Mechanisms of cultural evolution

If we do not take into account the environmental factors, their effect on the development processes in living organisms, then we slide towards genetic determinism, if we ignore the organizing principle of genes, then we take the position of the notorious T. Lysenko. These extremes should be avoided.

Human beings are genetically different from other primates in their ability to develop their minds. Mind is a genetic potential that is timely realized in a person at certain stages of his development. Realizing the potential is a matter of education and upbringing.

The ability to develop the mind distinguishes humans not only from monkeys, but also within human populations, these abilities differ greatly. Representatives of biological species have varying degrees of severity of different characters. It is this variability of characters that makes it possible for selection to work. The remark also applies to reason, which is subject to social selection in a social society. The variability of species according to different characteristics was discovered by Charles Darwin, in this case variability is the difference between people in terms of the capabilities of the brain for functional development.

Real progress comes from those people whose minds are above average. It is possible without a big mistake to assume that there is a threshold value of the mind at which effective innovation is possible. To create conditions for work in science, for a person incapable of it, who does not reach the threshold, is a waste of money. A person is born with some potential for the development of reason, but whether it will be realized in life depends on many circumstances.

In the development of the mind, the role of upbringing and education is very great, but not unlimited. The innate genetic programs of the unconscious (instincts) and the learned programs of the subconscious do not allow all information to be absorbed by the brain. Hence, it is clear that the order in which the material for training is presented is important. Which set of material will be learned earlier will be censored for subsequent assimilation.

Inborn instincts are formed at the earliest stages of ontogenesis. Therefore, the brain of a newborn is not an empty vessel that can be filled with anything. He assimilates something and rejects something that does not take root there.

Information is not copied to the brain. External information signals lead to the reconstruction of information in the brain in the form of functional states of local neural networks. If you still call this process copying, then copying is approximate. Some signals may not be recreated in the recipient’s head, and some recreated may not take root in the brain, displaced by other information.

Everyone has come across this. The authority of the teacher in the eyes of the student increases the degree of assimilation.

It must be remembered that the processes of upbringing and education consist in creating favorable conditions for the student and nothing more. You can only learn something yourself. Reason cannot be bought for money, you have to work on it yourself. Money can only buy «crusts».

Today’s level of intelligence was formed as a result of co-evolution. Biological evolution has created the morphology of the human brain, adapted to significant functional development, filled it with some initial content. Cultural evolution realizes the development opportunities inherent in genetics with the help of social institutions.

If in the process of ontogenesis a brain is created that is not capable of development, then training and upbringing will not be able to correct this deficiency, but they can, apparently, to a greater or lesser extent, make it less noticeable (mask). However, not capable of developing in one direction, the brain can be very suitable for developing in another.

What can you compare with? Apparently with a processor, inside of which a number of connections between the elements are missing or they themselves are of poor quality as a result of a technology violation. Therefore, a computer with such a processor will not work as it should. But it may turn out that he can solve some problems quite successfully.

Based on the above, we can conclude:

Mind is an acquired function of the brain. Therefore, like any acquired property, the mind, according to the concepts of genetics, is not inherited. Only the brain is inherited, its general structure, like the structure of other organs.

Smart dads and moms don’t necessarily have smart kids. As for geniuses, according to the signs «Nature often rests on their children.» This observation corresponds to the ideas of genetics about the peculiarities of the inheritance of properties in the sexual reproduction process. Sex cells that program hereditary traits are formed in a stochastic process (meiosis). This is a real lottery. A bomb does not hit the same funnel twice, and geniuses are not born one after another from a pair of the same parents. This is a piece goods. But all children of the same parents can be talented to varying degrees.

In the Bach family, many generations were musicians, but the brilliant Sebastian Bach had to learn music, like everyone else. He may owe his greatness to his unique genotype. But this is not enough if he himself did not make sufficient efforts to achieve the goal.

The shortcomings of upbringing and education, guiding the process of personality formation at a young age, appear later and are difficult or impossible to correct in the future. The emergence of a correctly oriented mind, as well as the child’s assimilation of certain rules of behavior in society, largely depends on the culture of family relations.

Proper upbringing and education depends on many social institutions operating in society, on the well-being of the social society itself.

IQ.

