memex
for - definition - memex
memex
for - definition - memex
for - cooperative - Italy
I think both science and concept of Buddhism are going to need to be updated uh in the in the future
for - science - Buddhism - both need to be updated
phento Buddhism
for - definition - femto Buddhism
for - Micheal Levin - self - Buddhism
one of the things that that that we figured out is how to communicate with that collective intelligence
for - communication - with cells - Michael Levin
for - YouTube - Michael Levin - Forbes interview
Just a small collection of chemicals wired appropriately will already give you 5 or 6 different kinds of learning sensitization, habituation, associative learning
for - learning - even chemical networks can learn! don't need living system! - Michael Levin
Can you take the tools that people use to study memory, learning, goal directedness, problem solving in behavioral cognitive sciences, and can you apply them to the kinds of things I'm talking about cells, tissues, molecular networks. And the answer is yes.
for - intelligence - take from behavior / cognitive science - apply to molecular networks & tissues - Michael Levin
Being able to use the tools you have and new ways to solve problems you've never seen before. That is not a weird way to define intelligence,
for - definition - intelligence - Michael Levin - to be able to use tools to find new ways to solve problems (reach goals)
tools from behavioral and cognitive science having to do with the study of memory, the study of goal-directness, problem-solving in various spaces is much broader than we typically think of in terms of brains and activity in this three dimensional world.
for - cognition - not just restricted to brains in 3d space.
Josh Bongard's lab at UVM
for - Josh Bongard - collaborator of Micheal Levin
Anthrobots are made of adult human tracheal epithelium
for - anthrobots - made from hman tracheal epithelium cells
Xenobots are made of frog skin
for - synthetic life xenobots - made from frog skin
‘you don't even know what Bubble Sort does. It's six lines of code. And we found new things that nobody had seen. If we can't predict what bubble sort is going to do, you have no idea what this other thing is going to be.
for - human hubris - bubble sort - Michael Levin
for - youtube - interview - Michael Levin - Where biology goes off the rails
for - youtube - interview - Michael Levin - 20 questions
not to worry too much about anybody's advice and to just develop my science in the way that I wanted to.
for - best advice - Michael Levin - don't worry too much about what others say
they don't age. So asexual strains of planaria, which basically reproduce by cutting themselves in half and regenerating, there is no evidence of aging. They go on forever. The worms that we have in our lab are in physical continuity with worms that were here 400 million years ago.
for - planaria - don't age - life of same individual is 400 million years old - don't age
learned information is not stored entirely in the brain,
for - planaria tail regenerates head - not all information is contained in the brain
you chop off their head, which contains their brain, you chop off their head, the tail will regrow a new head, and that new worm will remember the original training.
for - planaria - chop of head - tail will regenerate head
you can chop them this way. However you cut, the record is something like 275 pieces, if you chop them into pieces, every single piece regenerates to make a perfect little worm. So every piece knows exactly what the whole thing is supposed to look like, and they rebuild.
for - planaria - regenerate
planaria of which this is an example, are an absolutely amazing creature that contains within itself all of the mysteries of life and mind, basically.
for - planaria - amazing creatures - Michael Levin
for - Trump - World Liberty Corruption
stabilized Earth is not what to proof no but sometimes if you need a floor or you need to this you want to clean it you want to wash it jeez so you it is kazin is milk iice it's a very old glue
for - rammed earth - waterproof layer - casein (milk) wash
for - Rammed Earth
for - building - rammed earth - research - Lehm Ton Erde Factory - rammed earth research - to - Lehm Ton Erde - https://hyp.is/wUejiNp7EfCkV88qE6w2Ng/www.lehmtonerde.at/en/products/wall/
for - regeneration - reefs - New York - Billion Oyster Project
for - Yuval Noah Harari - youtube - Big Think - Yuval Noah Harari - Why advanced societies fall for mass delusion
information fasts
for - definition - information fast
lots of people are very mindful what they feed their body. We should be equally mindful about what we feed our mind.
for - quote - be mindful of what you feed your mind - Yuval Noah Harari - lots of people are very mindful what they feed their body. We should be equally mindful about what we feed our mind.
That is a situation we are now living through, and it is no coincidence that the democratic conversation is breaking down all over the world because the algorithms are hijacking it. We have the most sophisticated information technology in history and we are losing the ability to talk with each other to hold a reasoned conversation.
for - progress trap - social media - misinformation - AI algorithms hijacking and pretending to be human
AI could give an advantage to totalitarian systems in the 21st century, why? Because AI can process enormous amount of information much faster and more efficiently than any communist bureaucrat.
for - progress trap - AI - totalitarian government - can exploit for centralized, non-self-correcting control
how much truth do you need in order to construct the Soviet Union and how much fiction and delusions do you need in order to construct the Soviet Union? You need a little truth and a lot of fiction. And this is true of most of the large scale political systems that existed throughout human history,
for - totalitarian systems - a little truth plus a lot of fiction
The more we flood the world with information, unless we make the effort to construct institutions that invest in truth, we'll be flooded by fiction and illusion and delusion and junk information.
for - quote - flooded with misinformation - Yuval Noah Harari - The more we flood the world with information, - unless we make the effort to construct institutions that invest in truth, - we'll be flooded by fiction, illusion, delusion and junk information.
