Why?

Friedrich Hayek asserted that: "cultural evolution is not the result of human reason consciously building institutions, but of a process in which culture and reason developed concurrently…". The co-evolution of human preferences and institutions poses serious problems to anyone who promotes policies that supposedly will alter only one of the two. It is the old problem of culture versus institutions. Freedom, property rights, rule of law, how is it that all these elements evolved to promote peace and prosperity? Why some are more prominent only in some societies while in others they are almost inexistent? During this world summit, scholars with training in the natural and social sciences will gather to discuss the evolution of and the current challenges to freedom. Galapagos provides a unique environment for this; it inspired Charles Darwin, more than one hundred fifty years ago, to make his groundbreaking contributions to the biological sciences.