Well, human brains are about three times the mass of chimp brains, diverged from our most recent common ancestor with chimps about 6 million years ago, and have evolved a lot of distinctive new adaptations such as language, pedagogy, virtue signaling, art, music, humor, etc. So we might not want to put too much emphasis on cumulative cultural change as the key explanation for human/chimp differences.
Oh totally (and you probably know much more about this than me). I guess the key thing I’m challenging is the idea that there was something like a very fast transfer of power resulting just from upgraded computing power moving from chimp-ancestor brain → human brain (a natural FOOM), which the discussion sometimes suggests. My understanding is that it’s more like the new adaptations allowed for cumulative cultural change, which allowed for more power.
Well, human brains are about three times the mass of chimp brains, diverged from our most recent common ancestor with chimps about 6 million years ago, and have evolved a lot of distinctive new adaptations such as language, pedagogy, virtue signaling, art, music, humor, etc. So we might not want to put too much emphasis on cumulative cultural change as the key explanation for human/chimp differences.
Oh totally (and you probably know much more about this than me). I guess the key thing I’m challenging is the idea that there was something like a very fast transfer of power resulting just from upgraded computing power moving from chimp-ancestor brain → human brain (a natural FOOM), which the discussion sometimes suggests. My understanding is that it’s more like the new adaptations allowed for cumulative cultural change, which allowed for more power.