Steve Jobs had a huge influence over the development of new technologies and the internet, but let’s not give him – or any other tech guru – too much credit, said Matt Ridley, author of The Evolution of Everything. ‘We underestimate the degree to which the trends that affect us in the world and in business come from ordinary people interacting rather than from great individuals directing things from above,’ said Ridley. Ridley’s previous books include The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves, Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters and The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature. His books have sold more than one million copies in 30 languages worldwide. Ridley said it is difficult to predict where the Internet is heading as it continues to evolve. One thing that is clear, however, is that the features of the internet came from peer-to-peer networking among ordinary people. ‘They didn’t come from particularly brilliant discoveries or big businesses or government,’ said Ridley. ‘It’s an emergent phenomenon and it’s not finished yet. It’s barely started.’ Ridley said the government’s role in developing new technologies or industries should be as referee, encouraging the survival of good ideas and the death of bad ones. Government should not, in his view, try to plan the outcome.
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