The biggest misconception about information is that information is truth and information isn't truth. Most information is not truth. The truth is a very rare and costly and expensive type of information.
for - comparison - information and truth - truth is a very special type of information
The miracle of nationalism and patriotism is that it makes us scare about millions of strangers that we have never met in our lives.
for - nationalism - role of - makes us care beyond a small dunbar number
Every large scale human system is based on an unlikely marriage between mythology and bureaucracy.
for - large scale human systems - are a combination of - mythology and bureaucracy
example of self-correcting mechanism is the way that modern science works. In contrast to traditional religions
for - comparison - self correcting mechanisms - science has - religions don't have
The Bible, the 10 Commandments for instance, endorses slavery. The 10th commandment says, that you should not covet your neighbors field or your neighbors ox, or your neighbors slaves. According to the 10th commandment, God has no problem with people owning slaves he just has a problem with people coveting the slaves of somebody else.
for - example - no self-correcting mechanism in religion - 10th commandment and slaves
When we come to the challenge of AI, what we need, our institutions that are able to identify and correct their mistakes and the mistakes of AI as the technology develops.
for - AI - need for self-correcting institutions that regulate AI
In dictatorships, there is no such self-correcting mechanism.
for - comparison - democracy vs dictatorship - self-correcting vs no self-correcting mechanism
What are elections? Elections are a self-correcting mechanism.
for - democracy - elections - are a self correcting mechanism
the US legal system allows is for these legal persons to make political donations because it's considered part of freedom of speech. So now this, the richest person in the US is giving billions of dollars to candidates in exchange for these candidates broadening the rights of AIs,
for - progress trap - AI can become political lobbyist for increasing rights of AI
We could be in a situation when the richest person in the United States is not a human being. The richest person in the United States is an a incorporated AI.
for - progress trap - AI as legal person (US Corporation) - richest person in the world could be an AI
the acronym AI traditionally stood for artificial intelligence, but I think it's more accurate to think about it as an acronym for alien intelligence because
for - AI - Alien Intelligence, not Artificial Intelligence - It is not an Artifact that we create and control
what we are facing is not, you know, like a Hollywood science fiction scenario of one big evil computer trying to take over the world. No, it's nothing like that. It's more like millions and millions of AI bureaucrats that are given more and more authority to make decisions about us
for - futures - AI - millions of AI bots making decisions about us
So basically the whole of life is becoming like one long job interview. Anything you do at any moment is part of your job interview 20 years from now. Now, all this is made possible by the fact that AI is the first technology in history that can take decisions by itself.
for - surveillance state - AI makes it possible
Anything you do or say at any time might be watched and recorded and then it can meet you down the line 10 or 20 years in the future
for - surveillance state - Yuvah Noah Harari
Computers, they don't care if it's night or day, if it's summer or winter, they don't need vacations, they don't have families they want to spend time with. They are always on. And therefore they might force us to be always on,
for - comparison - humans vs machines - organic vs inorganic
If you imagine all the ways you can play Go as a kind of planet with a geography. So humans were stuck on one island in the planet Go for more than 2000 years, because human minds just couldn't conceive of going beyond this small island.
for - AI - AlphaGo - analogy - humans stuck on small island for 2,000 years
ow would you respond to such ways of of looking at data?
for - progress cheerleaders - response to - to - progress - Jason Hickel - responds to Steven Pinker - to - progress - Jason Hickel - responds to Bill Gates - https://hyp.is/go?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjacobin.com%2F2019%2F02%2Fsteven-pinker-global-poverty-neoliberalism-progress&group=vnpq69nW
I think all of these kind of public good uh infrastructures that we have came about in this very narrow special window of time uh where you had this kind of incursion of egalitarianism uh and and a and a spirit of of you know public-mindedness that's all being eroded.
for - public good - being eroded
So a lot of the goodness that was felt in the western world and experienced in the western world was thieved really really thieved and left a lot of damage in its wake.
for
our world and data does they do have some legitimate research because that's what think tanks do. They launder illegitimate research with legitimate research. uh and their tactic primarily is to uh set the scope of what they are commenting on or researching uh that it you know it puts forward the kind of results that they want uh that aligns with their ideology.
for - Our World in Data - discredited website - mix legitimate with illegitimate research to advance a biased ideology
he counted examples of violence done by an indigenous group in I believe Uruguay uh as an example of violence of prehistoric primitive societies. Uh >> even though >> the the actual violence that was reported was done by colonists against those indigenous people but he counted it as the opposite as violence done by the indigenous people
for - progress champion - Steven Pinker - discredited - one example of many - outright lie - he says violence committed BY indigenous Uruguay people but it was colonialist violence done TO THEM!
