The Evolutionary Issues

2020 ◽  
pp. 60-70
Author(s):  
G. E. R. Lloyd
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Cognition ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Human Intelligence ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Cognitive Capacities ◽  
Axial Age ◽  
Great Divide

What conclusions should be drawn about human intelligence from the study of biological and cultural evolution? This chapter examines critically theories of some historical Great Divide among human populations, for instance Damasio’s Grand Synoptic Theory focussing on homeostasis or self-regulation, or Axial Age hypotheses stemming from Jaspers, that conjecture a radical break-through in the development of reflexive thought across Eurasia. Attempts to draw a line between more advanced societies and others considered primitive tend to oversimplify by underestimating our and their common cognitive capacities. The case of differences in spatial cognition is used to show how different cognitive capacities are in play but to argue for mutual intelligibility even across divergent paradigms.

Intelligence and Intelligibility

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. E. R. Lloyd
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Human Intelligence ◽  
Cognitive Capacities ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Intellectual Disciplines

This study investigates the tension between two conflicting intuitions, our twin recognitions: (1) that all humans share the same basic cognitive capacities; and yet (2) their actual manifestations in different individuals and groups differ appreciably. How can we reconcile our sense of what links us all as humans with our recognition of these deep differences? All humans use language and live in social groups, where we have to probe what is distinctive in the experience of humans as opposed to that of other animals and how the former may have evolved from the latter. Moreover, the languages we speak and the societies we form differ profoundly, though the conclusion that we are the prisoners of our own particular experience should and can be resisted. The study calls into question the cross-cultural viability both of many of the analytic tools we commonly use (such as the contrast between the literal and the metaphorical, between myth and rational account, and between nature and culture) and of our usual categories for organizing human experience and classifying intellectual disciplines, mathematics, religion, law, and aesthetics. The result is a robust defence of the possibilities of mutual intelligibility while recognizing both the diversity in the manifestations of human intelligence and the need to revise our assumptions in order to achieve that understanding.

scholarly journals Ecology of the Anthropocene signals hope for consciously managing the planetary ecosystem

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (28) ◽  
pp. e2024150118
Author(s):  
Clarence Lehman ◽  
Shelby Loberg ◽  
Michael Wilson ◽  
Eville Gorham
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Present Moment ◽  
Minimal Set ◽  
The Past ◽  
Food Species ◽  
Large Predators ◽  
Population Numbers

Human populations have grown to such an extent that our species has become a dominant force on the planet, prompting geologists to begin applying the term Anthropocene to recognize the present moment. Many approaches seek to explain the past and future of human population growth, in the form of narratives and models. Some of the most influential models have parameters that cannot be precisely known but are estimated by expert opinion. Here we apply a unified model of ecology to provide a macroscale summary of the net effects of many microscale processes, using a minimal set of parameters that can be known. Our models match estimates of historic and prehistoric global human population numbers and provide predictions that correspond to some of the more complicated current models. In addition to fitting the data well they reveal that, amidst enormous complexity in our human and prehuman past, three key ecological discontinuities have occurred in turn: 1) becoming dominant competitors of large predators rather than their prey, 2) becoming mutualists with food species rather than acting as predators upon them, and 3) changing from a regime of uncontrolled population growth to one of controlled fertility instead. All three processes have been interlinked with cultural evolution and all three ushered in developments of the Anthropocene. Understanding the trajectories that have delivered us to this stage can help guide prudent paths into the future.

Cognitive Innovation, Cumulative Cultural Evolution, and Enculturation

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 375-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regina E. Fabry
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Cognitive Sciences ◽  
Cognitive Capacities ◽  
Symbol Systems ◽  
Mathematical Symbol ◽  
Generational Transmission ◽  
Innovative Products ◽  
Cumulative Cultural Evolution ◽  
Conceptual Research

Abstract Cognitive innovation has shaped and transformed our cognitive capacities throughout history. Until recently, cognitive innovation has not received much attention by empirical and conceptual research in the cognitive sciences. This paper is a first attempt to help close this gap. It will be argued that cognitive innovation is best understood in connection with cumulative cultural evolution and enculturation. Cumulative cultural evolution plays a vital role for the inter-generational transmission of the products of cognitive innovation. Furthermore, there are at least two important functions of enculturation for cognitive innovation. First, enculturation is responsible for the ontogenetic acquisition of cognitive practices governing the interaction with innovative products. Second, successful processes of enculturation provide opportunities for subsequent innovative processes. The trans-generational trajectory of calculation from mathematical symbol systems to the first digital computers will serve as a paradigm example of the delicate interplay of cognitive innovation, cumulative cultural evolution, and enculturation.

