Teaching and curiosity: sequential drivers of cumulative cultural evolution in the hominin lineage

Abstract

Many animals, and in particular great apes, show evidence of culture, in the sense of having multiple innovations in multiple domains whose frequencies are influenced by social learning. But only humans show strong evidence of complex, cumulative culture, which is the product of copying and the resulting effect of cumulative cultural evolution. The reasons for this increase in complexity have recently become the subject of extensive debate. Here, we examine these reasons, relying on both comparative and paleoarcheological data. The currently best-supported inference is that culture began to be truly cumulative (and so, outside the primate range) around 500,000 years ago. We suggest that the best explanation for its onset is the emergence of verbal teaching, which not only requires language and thus probably coevolved with the latter's evolution but also reflects the overall increase in proactive cooperation due to extensive allomaternal care. A subsequent steep increase in cumulative culture, roughly 75 ka, may reflect the rise of active novelty seeking (curiosity), which led to a dramatic range expansion and steep increase in the diversity and complexity of material culture. A final, and continuing, period of acceleration began with the Neolithic (agricultural) revolution.

What Is Our Purpose?

“…It took from 2004 to 2016 to determine the core characteristics of these models, and to find a name that could connect them conceptually. The MELT evolved over time to become a set of related, but context-specific, representations of how sophisticated thinking could be taught and learned, in keeping with Homo sapiens' history [9] and contemporary learning environments [14,15].…”

“…The first 4 billion anatomically modern Homo sapiens born, from around 200 millennia ago [4,5] to 100 millennia Before Present (BP) [6,7] have a fossil record that demonstrates just a little innovation [8,9]. Our large-brained ancestors primarily survived in the environments in which they were raised, or adapted to the new environments into which they moved.…”

“…This flurry of innovation was self-perpetuating. One reason for this was that development compounded: one tool led to the development of another tool, and when both were used together, this enabled further development [9]. Another reason was that humans could now observe others' intentional adaptation of things, so that the idea of innovation became apparent.…”

How Do We Relate?

“…Escalation of agricultural technology ensued, providing a competitive advantage over humans who did not plant seeds [6]. Technology compounded, with success growing on the back of technological success [7]. But no-one anticipated the inevitable problems associated with such success.…”

Hybrid Cognitive-Affective Strategies for AI Safety

“…new traditions, rituals, morality and religion -perhaps via shared doubt. Hence, while multiple other factors such as imitation, language and teaching [171,418] might have played a decisive role, we believe that future work could profit from more focus on cognitive-affective and social mechanisms for doubt and how to doubt and to share doubt entered the human affective niche. In a nutshell, it might as well be of relevance to know why we think or/and share that we do not know and to know why we explain.…”