Steven Pinger's big book better angels of our nature uh inspired a whole literature debunking it
for - book - Better Angels - Steven Pinker - inspired literature debunking him - to - progress - Jason Hickel - responds to Steven Pinker - to - progress - Jason Hickel - responds to Bill Gates - https://hyp.is/go?url=https%3A%2F%2Fjacobin.com%2F2019%2F02%2Fsteven-pinker-global-poverty-neoliberalism-progress&group=vnpq69nW
Steven Pinker
for - progress - Steven Pinker - cheerleader of
is causing cognitive decline and uh hallucination psychosis, all of this stuff. and and so it's obviously extremely harmful
for - progress trap - AI
AI is it's both a kind of you Ponzi scheme, investment, you know, crime. Uh, [laughter] >> but it's it's also this real panic to scramble for a plausible narrative to keep people on the progress train.
for - AI - ponzi scheme - keep the progress narrative alive - while everything else is falling apart
he's he's kind of calling the bluff on the progress narrative
for - history - progress - Francis Fukuyama - liberalism won - calling the bluff
those have to deliver. They they can kind of get away with not delivering uh on their promises intergenerationally
for - history - progress - secular golden age promise - can procastinate by pushing it forward to the next generation
what's clever about the more religious progress narratives is that the golden age happens after you die
for - history - progress - religious golden age - is post death
even in the Old Testament, God has to keep promising land. He has to, you know, there has to always be this new kind of thing. Uh and it's it's never enough
for - history - progress - promised land - contemporary mythical promises - nothing new
these kind of secular ideas and trying to to uh reinvest them with uh religious and mythic ideas. Uh, >> and so there is, you know, a little bit of a reverse kind of enlightenment happening.
for - history - contemporary society - reverse enightenment
over the past few years as well, we've seen this real anti-science kickback
for - observation - anti-science blowback
we are now back in this sort of age of religiosity, particularly with the Trump administration, him claiming that he has essentially been anointed anointed by God in order to do whatever he wants.
for - history - Trump - back into age of religosity. He claims, like former kings, he was anointed by god!
John Lockach uh who often called the father of liberalism uh who's putting forward these kind of secular value systems to uh at first to you know justif ify things like the slave trade uh of which he was an investor uh the dispossession of Native Americans and their land
for - trivia - philosopher John Locke - investor in slave trade and native american dispossesion!
it's not so much about we have to you know expand the scope of the church or you know civilize people who don't have Jesus Christ and becomes more about we have to uh expand the market and we have to uh you know increase the the you know national revenue and the acreage that's under cultivation
for - history - progress - after Enlightenment - no long about converting savages to Christians - became about expanding markets
the the big break that you see between uh secularism and religiosity even outside of progress narratives is European enlightenment
for - history - progress - European Enlightenment - broke secular off from religious progress very abruptly
difference between secular faith in progress and this kind of more religious or mythical faith in progress is a running theme through the book
for - history - progress - secular vs religious
we first start seeing uh kind of more uh closer something closer to monotheism with Zoroastrianism in Persia
for - history - progress - monotheism appears - Zoroastrianism in Persia (2nd millenia BCE)
polytheism I think is is uh you know expansive and and is part of the the Greek state expansion as well. Uh it's part of the Roman expansionism
for - history - progress - expansionism and gods - went hand-in-hand
rulers who claim to be champions of Marduk and and kind of justify their position at the top of this hierarchy by being you about the the representatives of the supreme god
for - history - progress - political and religious partnership narrative - top leader claimed to represent top god
Greco Roman is is you know the Jupiter and and Zeus
for - history - progress - polytheistic gods - Roman and Greek - Jupiter & Zeus
pinpointing this kind of break with these polytheistic uh religions that emerge in Mesopotamia. Um Marduk is is the kind of the supreme god.
for - history - progress - animism - gave way to polytheism in Mesopotamia - Marduk god
such a religious undertone to the progress narrative
for - progress narrative - often accompanied by religious undertones
hat the book is is kind of trying to do is trace that lineage from that initial uh you know the the very first kind of literary endeavors um through uh you know uh Judaism and and through the classical Greek uh thinkers
for - book - tracing history of progress / Growthist political economy narrative from Vikings to Mesopotamia to Judaism to Greeks to Islam to Enlightenment to US
every single inauguration speech is talking about how we've got great progress. We're going to get more progress.
for - progress - every inaugurations speech
finding that narrative just kind of reiterating over and over again through different cultures uh through along I mean you know thousands of years.
for - history - progress narrative - repeats over and over
what progress should be, why it is so vital, and how little time we really have to achieve it.
for - youtube - Planet Critical interview - Samuel Miller MacDonald - The Myth of Progress
By signing up, you'll get the Planet Critical newsletter delivered straight to your inbox every week. You'll also have access to the wonderful Planet Critical community who are full of inspiring thoughts, ideas, critiques, and determination.