Various tests are used to numerically assess the mind. Intelligence quotient (IQ – intelligence quotient, read «aykyu») is a quantitative assessment of a person’s intelligence level (IQ). One of the most famous tests for its determination is Eysenck’s test. Studies have shown that both genetics and the environment affect this indicator. Human races have some genetic differences in this criterion. Asian countries have the highest IQ values: Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, China). Russia and America were in their fifties.

Below is a picture from the book: IQ and the Wealth of Nations – a book published in London in 2000. The book is authored by Dr. Richard Lynn and Dr. Tatu Vanhanen.

Considering the above map, we notice that the most intelligent creature Homo sapiens came from Africa, the continent with the lowest level of intelligence today. Coming out of there, it «grew wiser», evolving in the vastness of Europe and Asia.

IQ by country

Motivation of the mind

Everything that a person perceives from the real world with the help of his senses is reflected in the brain in the form of virtual reality.

An important property of the mind is its orientation. It depends on the social environment in which the mind was formed. The mind can be oriented towards good deeds, unkind or useless. Hence the expression «evil genius». Therefore, it is not enough to characterize a person with the epithet «Smart».

There are many «evil» intelligent personalities in history. Evil in the sense that their minds were directed against the entire society or some part of it.

2. Socialization and cultural adaptation

Methods of cognition

The Homo sapiens species simultaneously used 3 methods of obtaining information.

A practical way based on experience in developing methods of work, assimilating customs and moral values in populations, obtaining other information to satisfy their vital needs.

The religious method of cognition refers to general questions about the structure of the world. Although he gave incorrect (from the current point of view) answers about the structure of the world, it is better than nothing. After all, in ancient times, people began to ask the question – why? The simple answers of religious legends were easily replicated in their heads. So religion conquered the minds, made life easier, grouping people according to faith.

The evolutionary significance of religions consists, in my opinion, in the fact that religions contributed to the emergence of social relations in large communities, restraining aggression in people’s behavior within a certain framework, creating in the minds of people some moral norms demanded by a social society by instilling faith in one or another God, rooting customs, some moral principles by methods of manipulating consciousness.

There are many religions in different parts of the world, where isolated populations of Homo sapiens previously lived, but this only suggests that they were in demand by the logic of cultural evolution, the development of the HS mind and communication languages. All religions have their own gods, their own principles and their own holidays. Religions do not have any consensus on this matter.

The scientific method of cognition, based on experience, which is generalized, gives all knowledge a systematic nature of laws that allows you to make scientific predictions, and as a result, engage in innovative activities: invent technologies and tools for hunting, labor and war. For a long time, the last two methods of cognition did not intersect and coexisted peacefully.

Socialization and reason

Without sufficient reason, without the ability to think abstractly, the scientific method of cognition would be impossible, which means that all innovations are impossible, a high level of technology development, an increase in labor productivity are impossible. A civilization built without advanced intelligence would not be very effective.

Ants are very social insects. They embarked on the path of socialization 100 million before us. years old. They are biologically successful. But their brains are too small to create an effective mind. They have a distributed mind like a community. Socializing individuals without sufficient intelligence has a limited effect.

The mind of one person cannot cope with a difficult task. Big tasks require the consolidated efforts of many separate minds. For thousands of years, stone tools were made by our ancestors, but there was no effective breakthrough. It was not because creative people were disunited, living in small tribes. There was a slow evolution of the mind itself, the methods of hunting, obtaining food, technological methods of making stone tools.

To get results from the work of the mind, you need an appropriate environment, exchange of views with colleagues, and all kinds of creative interaction. If the founder of our Russian science, M. Lomonosov, had not been able to get from his village to Moscow, he would have remained an unknown peasant, plowing the land and repairing clamps, and Moscow University would not bear his name.

The mind in the brain arises in the processes of self-organization. Among savages, reason will be of little demand. There is no demand for it.

All computer microcircuits (hardware) remain motionless until the user turns on the power, thus combining all microcircuits into a single structure. The brain is the same carrier of the mind, as the «hardware» of the computer is the carrier of programs.

Socialization activates the processes of self-organization, strengthens the mind, making it collective, belonging to the entire society. Only the collective mind is able to build a developed civilization.

Living in large settlements (socialization) makes possible the division of labor, which greatly increases its productivity in comparison with labor in subsistence farming. This was noted by the founder of economic doctrine A. Smith in his famous work «The Wealth of Nations».

