The hottest Cultural Evolution Substack posts right now

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Why has fertility plummeted across East Asia?

The Great Gender Divergence • 412 implied HN points • 19 Jan 24
🌍 World Politics Cultural Evolution
  1. Meritocratic civil service exams in East Asia led to heavy investment in education for social mobility.
  2. Education fever in East Asia sparked an arms race of intensive parenting, seen as costly and labor-intensive.
  3. Cultural liberalization and economic development in East Asia have weakened the pressure to bear multiple sons, leading to plummeting fertility rates.

Moralistic Punishment Evolved to Prevent Cycles of Revenge

Living Fossils • 28 implied HN points • 14 Jan 26
🔬 Science Cultural Evolution
  1. Moral judgment often drives people to punish because punishment is a way to stop cycles of revenge; when everyone agrees a set penalty settles a dispute, further attacks become illegitimate.
  2. Because humans form alliances, fights can quickly escalate and harm many people, so shared rules and sanctions reduce costly internal conflict and group vulnerability.
  3. Across cultures there is broad agreement on the order of how serious offenses are but big differences in exact penalties, which suggests punishment evolved mainly to coordinate conflict endings rather than to optimize deterrence.

Considerations on Cultural Drift

Nothing Human • 20 implied HN points • 21 Jan 26
🎭️ Culture Cultural Evolution
  1. Cultural evolution is malfunctioning: extreme monoculture, rapid elite-driven change, and weaker selection pressures are letting maladaptive norms spread. This undermines the adaptive processes that built modern civilization and risks long-term social decline.
  2. It’s unclear that population decline will automatically stop innovation; the economic models that predict collapse are uncertain and contested. Institutions, digitized knowledge, AI, and reforms in how we do science could sustain or even boost innovation despite fewer people.
  3. Most obvious fixes are politically or morally blocked, so easy paths like subsidizing niche cultures, state cultural engineering, or privatizing long-term capital look impractical. Addressing cultural drift will likely require bold, unconventional governance or social experiments to restore deep cultural variety.
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DRAFT: Do Birds Do It Much Better? (Intelligence, That Is), & Other Topics Related to the Deep Substrate of Economic History

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 184 implied HN points • 11 Jun 25
💾 History Cultural Evolution
  1. The evolution of human intelligence is tied closely to our ability to learn and communicate as a group, not just the individual brain's development.
  2. Birds and some other animals have developed intelligence in their own ways, showing that complex thinking can exist in brains much smaller than humans.
  3. Different species can reach similar levels of intelligence using different brain structures, which suggests that intelligence can evolve independently in various forms.

A Theory of Everyone

Holodoxa • 119 implied HN points • 30 Nov 23
🔬 Science Cultural Evolution
  1. A Theory of Everyone explores the idea that culture, alongside genetics, plays a significant role in human success and progress.
  2. Muthukrishna emphasizes the importance of understanding cultural evolution to address future challenges and shape human society.
  3. The decline in energy return on investment poses a threat to human civilization, and Muthukrishna proposes leveraging cultural evolution to foster innovation and cooperation.

Building Utopia: Endurable version

Wood From Eden • 576 implied HN points • 23 Jan 24
📖 Philosophy Cultural Evolution
  1. Societies are constrained by laws of nature, specifically human nature and cultural evolution.
  2. Building a sustainable society requires considering factors like population expansion and high technology.
  3. A compromise between fertility and technology is essential for a society to thrive for generations to come.

ONE IMAGE: By My Authority & My Ego: The Long-Run Shape of Human Economic History, from -73000 to 2180

Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality • 153 implied HN points • 28 Nov 24
💾 History Cultural Evolution
  1. The human economic history is complicated and shaped by many factors over a long time. It's important to look back at our past to understand how we got to where we are.
  2. Calculating the true value of what people produced in the past is really tricky. Most production used to go towards basic needs, but now we have more technology and efficiency to create luxuries.
  3. Making predictions about the future is even more uncertain. We can only guess how things will continue to change and develop.

Rise of Civilization, Part I

America in Crisis • 59 implied HN points • 21 Dec 23
💾 History Cultural Evolution
  1. Humans scaled society to manage larger groups through cultural evolution, harnessing collective brain power.
  2. Living under the 'gossip trap' limited social organization, fostering a focus on reputation management over innovation.
  3. The rise of Western civilization was influenced by factors like Church initiatives, shifting societal foundations towards commerce, education, and meritocracy.

Cultural evolution and testing (Part II)

America in Crisis • 79 implied HN points • 05 Sep 23
📖 Philosophy Cultural Evolution
  1. Successful groups have pre-existing cultural structures that help them acquire useful information for success, leading to higher levels of cultural growth.
  2. Cultural beliefs and norms underlying group success are a result of cultural evolution, with some groups having more CG-enhancing cultural structures than others.
  3. Historical events like colonization and slavery have influenced different groups' cultural evolution and levels of cultural growth, impacting their success and development.

3 Tribal Superfoods from India that might go Big in 2023

Agribusiness Matters • 78 implied HN points • 16 Feb 23
🍲 Food & Drink Cultural Evolution
  1. Tribal superfoods from India may become popular in 2023 due to their cultural significance and potential health benefits.
  2. The shift from traditional tribal diets to modern diets raises questions about gut microbiome health and adaptation.
  3. Research on tribal diets and gut microbiomes is important to understand the impact on human health and the need for diversity in gut microbiomes.

