John Donne knew that an island is a bad metaphor for a man, so Jack Balkin has provided a new comparison for humans: a computer. Balkin's Cultural Software is now up and free for reading and annotation. Cultural Software suggests a new method to explaining why cultures of the same species evolve so differently. Human [...]

Jack Balkin's 1998 classic is coming soon to Yale Books Unbound. Cultural Software explained ideology as a result of the cultural evolution of bits of cultural knowhow, or memes. It was the first book to apply theories of cultural evolution to the problem of ideology and justice.