An increase in labor productivity naturally causes the development of trade, navigation, scientific research and many other areas and activities. At the same time, market relations arise, and the construction of civilization begins.

The transformation of Homo sapiens into a human can be conditionally attributed to the period 6000—10000 years ago. This is the conditional beginning of social (cultural evolution), the point when the constantly increasing speed of cultural evolution has reached a speed that is significant by human standards. Interestingly, church leaders consider the same date as the beginning of the world – when God descended and created everything. And before this date, nothing supposedly happened. But scientists believe that prior to this date, there was biological evolution for 3.8 billion years. Such a «small» difference in world outlook.

The emergence of cultural adaptations

Any evolution of living things consists in adaptation (adaptation) to environmental conditions.

Cultural adaptation is the preservation in generations (inheritance) of information obtained as a result of activity, which changes thinking and behavior.

In biological evolution, genetic inheritance of properties acquired during a lifetime is impossible, which has theoretical and experimental confirmation. Cultural adaptations occur in all mammals due to the presence of a brain. But there is a natural limit that limits the further spread of these adaptations in populations.

The species Homo sapiens managed to overcome this limit. By the way, 50 thousand years ago, there were several other species of great apes, which also managed to overcome the limit, but as a result of natural selection, they became extinct before they survived to this day. The most famous of them are Neanderthals, which represent a separate parallel branch, which are 99.5% genetically identical with modern humans. The evolutionary branches of the ancestors of Neanderthals and modern humans diverged about 500—700 thousand years ago.

It was not labor or walking upright that turned Homo Sаpiens into a man. The most important factors that determined the emergence of adaptations of cultural evolution for Homo Sapiens and his transformation into a man who has become the dominant species on the planet are the following.

1. Achievement of sufficient intelligence by the species of Homo Sapiens as a result of evolutionary development.

2. Socialization of the species, i.e. unification first into tribes, then into large settlements, into cities and states.

Separately, neither reason nor socialization can lead to such a unique result that we have for a person. Eusocial insects (ants, termites, bees, etc.) created their civilizations of a lower level, without sufficient intelligence.

2. Socialization and cultural adaptation

Methods of cognition

The Homo sapiens species simultaneously used 3 methods of obtaining information.

A practical way based on experience in developing methods of work, assimilating customs and moral values in populations, obtaining other information to satisfy their vital needs.

The religious method of cognition refers to general questions about the structure of the world. Although he gave incorrect (from the current point of view) answers about the structure of the world, it is better than nothing. After all, in ancient times, people began to ask the question – why? The simple answers of religious legends were easily replicated in their heads. So religion conquered the minds, made life easier, grouping people according to faith.

The evolutionary significance of religions consists, in my opinion, in the fact that religions contributed to the emergence of social relations in large communities, restraining aggression in people’s behavior within a certain framework, creating in the minds of people some moral norms demanded by a social society by instilling faith in one or another God, rooting customs, some moral principles by methods of manipulating consciousness.

There are many religions in different parts of the world, where isolated populations of Homo sapiens previously lived, but this only suggests that they were in demand by the logic of cultural evolution, the development of the HS mind and communication languages. All religions have their own gods, their own principles and their own holidays. Religions do not have any consensus on this matter.

The scientific method of cognition, based on experience, which is generalized, gives all knowledge a systematic nature of laws that allows you to make scientific predictions, and as a result, engage in innovative activities: invent technologies and tools for hunting, labor and war. For a long time, the last two methods of cognition did not intersect and coexisted peacefully.

Socialization and reason

Without sufficient reason, without the ability to think abstractly, the scientific method of cognition would be impossible, which means that all innovations are impossible, a high level of technology development, an increase in labor productivity are impossible. A civilization built without advanced intelligence would not be very effective.

Ants are very social insects. They embarked on the path of socialization 100 million before us. years old. They are biologically successful. But their brains are too small to create an effective mind. They have a distributed mind like a community. Socializing individuals without sufficient intelligence has a limited effect.

The mind of one person cannot cope with a difficult task. Big tasks require the consolidated efforts of many separate minds. For thousands of years, stone tools were made by our ancestors, but there was no effective breakthrough. It was not because creative people were disunited, living in small tribes. There was a slow evolution of the mind itself, the methods of hunting, obtaining food, technological methods of making stone tools.