for - SRG comment - join us - MEconomy - forces us all into silos for survival
rogress: A History of Humankind's Worst Idea
for - progress trap - book - to - book - Progress: A History of Humankind's Worst Idea - https://hyp.is/cMyt5tjMEfCGz9-Edzp-hA/harpercollins.co.uk/products/progress-a-history-of-humanitys-worst-idea-samuel-miller-mcdonald - author Samuel Miller McDonald
SRG comment - interview - book on Progress - see other references: - to - book - A Short History of Progress (2004) - https://hyp.is/93k5CtjLEfC1UpPEi59BHA/archive.org/details/shorthistoryofpr0000wrig - to - movie - Surviving Progress (2011) - https://hyp.is/sRPYJtjLEfCwuDdwG2xNnw/www.nfb.ca/film/surviving-progress/ - SRG article - Cogress
Samuel traces this narrative all the way back to 5,000 years ago
for - progress - myth of - 5000 years ago
for - Medium article - cogress - Part 1 - progress trap - James Gien Wong - definition - cogress - to - Medium article cogress - Part 2 - progress trap - James Gien Wong - https://hyp.is/t8FhpDGAEfC4J7f0NEFujg/medium.com/@gien_SRG/human-cogress-part-2-d6fd075a55c7 - to - Stop Reset Go hypothesis annotations - progress trap - Ronald Wright - https://jonudell.info/h/facet/?max=100&expanded=true&user=stopresetgo&exactTagSearch=true&any=ronald+wright - General - https://jonudell.info/h/facet/?max=100&expanded=true&user=stopresetgo&exactTagSearch=true&any=progress+trap - from - youtube - Planet Critical interview - Samuel Miller MacDonald - The Myth of Progress - https://hyp.is/r-hmFtjKEfCd8odATbINbA/www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEhmWEDkZUQ
for - book - A Short History of Progress (2004) - author - Ronald Wright - progress trap - Ronald Wright - A Short History of Progress (2004) - to - movie - Surviving Progress (2011) - https://hyp.is/sRPYJtjLEfCwuDdwG2xNnw/www.nfb.ca/film/surviving-progress/ - to - book - Progress: A History of Humanity's Worst Idea - from - youtube - Planet Critical interview - Samuel Miller MacDonald - The Myth of Progress - https://hyp.is/r-hmFtjKEfCd8odATbINbA/www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEhmWEDkZUQ
for - progress traps - movie - Surviving Progress (2011) - from - book - A Short History of Progress (2004) - https://hyp.is/93k5CtjLEfC1UpPEi59BHA/archive.org/details/shorthistoryofpr0000wrig - from - youtube - Planet Critical interview - Samuel Miller MacDonald - The Myth of Progress - https://hyp.is/r-hmFtjKEfCd8odATbINbA/www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEhmWEDkZUQ
for - book - Progress: A History of Humanity's Worst Idea - author - Samuel Miller McDonald - from - youtube - interview - Planet Critical - Samuel Miller McDonald
for - youtube - How the rich took over the economy - from - youtube - interview - Thomas Piketty - can't blame the top, so demonize the bottom - https://hyp.is/10dTvtheEfC_-8OXfzSTJA/www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeZoNTJgBZs
he was very [music] effective at telling that story. His main campaign slogan was, "Let's make [music] America great again.
for - Reagan slogan - blamed recession on taxes, social programs & regulations - Let's me America Great Again!
In 1979 and 1980, two political leaders came into power who would turn this economic revolution into a political one. Margaret Thatcher in [music] the UK and Ronald Reagan in the US.
for - economic history - Volcker Shock - 2 political allies - Thatcher (1979) and Reagan (1980) came to power - cast taxes, social programs and regulation as the bogeyman
David Harvey calls this [music] accumulation
for - economic history - Volcker Shock - David Harvey - accumulation by dispossession. Defaulted countries signing with IMF: - increased poverty - exploded inequality - collapsed public service - gave up economic sovereignty to global financial institutions - continuation of colonialist practice of extractionism and appropriation
conditions were called structural adjustment programs and they forced countries to adopt a very specific set of economic policies mainly the privatization [music] of public assets
for - economic history - Volcker Shock - IMF Structural adjustment program - privatize public assets, - cut spending of welfare, - austerity across the board - deregulation, - open domestic markets to foreign corporations, - remove protection of local businesses and workers - IMF - a deal with the devil
they had to turn somewhere for help. And that somewhere was the International Monetary
for - economic history - Volcker Shock - defaulted countries turn to IMF
subsaharan African countries and parts of Asia were also plunged into crisis
for - economic history - Volcker Shock - second casualties - Sub-Saharan African & Asian countries defaulted
the Latin American debt crisis
for - economic history - Volcker Shock - first casualties - Latin American debt crisis - Mexico, Brazil, Argentina defaulted on loans
Most global finance is denominated in dollars. US interest rates effectively set global interest rates. So when Fuler pushed rates towards 20%, developing countries who had borrowed dollars just a few years earlier saw their interest payments on those loans explode.
for - economic history - Volcker Shock - developing countries loans became unpayable overnight
Paul Fulker was appointed chairman of the Federal Reserve, essentially the head of the United States Central Bank. in 1979 and his appointment signaled a dramatic shift in US economic governance
for - economic history - 1979 - Paul. A. Volcker appointed chairman of Federal Reserve - Volcker Shock - shift - from employment to inflation - raised interest rates to an astounding 20%, intentionally causing a recession
monitoism offered Fulkar the intellectual and political cover he needed for this shift in monetary policy. Away from the Keynesian commitment to full employment and [music] economic stability and towards protecting the value of capital which had been eroded by years of high inflation.
for - economic history - Volcker Shock - used Milton Friedman's theory to provide cover to stop Keynesian commitment to full employment and instead protect capital from inflation. - Volcker raised interest rates to 20%,, causing massive plant shutdowns and unemployment to surge above 10%. - The recession closed shops, and labor lost its bargaining power when plants are shut down.
