There is an idea that has never died—only changed its costume. In the Victorian era it wore a frock coat and spoke of civilization. In the twentieth century it wore a uniform and spoke of race. Today it wears a hoodie and speaks of disruption. The idea is this: that life is fundamentally a competition, that the strong deserve to win, and that science—nature itself—has given us permission to stop feeling bad about it.

The Curse of Social Darwinism: From Spencer to Silicon traces this seductive and dangerous idea from its Victorian origins in the philosophy of Herbert Spencer through its catastrophic applications in colonialism, eugenics, and fascism, and into its newest incarnations in the age of artificial intelligence, algorithmic competition, and the looming question of what happens to human beings when machines do everything better.

Drawing on evolutionary biology, political philosophy, the history of science, and the emerging ethics of technology, this book argues that social Darwinism is not a relic of the nineteenth century. It is a recurring temptation—a way of borrowing the authority of science to justify what we were already inclined to do. It reappears in every era that feels insecure enough to want a natural law on its side.

Written with wit, philosophical depth, and a sense of genuine urgency, this book invites the listener on a journey from Darwin's finches to deep learning algorithms, from Nietzsche's Übermensch to Elon Musk's rockets, and from Kropotkin's ants to the unsettling question of whether civilization itself might be subject to cosmic natural selection. Along the way, it asks the question that no era has yet managed to answer satisfactorily: can humanity stop using evolution as an excuse?