scholarly journals Udstigere og immunsystemer, asketer og akrobater. Om Peter Sloterdijks Du musst dein Leben ändern. Über Anthropotechnik

2013 ◽  
pp. 75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans J. Lundager Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Exercise Training ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
English Abstract ◽  
History Of Religion ◽  
Axial Age ◽  
History Of

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A presentation and discussion of Peter Sloterdijk’s monumental work from 2009, You Must Change Your Life. The author regards asceticism (in the etymological sense of exercise, training) both as an anthropological constant, the rea-son behind bio-cultural and cultural evolution, and as a special, conscious lifestyle, first formulated in the axial age (from around 500 BC). The analysis can (partly against the author’s own intentions) be seen as an important contribution to an evolutionary history of religion. A fuller understanding of the phenomenon of asceticism as a cultural constant needs, however, the supplement provided by Emile Durkheim’s theory of the ‘negative cult’.DANSK RESUMÉ: En gennemgang og diskussion af Peter Sloterdijks monumentale værk fra 2009, Du musst dein Leben ändern. Fænomenet askese (i betydningen øvelse, træning) ses her dels om en antropologisk konstans, årsagen til bio-kulturel og kulturel evolution, dels som en særlig bevidst livsstil, som først formuleres i aksetiden (fra ca. 500 f.Kr.). Analysen kan (delvis imod forfatterens egne intentioner) ses som et væsentligt bidrag til en evolutionær religionshistorie. Forståelsen af fænomenet askese som kulturhistorisk konstans kan imidlertid med fordel suppleres med inddragelse af Emile Durkheims analyse af ‘negativ kult’.

scholarly journals Convergence of knowledge in a stochastic cultural evolution model with population structure, social learning and credibility biases

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
Sylvain Billiard ◽  
Maxime Derex ◽  
Ludovic Maisonneuve ◽  
Thomas Rey
Keyword(s):  
Population Structure ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Convex Combination ◽  
Shared Knowledge ◽  
Modeling Language ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Mathematical Properties ◽  
Quantitative Results ◽  
Mathematical Foundations

Understanding how knowledge emerges and propagates within groups is crucial to explain the evolution of human populations. In this work, we introduce a mathematically oriented model that draws on individual-based approaches, inhomogeneous Markov chains and learning algorithms, such as those introduced in [F. Cucker and S. Smale, On the mathematical foundations of learning, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 39 (2002) 1–49; F. Cucker, S. Smale and D. X. Zhou, Modeling language evolution, Found. Comput. Math. 4 (2004) 315–343]. After deriving the model, we study some of its mathematical properties, and establish theoretical and quantitative results in a simplified case. Finally, we run numerical simulations to illustrate some properties of the model. Our main result is that, as time goes to infinity, individuals’ knowledge can converge to a common shared knowledge that was not present in the convex combination of initial individuals’ knowledge.

Hypo-egoicism and Cultural Evolution

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard Martin ◽  
Amey Kulkarni ◽  
Wyatt C. Anderson ◽  
Matthew Sanders ◽  
Jackie Newbold ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Modern Life ◽  
Self Reflection

Human beings may be prepared by evolution to regulate their behavior in ways that were adaptive for our Paleolithic ancestors. When people behave in ways that are compatible with these adaptations, they rely primarily on hypo-egoic strategies that are efficient without being overly effortful or self-reflective. This chapter proposes that hypo-egoic self-regulation is an easy and efficient mode of self-regulation because people evolved to function in a mostly hypo-egoic fashion. Unfortunately, modern societies often require people to behave in ways that are incompatible with those predispositions, requiring them to rely on hyper-egoic strategies that require more effort, deliberation, and self-reflection. The chapter examines the causes and consequences of the mismatch between human beings’ evolved predispositions and the demands of modern life, and concludes with recommendations for how people can live more hypo-egoically even in complex, delayed-return societies.

scholarly journals The spontaneous emergence of conventions: An experimental study of cultural evolution

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (7) ◽  
pp. 1989-1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damon Centola ◽  
Andrea Baronchelli
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Informal Institutions ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Collective Behaviors ◽  
Social Conventions ◽  
Evolutionary Theories ◽  
Empirical Tests ◽  
Global Agreement