Milton [music] Freriedman, the economist most associated with neoliberalism, whose work was heavily financed by business elites. It was his theory, monitoism, which framed inflation as the ultimate economic threat
for - economic history - Milton Friedman - represented business elites - Monetarism - inflation seen as ultimate threat to elites
The business round table was established in 1972
for - economic history - 1972 - Business Round Table established
from 60,000 businesses in 1972 to over a quarter million just 10 years later
for stats - economic history - corporate power - 10 years - American Chamber of Commerce - from 60,000 to 250,000 members
Powell memo. It was written by Lewis Powell,
for - economic history - powell memo - Lewis Powell - inequality - corporate lawyer who became supreme court judge - memo that started a long term political campaign to exploit the elite crisis for corporations to take control of universities, media, law and public opinion FOR THE ELITES
People are so disgusted, you know, with this working of the of the economic systems that in the end because you tell them they cannot look up and they cannot do anything with people at the top. They start looking down
for - inequality - Thomas Piketty - opinion - middle class can't get tax relief from the elites - so they take it out on those below them - to - youtube - economic history - what started the chain reaction of modern day inequality - https://hyp.is/SIBPoNjHEfCxI8N7cC7ntw/www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAV0bkTHui8
A major evolutionary transition in individuality is defined by two conditions
for: - MET - METI - Major Evolutionary Transition in Individuality - definition - Major Evolutionary Transition in Individuality (METI) - two conditions for METI - 1. living forms that were capable of independent replication before the replication can only replicate as part of a larger unit after the MET - 2. there is a lack of within-group conflict such that the larger unit can be thought of as a fitness-maximizing individual in its own right. - When these 2 conditions are met, evolution lea a new higher level organism. - The new individual acts with a single purpose where the interests of the previously independent individuals are now aligned.
t’s a very generic definition that I think gets to the heart of what we mean by intelligence, which is the ability to adaptively navigate a problem space with some degree of competency to get your needs met
for - definition - intelligence - Michael Levin the ability to adaptively navigae a problem space with some degree of competency to get your needs met (to fulfill your goal seeking activity)
understanding how that alignment happens, how an entire collective buys into the same story. In an important sense, models of the world, AKA stories, hold collectives together
for - stories - unity - cells - humans - Michael Levin - whether you are a cell or a human, you need to buy into the same story in order to solve problems together.
stochasticoptimization of dominance relationships, in which a dominance hierarchy ofindividuals with exclusively self-centered characteristics (the desire to dominate,resentment at being dominated) transitions spontaneously to egalitarianism as theircapacity for language develops
for - language - shifts - dominance hierarchy to egalitarianism
for - paper - The emergence of egalitarianism in a model of early human societies (2017) - author - Guillaume Calmettes - James N. Weiss
How did egalitarianism emerge in early human societies?
for - question - egalitarianism - how did it arise in early human societies?
for - paper - Major transitions in sociocultural evolution (2025) - author - Arsham Nejad kourki - criitque of sociocultural systems as ETI
sociocultural systems typically lack the core conditions required for an ETI, including autonomous reproduction at the group level and the operation of natural selection in the reproductive mode
for - ETI - sociocultural systems as ETI - critique - lack autonomous reproduction at the group level - lack operation of natural selection in the reproductive mode
Evolutionary Transitions in Individuality (ETI)
for - Evolutionary Transition in Individuality (ETI)
major evolutionary transition in individuality (ETI)
for - Major Evolutionary Transitions in Individuality (METI) - Evolutionary Transitions in Individuality (ETI)
for - paper - Characteristic processes of human evolution caused the Anthropocene and may obstruct its global solutions (2023) - author - Timothy M. Waring - Zachary T. Wood - Eörs Szathmáry
SRG comment - validation that cultural evolution must make a dramatic shift because - the patterns of cultural evolution that brought human civilization to modernity and the Anthropocene - could end up destroying it - progress trap - cultural evolution - patterns of existing cultural evolution and progress could be our ultimate progress trap
characteristic patterns of human group-level cultural evolution created the Anthropocene and will work against global collective solutions to the environmental challenges it poses
for - cultural evolution - futures - cannot be like the past
We conclude that our species must alter longstanding patterns of cultural evolution to avoid environmental disaster and escalating between-group competition.