Review of Michael Muthukrisha's new book A Theory of Everyone

America in Crisis • 39 implied HN points • 15 Jan 24
🎭️ Culture Cultural Evolution
  1. A Theory of Everyone by Michael Muthukrisha discusses the laws of life - Energy, Innovation, Cooperation, and Evolution - and how they shape the development of all life on Earth.
  2. The book explores the significance of cultural evolution in human intelligence, cooperation, and innovation, emphasizing education as a key factor in increasing intelligence.
  3. Muthukrisha's book addresses the future challenges and opportunities humanity faces, proposing solutions like immigrant assimilation models, governance changes, and promoting innovation through free speech and educational reform.

Moral Cultures: East Asian Edition, Part 1

Bullfish Hole • 58 implied HN points • 26 Jun 23
🎭️ Culture Cultural Evolution
  1. Honor culture is more prevalent in regions where legal systems are weak or absent.
  2. East Asian cultures are often characterized as 'face cultures' where reputation and relationships with others are of great importance.
  3. Face culture values humility, harmony, and hierarchy, and is distinct from both honor culture and victimhood culture.

Why the postwar prosperity was not atypical

America in Crisis • 19 implied HN points • 03 Feb 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Cultural Evolution
  1. Real wages for working class people grew slower after the 1970s due to economic policies, like tax cuts, since the Reagan administration.
  2. The post-war US economic success wasn't solely due to lack of foreign competition; trade only increased after mid-1960s tariff reductions.
  3. Shift away from high-productivity manufacturing jobs doesn't explain wage stagnation; the decrease in share of income going to working class started around 1980.

Culture & Cars in the Digital Age

The Digital Anthropologist • 19 implied HN points • 11 Oct 23
🎭️ Culture Cultural Evolution
  1. Cars are deeply ingrained in global cultures, impacting trends in autonomous vehicles and ownership models.
  2. Consumers prefer traditional knobs and buttons over touchscreens in cars, despite the automotive industry's shift towards digital interfaces.
  3. The shift towards non-ownership models for cars, such as monthly subscriptions, requires significant cultural change on a global scale.

Social consequences of economic evolution

America in Crisis • 19 implied HN points • 02 May 23
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Cultural Evolution
  1. The economic order impacts social issues such as marriage, incarceration, and education due to cultural evolution.
  2. Declining marriage rates for lower-income men may be linked to lower economic prospects, potentially leading to higher rates of crime.
  3. Black educational attainment and incarceration rates are influenced by factors like economic progress and historical discrimination, showcasing the lasting impact of past policies on present conditions.

The Birth of Israel

Cosmographia • 3 HN points • 04 Apr 24
💾 History Cultural Evolution
  1. The birth of Israel dates back to ancient times, with the earliest mention of Israel on the Merneptah Stele in around 1208 BC, indicating their presence and significance.
  2. The origins of the Israelites are complex, involving gradual settlements, interactions with various groups like the Philistines, and the assimilation of diverse traditions into a shared cultural identity.
  3. Archaeological evidence and historical context suggest that the Israelites likely originated as pastoralist groups like the Shasu, gradually forming a distinct group in the highlands of Canaan, challenging the established Canaanite and Egyptian powers.

Book Review: The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt

Something to Consider • 19 implied HN points • 08 Feb 23
💾 History Cultural Evolution
  1. The book mainly focuses on the history of Egypt's kings rather than the lives of everyday people. Most of what we know about ancient Egyptians comes from royal artifacts and structures, so there’s limited information about the general population.
  2. It’s a fun and easy read, full of fascinating facts that correct common misconceptions about Egyptian history. Readers learn a lot about important figures and events without feeling bogged down by overly complex details.
  3. The study highlights how and why states form and fall apart. Ancient Egypt's stability relied on agricultural wealth and a balance of power, while neglect or too much strength in leadership could lead to its eventual decline.

Facedox Hermeticism

The Carousel • 16 implied HN points • 26 Jan 24
🎭️ Culture Cultural Evolution
  1. Prominent online figures are revealing their faces after years of anonymity
  2. Anonymity for public figures can amplify their mystique and persona
  3. The visual iconography of public figures should match or exceed the mystery of their anonymity

Snakes and Singularities

Adjacent Possible • 1 HN point • 13 Mar 24
🔬 Science Cultural Evolution
  1. Snakes have evolved diverse traits through sudden phase shifts rather than incremental changes, expanding their adaptive possibilities significantly.
  2. Cultural and technological evolution also experience periods of sudden expansion and contraction of possibilities, akin to biological evolution's singularities.
  3. In addition to platform shifts, singularities in evolution can be driven by the emergence of single new traits leading to significant consequences in exploring new ecological niches.

Cats Playing Heavy Metal: Mongolia Finding Itself in the Modern World

Homo Ludens • 0 implied HN points • 19 Apr 24
🎭️ Culture Cultural Evolution
  1. Karl Marx foresaw the power of capital and globalization in the modern era, but failed to account for capitalism's enticing nature and adaptability.
  2. The Mongolian transition from socialist-communist to democratic-capitalist society has brought wealth but also challenges in defining cultural identity and navigating global influences.
  3. Globalization and capitalism impact traditional cultures, like Mongolian heavy metal music, leading to a struggle for meaning and connection in the face of commodification.