Nassim Taleb on evolution and continuous progress

One must be blind or foolish to reject the theories of Darwinian self-selection. However, the simplicity of the concept has drawn segments of amateurs (as well as a few professional scientists) into blindly believing in continuous and infallible Darwinism in all fields, which includes economics.

... Owing to the abrupt rare events, we do not live in a world where things "converge" continuously towards betterment. Nor do things in life move continuously at all.

~ Nassim Taleb, Fooled By Randomness, 2nd Edition, pp. 90-91