for - cultural evolution - futures - directional change<br /> - our species must alter longstanding patterns of cultural evolution to avoid - environmental disaster and - escalating between-group competition
for - ACE Lab - Applied Cultural Evolution Laboratory - from - article - University of Maine - Culture is driving a major shift in human evolution, new theory proposes - https://hyp.is/S1QxRtf2EfCxxAP798Jrpw/umaine.edu/news/blog/2025/09/15/culture-is-driving-a-major-shift-in-human-evolution-new-theory-proposes/
Applied Cultural Evolution Laboratory at the University of Maine
for - to - Applied Cultural Evolution Laboratory - University of Maine - https://hyp.is/aVSgkNf2EfChbceMGSBicA/timwaring.info/
for - cultural evolution - overtaking - genetic evolution - Waring & Wood - to - paper - Cultural inheritance is driving a transition in human evolution - https://hyp.is/OPBwzNeYEfCiTgP0i-iBhQ/academic.oup.com/bioscience/article-abstract/75/10/803/8230384
a transition in individuality is driven by an underlying transition ininheritance from DNA to cultural signals
for - transition - in individuality - from genetic to cultural
evolutionary transition in individuality (ETI)
for - evolutionary transition in individuality (ETI)
for - gene-culture coevolution - paper - prepress - Cultural inheritance is driving a major transition in human evolution - author - Timothy M Waring - Zachary T Wood
evolutionary transition in both inheritance and individuality (ETII).
for - gene-culture coevolution - definition - Evolutionary Transition in both Inheritance and Individuality (ETII) - authors - Timothy M Waring - Zachary T Wood - paper - Cultural inheritance is driving a transition in human evolution 2025
for - paper - 2025 - Cultural inheritance is driving a transition in human evolution - author<br /> - Timothy M Waring - from - U of Maine News - Culture is driving a major shift in human evolution, new theory proposeshttps://hyp.is/7sMSFteXEfC_tNvhW0UTPA/umaine.edu/news/blog/2025/09/15/culture-is-driving-a-major-shift-in-human-evolution-new-theory-proposes/ - Zarchary T Wood
We speculate that, in the long term, culture will continue to grow in influence over human evolution until genes become secondary structures that encode human biological design blueprints but are ultimately governed by culture.
for - genes subservient to culture - We speculate that, in the long term, culture will continue to grow in influence over human evolution - until genes become secondary structures that encode human biological design blueprints - but are ultimately governed by culture.
for - progress traps - speed of cultural vs genetic evolution
SRG comment - As Ronald Wright pointed out, it is the speed of our cultural evolution that creates a gap between the evolutionary "hardware" we are equipped with and the novel phenomena that we have never encountered before
The issue with genetic change is that it tends to be slow and gradual. Cultural evolution, in contrast, can occur within the time it takes to pass a piece of legislation.
for - comparison - cultural vs genetic evolution - speed
“On reviewing the evidence, we find that culture solves problems much more rapidly than genetic evolution. This suggests our species is in the middle of a great evolutionary transition.”
for - evolutionary transition - from genetic to cultural - progress trap - cultural evolution
Wood, Waring, and many scholars in the field of evolutionary biology believe we are in the midst of another transition, one that has the potential to turn us into a “superorganism.
for - MET - major evolutionary transition in individuality
culture has overtaken biology as the predominant evolutionary force in our species
for - cultural evolution vs biological evolution - cultural evolution has overtaken biology as the predominant evolutionary force in our species
Cultural evolution eats genetic evolution for breakfast,
for - quote - cultural evolution eats genetic evolution for breakfast - Zachary Wood
for - human social superorganism
each person is, on average, an assemblage of 37 trillion eukaryotic cells combined with 300 trillion bacterial cells; the 20,000 protein-coding genes in the eukaryotic genome supplemented by 2 million bacterial genes.
for - stats - cells in body - eukaryotic vs microbiotic - eukaryotic - 37 trillion vs microbiome and bacteria - 300 trillion - eukaryotic - 20,000 protein coding genes vs microbiome and bacteria 2 million
for our bacterial partners, a human lifetime is deep time.
for - microbiome - one human lifetime is deep time - relativity
Because one human lifetime may encompass a million bacterial generations, individual species and the microbiome itself can evolve within a single host.
for - quote - one human lifetime - evolution of a million generations of bacteria - Because one human lifetime may encompass a million bacterial generations, individual species and the microbiome itself can evolve within a single host.
For many if not all members of the human microbial fauna, generation times are measured in hours or even minutes. These short generation times, coupled with the large population sizes of many bacteria, effectively elide the boundary between ecological and evolutionary time
for - microbiome - blurs ecological and evolutionary time - due to short generation time of microfauna
Anthropogenically driven climate change is occurring too quickly to enable the majority of plant and animal species to respond through genotypic change. Instead, most species can only change their geographic distribution,
for - genotypic change - anthropogenically driven climate change - too quick for genotypic change adaptation
In contrast to the traditional focus on the individual organism as the target of selection and the unit of evolution, the genetic information embodied by each of our microbiomes may itself be the target for and the product of the evolutionary process.
for - unpack - microbiome as the target for / product of evolution
The collective microbial genome in our gut may include 100-fold more genetic information than what can be found in our own eukaryotic cells.
