How social evolution fits into the ecology of innovation has always been an issue for me. I'm firmly on the evolutionists side of the equation; yet I'm weary of making assumptions so I try to not to assume society evolves through adaptation.
Yet it's almost beyond a doubt that innovation itself has been on an evolutionary trajectory.
It's the ability to adapt that made the technology boom, spanning the past couple of centuries, possible.
Back then (say the 18th century) innovation was highly localized. An innovator was taught locally. His ideas were drawn mostly from personal experience. His experimentation was solitary. Only after making headway was the research introduced to a larger group. Any discoveries needed to be developed from scratch, e.g. if you thought up the steam engine you had to build the steam engine.
Now innovation is global. The education the innovator receives is from a global perspective. The ideas are drawn from a vast collection drawn from a century of recorded media, and centuries of written ideas. Experimentation is subject to peer review almost from the start; and worthy discoveries are put on an economic fast track.
This 'globalization' strengthens innovation, yet it wasn't developed by any one (or group) in particular. It was developed collectively through time by everyone acting for their own individual best interest. This is evolution.