To get results from the work of the mind, you need an appropriate environment, exchange of views with colleagues, and all kinds of creative interaction. If the founder of our Russian science, M. Lomonosov, had not been able to get from his village to Moscow, he would have remained an unknown peasant, plowing the land and repairing clamps, and Moscow University would not bear his name.

The mind in the brain arises in the processes of self-organization. Among savages, reason will be of little demand. There is no demand for it.

All computer microcircuits (hardware) remain motionless until the user turns on the power, thus combining all microcircuits into a single structure. The brain is the same carrier of the mind, as the «hardware» of the computer is the carrier of programs.

Socialization activates the processes of self-organization, strengthens the mind, making it collective, belonging to the entire society. Only the collective mind is able to build a developed civilization.

Living in large settlements (socialization) makes possible the division of labor, which greatly increases its productivity in comparison with labor in subsistence farming. This was noted by the founder of economic doctrine A. Smith in his famous work «The Wealth of Nations».

An increase in labor productivity naturally causes the development of trade, navigation, scientific research and many other areas and activities. At the same time, market relations arise, and the construction of civilization begins.

The transformation of Homo sapiens into a human can be conditionally attributed to the period 6000—10000 years ago. This is the conditional beginning of social (cultural evolution), the point when the constantly increasing speed of cultural evolution has reached a speed that is significant by human standards. Interestingly, church leaders consider the same date as the beginning of the world – when God descended and created everything. And before this date, nothing supposedly happened. But scientists believe that prior to this date, there was biological evolution for 3.8 billion years. Such a «small» difference in world outlook.

The emergence of cultural adaptations

Any evolution of living things consists in adaptation (adaptation) to environmental conditions.

Cultural adaptation is the preservation in generations (inheritance) of information obtained as a result of activity, which changes thinking and behavior.

In biological evolution, genetic inheritance of properties acquired during a lifetime is impossible, which has theoretical and experimental confirmation. Cultural adaptations occur in all mammals due to the presence of a brain. But there is a natural limit that limits the further spread of these adaptations in populations.

The species Homo sapiens managed to overcome this limit. By the way, 50 thousand years ago, there were several other species of great apes, which also managed to overcome the limit, but as a result of natural selection, they became extinct before they survived to this day. The most famous of them are Neanderthals, which represent a separate parallel branch, which are 99.5% genetically identical with modern humans. The evolutionary branches of the ancestors of Neanderthals and modern humans diverged about 500—700 thousand years ago.

It was not labor or walking upright that turned Homo Sаpiens into a man. The most important factors that determined the emergence of adaptations of cultural evolution for Homo Sapiens and his transformation into a man who has become the dominant species on the planet are the following.

1. Achievement of sufficient intelligence by the species of Homo Sapiens as a result of evolutionary development.

2. Socialization of the species, i.e. unification first into tribes, then into large settlements, into cities and states.

Separately, neither reason nor socialization can lead to such a unique result that we have for a person. Eusocial insects (ants, termites, bees, etc.) created their civilizations of a lower level, without sufficient intelligence.

3. Cultural evolution of Homo sapiens

About evolution

EVOLUTION – (from Lat. Evolutio – deployment) in a broad sense, a synonym for development; processes of change occurring in living and inanimate nature, as well as in social systems.

This term is used to refer to the entire development process, which consists of fairly smooth periods and sharp revolutionary periods. Sometimes this term is used to name only smooth periods of development.

The idea of evolution cannot be considered only one of the hypotheses explaining the world order. In biology, this is the only reasonable theory that allows you to combine the available information about the life of different creatures at different times.

Prerequisites for the evolution of living things

The prerequisites for the evolution of living nature are as follows:

1. Variability of objects of living nature. Descendants are not clones of the parents and are always different from them in some aspects.

2. Selection. Living objects, being in populations, are forced to fight for limited food resources. Therefore, inevitably there is a struggle with others like themselves or with environmental conditions for vital resources, i.e. the possibility of existence and reproduction. Charles Darwin called these processes natural selection.

3. Inheritance. Those individuals that, by their innate qualities, will be most adapted (adapted) to the conditions of existence, have more chances to survive and reproduce. These qualities in biological evolution are provided by the mechanisms of inheritance.

Charles Darwin established the first two conditions, but he knew nothing about the mechanisms of inheritance. The mechanisms of inheritance were investigated later.