for - trivia - microbiome - 100x more genetic information here than our other body cells -meme - most of the genetic information inside you is not really you
bacteria engage in extensive horizontal gene transfer
for - definition - horizontal gene transfer - genetic material transfer across species boundaries
efficient removal of potentially toxic by-products of metabolism, and provides a homeostatic environment for bacterial growth
for - microbiome - functions - efficient removal of toxic byproducts of metabolism - homestatic environment for(beneficial) bacterial growth
Marked differences between one human microbiome and the next suggest that no single bacterial species must always be present in the gut—or in any other body environment—to ensure a working microbiome.
for - microbiome - keystone ROLES - no keystone species - can vary from person to person
keystone roles
for - keystone roles vs keystone species - microbiome
keystone species
for - definition - keystone microbiome species - critical species that, if removed, can engender collapse of the entire microbiome system
microbiome is clearly linked to the maturation and regulation of the human immune system,
for - adjacency - human microbiome - immune system
the passage through the birth canal seeds the newborn’s microbiome. Infants delivered by cesarean section, in contrast, exhibit a distinct microbiome that more closely resembles the composition of the mother’s skin
for - trivia - birth - microbiome - natural childbirth vs cesarean - birth canal seeds newborn's microbiome. Cesarean section alters it - microbiome more like mother's skin!
nstead, such perturbed ecosystems may settle on a new composition that includes different species, many of them resistant to antibiotic treatment.
for - progress trap - long term antibiotic use - can create new composition of microbiome with species resistant to antibiotic treatment
the Human Microbiome Project
for - The Human Microbiome Project - progress trap - antibiotics - severely disrupts the microbiome (Human Microbiome Project)
microbiomics
for - definition - microbiomics - the study of the multiple microbial ecosystems that constitute the (human) bidy
what we are saying is we do not know how the soul generates the intelligence it clearly has but that it has it is obvious it doesn't divide until it knows that the genome has been accurately replicated
for - cell intelligence - the cell knowns when to divide - it won't divide until all replication errors have been fixed
both replication is dependent on the living cell and the function of the proteins is dependent on the living cell. Neither automatically follow from the DNA alone
for - key insight - cell replication AND function of proteins are both dependent on the living cell. Neither follow from DNA alone - Denis Noble
don't think at the molecular level we know exactly how a cell can be said to know the time has come to divide but it won't do so until that is the case
for - unanswered question - when cells know when to divide
cut and paste enzymes
for - definition - cut and paste enzyme - living cells provide cut and past enzyme to run along the genome and correct all the replication errors
about dozen years ago, chemists actually checked if you unravel the DNA in a dish without a cell, how does it replicate?
for - DNA replication experiment - in vitro - lots of errors - 1/10,000 pairs error rate - our genomes 3 billion base pairs long each - so 300,000 errors - would be fatal to any cell
It was actually Shreddinger who formulated that idea way back in 1942 when he wrote a book called what is life?
for - book - What is Life? Schrodinger - formulated the idea behind the central dogma of molecular biology
Francis Crick had formulated what he called the central dogma of molecular biology
for - definition - The central dogma of molecular biology \ - our genes generate proteins - proteins form bodily structures - everything within our body can therefore be predicted from the level of the DNA
the teological sin
for - definition - the teological sin - biological systems aren't suppose to have agency!
I was faced in 1958 when I started graduate study at University College London with that extraordinary fact. Nobody knew how it could be that a muscle could excite itself to be rhythmic.
for - history - Denis Noble - 1958 - question - heartbeat of embryo - how? no nervous system yet.
The first heartbeat in an animal as complicated as us occurs after about 28 days of an embryo
for - embryo - 28 days - first circulation system - why? CO2 and O2 diffuse over distances of a few microns - at 28 days, the embryo is about 30mm so needs a circulatory system to diffuse CO2 and O2
for - Denis Noble - youtube - interview - Denis Noble - We're stuck in a DNA dogma
in your latest book that you wrote with your brother brother Raymond Noble living system
for - book - Understanding Living Systems - Denis and Raymond Noble - to - book - Understanding Living Systems - Denis and Raymond Noble - https://hyp.is/M7xm0NeMEfCqc2PC5Mwj2A/dokumen.pub/understanding-living-systems-9781009277365-9781009277396.html
Understanding Living Systems
for - book - Understanding Living Systems -o Denis and Raymond Noble - from - youtube - Denis Noble - interview - We're stuck in a DNA dogma - https://hyp.is/gWe8MteLEfCpKr-k4niKcg/www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAPhBt8VJCM
Can our social evolution save us from the path of our social evolution that began 10 000 years ago?
for - question - evolution - can our social evolution save us - from the path of our social evolution that began 10,000 years ago?
