# The Other Theory of EVOLUTION!

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-the-if-2494024/the-other-theory-of-evolution
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-the-if-2494024/the-other-theory-of-evolution.md
Podcast: [What The If?](https://stenobird.com/podcast/what-the-if-2494024)
Published: 2026-05-20T02:43:55+00:00
Episode link: https://soundcloud.com/whattheif/lamarck
Audio file: http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/2324033573-whattheif-lamarck.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/what-the-if-2494024/episodes/the-other-theory-of-evolution
Duration seconds: 3282

## Resource

What the if Lamarck was right? Stanford historian Jessica Riskin, author of "The Power of Life," is our guide into a universe where living things aren't passive passengers waiting for evolution to happen to them, but the active architects of their own bodies, their offspring, and the world around them. The line between creature and environment dissolves. Even the smallest beings turn out to be busy reshaping the planet. Stretch your neck. Reshape your descendants. Welcome to the Lamarckian universe. Want more Jessica? Grab her book at https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/763654/the-power-of-life-by-jessica-riskin/ Find her at Stanford here: https://history.stanford.edu/people/jessica-riskin —————————————————— In the show, I mentioned a wonderful note from longtime listener Steve Scalici about our recent "no gasoline" episode. Here's Steve's full message: —————————————————— From: Steve Scalici Subject: No gasoline, phase 2 "Maybe THE best IFisode I've heard, perhaps because I've been noodling with that inevitable coming world without petroleum…how'd we function, how would society break down, would we be in a Soylent Green-scape? "Seems to me that this too was a corollary of the IF I sent in regarding an aeroplane-less world. My supposition culminated with small self-supporting cities of a certain drivable radius from the city limits. "But overlaying the petro-less factor into the equation, we would devolve berryyyyy quickly to an agrarian localized world perhaps reminiscent of sometime in the 1800s. "The curveball to this is the Industrial Revolution would not, could not be. No power source! This leads me back to my Malthusian philosophy is coming: population does invariably increase when the means of subsistence increase. "Well then the opposite is true…population…

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