Capitalism or Science

Kevin Drum has a post up, titled Capitalism and Science in which he expresses his opinion that

Although they're inextricably bound together in so many ways that this may be moot, I'd argue that the Renaissance formalization of the scientific method has been more important than capitalism per se.

In my opinion there are a more general set of ideas, that as systems or problems become sufficiently complex one cannot solve them directly. One must adapt a process whereby multiple possible solutions are developed and these are subjected to some type of critical review by a diverse group of independent reviewers. The best candidates to survive the critical review are then adapted. Another set of solutions are offered up by modifying the most recent survives of critical review, themselves reviewed and the process repeats. This process is at the heart of the scientific method and free market economics, as Kevin discusses. But these principals are also essential to the process of Systems Engineering in technology development and to the successful democratic process. Elements of these principals are incorporated into our legal system. Finally, nature has adopted this basic process to develop the complexity of life. It is an enormously powerful tool which can be used to solve problems that are far too complex for direct intellectual attack. The discovery and adaptation of these techniques of critical review are the greatest force for human good every achieved.