (1981, 1983), Massimini
(1982), and White (1975).Books as socializing agents. For studies on the effect of books and
stories told in childhood on the subsequent life themes of individuals
see Csikszentmihalyi & Beattie (1979) and Beattie & Csikszentmihalyi
(1981).Religion and entropy. See, for instance, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich
Hegel’s early essay, written in 1798 but not published until 110 years
later: Der Geist der Christentums und sein Schiksal (The spirit of Christian
ity and its fate), in which he reflects on the materialization that Christ’s
teachings underwent after they were embedded into a Church.Evolution. A great many scholars and scientists, from a diverse variety
of backgrounds, have expressed the belief that a scientific understanding
of evolution, taking into account the goals of human beings and the laws
of the universe, will provide the basis for a new system of meanings. See,
for instance, Burhoe (1976), Campbell (1965, 1975, 1976), Csikszent
mihalyi &_ Massimini (1985), Csikszentmihalyi & Rathunde (1989),
Teilhard de Chardin (1965), Huxley (1942), Mead (1964), Medawar
(1960), and Waddington (1970). It is on this faith that a new civilization
may be built. But evolution does not guarantee progress (Nitecki 1988).
Humankind may be left out of the evolutionary process altogether.
Whether it will or not depends to a large extent on the choices we are
about to make. And these choices are likely to be more intelligent if we
understand how evolution works.