How do shared conventions emerge in complex decentralized social systems? This question engages fields as diverse as linguistics, sociology, and cognitive science. Previous empirical attempts to solve this puzzle all presuppose that formal or informal institutions, such as incentives for global agreement, coordinated leadership, or aggregated information about the population, are needed to facilitate a solution. Evolutionary theories of social conventions, by contrast, hypothesize that such institutions are not necessary in order for social conventions to form. However, empirical tests of this hypothesis have been hindered by the difficulties of evaluating the real-time creation of new collective behaviors in large decentralized populations. Here, we present experimental results—replicated at several scales—that demonstrate the spontaneous creation of universally adopted social conventions and show how simple changes in a population’s network structure can direct the dynamics of norm formation, driving human populations with no ambition for large scale coordination to rapidly evolve shared social conventions.

scholarly journals Identification of genes involved in the evolution of human intelligence through combination of inter-species and intra-species genetic variations

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e8912
Author(s):  
Mengjie Li ◽  
Wenting Zhang ◽  
Xiaoyi Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Human Genetics ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Genetic Variations ◽  
Hominid Evolution ◽  
Biological Research ◽  
Human Intelligence ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Species Variation ◽  
Genetic Changes

Understanding the evolution of human intelligence is an important undertaking in the science of human genetics. A great deal of biological research has been conducted to search for genes which are related to the significant increase in human brain volume and cerebral cortex complexity during hominid evolution. However, genetic changes affecting intelligence in hominid evolution have remained elusive. We supposed that a subset of intelligence-related genes, which harbored intra-species variations in human populations, may also be evolution-related genes which harbored inter-species variations between humans (Homo sapiens) and great apes (including Pan troglodytes and Pongo abelii). Here we combined inter-species and intra-species genetic variations to discover genes involved in the evolution of human intelligence. Information was collected from published GWAS works on intelligence and a total of 549 genes located within the intelligence-associated loci were identified. The intelligence-related genes containing human-specific variations were detected based on the latest high-quality genome assemblies of three human’s closest species. Finally, we identified 40 strong candidates involved in human intelligence evolution. Expression analysis using RNA-Seq data revealed that most of the genes displayed a relatively high expression in the cerebral cortex. For these genes, there is a distinct expression pattern between humans and other species, especially in neocortex tissues. Our work provided a list of strong candidates for the evolution of human intelligence, and also implied that some intelligence-related genes may undergo inter-species evolution and contain intra-species variation.

scholarly journals The Evolutionary Origin and Biological Utility of Supernatural Expertise

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Andrew Neil Mahoney
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Psychological Traits ◽  
Cognitive Capacities ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
Optimal Theory ◽  
Sexual Selection Theory ◽  
Historical Origin

<p>Recent psychological and cognitive research has explored the evolutionary origins of human religiosity. In this thesis, I explore the historical origin and social function of supernatural expertise. I define supernatural expertise as the act of acquiring and expressing supernatural knowledge. I critique several recent theories from evolutionary psychology and cognitive science by assessing the extent to which they can explain supernatural expertise. Costly signalling theory is the view that religious costs are adaptations that signal the cooperative intent of individuals. This theory cannot account for supernatural expertise as expressions of supernatural knowledge are typically linguistic, and one can verbally misrepresent one’s supernatural beliefs. Sexual selection theory explains how physiological or psychological traits can become exaggerated over time if they are preferred by mating partners. Sexual selection can explain an increase in the cognitive capacities necessary for the acquisition of supernatural knowledge. However, it cannot account for the complex nature of supernatural information. Cognitively optimal theory predicts that the religious information which persists within human populations should be easily transferred and recalled. The theory cannot account for any supernatural information which requires considerable effort to acquire. The modes theory explains religion in terms of memory systems and the social arrangements that humans have developed to mediate the exchange of religious ideas. These result in two modes of religiosity. The doctrinal mode of religiosity explains why supernatural experts exist, but not how supernatural expertise originated. I conclude by arguing for an innovative theory for supernatural expertise. I employ cognitively optimal theory to explain why some supernatural concepts are difficult to recall. I explain the signalling function of supernatural expertise in terms of the costly effort invested in the acquisition of supernatural information. I propose that sexual selection for the cognitive capacities to acquire supernatural knowledge has enhanced the ability to acquire such information; this necessitates an increase in the complexity of supernatural information which ensures cooperative commitment remains a predominant motivation for the acquisition of supernatural knowledge, in spite of enhanced cognitive ability. I discuss several social conditions that result from the doctrinal mode of religiosity and how they solve cooperation problems in dense populations.</p>

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