phrase
Survival of the Fittest
The competitive principle that the best-adapted win โ often misapplied.
Origin
Coined by the philosopher Herbert Spencer in 1864 after reading Darwin's Origin of Species, then borrowed by Darwin himself in the fifth edition (1869) as a synonym for natural selection. 'Fittest' meant best-suited to environment, not strongest or most ruthless โ a distinction the phrase's later users have largely ignored. Social Darwinists used it to justify inequality; Darwin himself was uneasy about that reading.
Modern usage
Invoked in business, sports, dating, and politics, almost always to mean 'the strong beat the weak' โ a meaning Darwin did not intend.
In the wild
Tech is just survival of the fittest, the founder shrugged.โ common usage
Tags
evolution
competition
darwin