The purest definition of evolution is biological – familiar, Darwinian evolution. DNA sequences contain our genetic information and these can change through mutations. If the mutation is useful, then that individual has more chance of surviving, they can breed, their children can inherit the trait, survive, breed… and so on. Our survival is more than one individual’s biology, though.

Our wellbeing is collective; sociocultural evolution studies how we evolve as a group. Some changes instantly raise our wellbeing. For example, research in Uganda showed that increasing a woman’s literacy raises her child’s life expectancy – regardless of social class or wealth. Our collective wellbeing is in our hands.

We evolve to survive: we need to use our evolution for survival. Torture doesn’t get the truth, war doesn’t increase resources, fear doesn’t make us safe, hating others doesn’t help our group – these are not survival mechanisms; they don’t work. The global community has become interdependent: financially – look at the economic crisis; for resources – what country can now supply all its own food, metals, and power; environmentally – as the Copenhagen summit brutally showed. If we want to survive, we need to start acting like a community. We need to take a quantum leap and start acting out of co-operation. We can change the collective consciousness of the human race to love and light – it’s our choice and as part of the collective, we get to make that choice. And if love is a dirty word – try some materialism…