Let me reiterate, global capitalism is the legacy of the agricultural system.
for - relationship - agriculture - is the parent - of global capitalism - It (global capitalism) is an elaboration of the agricultural system. - Surplus and expansion and - profound, almost mechanistic, interdependency in material life, and - duality in the human relationship to the more-than-human world - became the order of the day beginning with grain agriculture. - The basic structure and dynamic of the agricultural system were subsequently extended with elaborations that have eventually led to global capitalism.
division of labour creates ‘a built-in enforcer for cooperation
for - agriculture - division of labor - enforcer of cooperation
No humans are superorganisms in the way insects are, but some insect species and most of humanity became economic superorganisms when they engaged agriculture.
for - economic superorganism - human species qualifies
The term 'economic superorganism' is not to be interpreted as biological
for - definition - economic superorganism - The cohesive whole brought about by agriculture and the architecture that underlies it. Not to be interpreted as biological. - Used more in the sense of Henrich (economic superorganism) which refers to the structure and dynamic in cooperative material life particular to agriculture - NOT used in the strictly biological sense of E.O. Wilson, Holldobler
Humans are now organized in a global economic system that is difficult to alter in meaningful ways
for - insight - polycrisis - agricultural system - agriculture-based economic system - difficult to halt
All engage positive feedback loops that are expansive. That process can be understood for humans in this way
for - agriculture - expansiveness - description - Nice description!
Global capitalism can be considered ‘a system within a system’ in the sense that it models the agricultural system in its structure and dynamic
for comparison - agriculture - capitalism - one is the parent, the other is the uncontrolled offspring
for - economic superorganism
SRC comment - This paper is so eloquently written! Reading it, one really senses the enormous impact that agriculture has had on the cultural evolution of our species, so much so that we think of it as natural and absolute, rather than relative. - We did not have to be on the cultural trajectory we are now on, all made possible through the dependency on agriculture, the culture of plants.
James C. Scott tell us that humans were ‘disciplined and subordinated to the metronome of our own crops …. Once Homo sapiens took that fateful step into agriculture, our species entered an austere monastery whose task master was mostly the genetic clockwork of a few plants
for - origins - agriculture - beautiful description - our dependency on agriculture changed our sense of time!
In fact, by the time humans began the practice of cultivation of annual grains the total human population on Earth stood at around 6–10 million people. One might say that hunting and gathering is an energetically contained system and not an energetically expansionary system.
for - comparison - hunter gatherer vs agricultural - energetically contained vs energetically expansionary - stats - hunter -gatherer humans - population before agriculture - 6 to 10 million people.
There is no place where this cultural hubris is more evident than with the discourse on our present war between economy and Earth.
for - economic system vs cultural change - hubris - The global economic system at play is bringing about - the sixth mass extinction and - unmitigated climate change - and we continue to tinker around the edges of altering its structure and dynamic in any significant way. - One could easily make the claim that - it is the global economic system that has the upper hand - and not our capacity for cultural change.
Once humans attained culture, the pressure on genetic change is less significant and adaptation can take place through the flexibility afforded through cultural change.
for - key insight - culture - adaption through culture, not genes - SRG comment - danger is progress traps! - This is a key insight. Once we have sophisticated culture, we don't rely on slow moving genetic change to adapt anymore. Instead we rely on culture! - This is the world of human progress, but is also a dangerous one because progress (cultural adaptation to environmental pressures) comes with progress traps.
In the longer run, genes are evolving to adapt to these culturally constructed worlds
for - quote - genes evolve to adapt to culture - Joseph Henrich - in the longer run, genes are evolving to adap to these culturally constructed worlds
The evolution of the capacity for culture was an evolutionary transition just as the evolution of the superorganism was an evolutionary transition in insects.
for - comparison - culture vs superorganism
it acts much like genetic change, only quicker
for - progress traps - why it happens - culture evolves much faster that genes
Herbert Gintis
for - quote - gene-culture co-evolution - Herbert Gintis We are the species that we are because … genes provide individuals with the capacities and incentives to transform culture, and culture guides the transformation of the gene pool from generation to generation
Humans have a unique ability for building and expanding on previous knowledge, adding to the cumulative cultural endowment.
for - human superpower - timebinding
gene–culture coevolution
for - gene-culture coevolution
Culture makes possible modern complex societies where technological advancement is cumulative and extensive cooperation occurs among people who are not related.
for - superorganism - human - insight - culture - culture makes possible modern complex societies where cooperation between strangers is enabled. - money does this! transactional. no need to know who you transact with.
This type of extreme sociality does not occur in humans, so humans do not attain the status of a superorganism
for - superorganism - humans? no - extreme sociality doesn't occur
The superorganism is a form of extreme sociality and cooperation
for - superorganism - characterized by extreme sociality and cooperation in insect world, for example.
he basic elements of the superorganism are not cells and tissues but closely cooperating animals
for - quote - the basic elements of the superorganism are not cells and tissues but closely cooperating animals - E.O. Wilson & Holldobler
We do not fully understand yet the complex causal mechanisms between how something happens in one person's mind moves through neural networks then moves through social ecological networks um and actually may create change in entire sector or give rise to systems
for - anthropocene - signalling - intrabrain - interbrain - SRG comment - individual / collective gestalt - SRG comment - how information flows from one brain to another - networked language!
Christopher Broom's work on in hierarchy in the forest
for - book - Hierarchy in the Forest - shared struggle against inequality - the most important part of human heritage, intelligence and history - SRG comment - recognizing the sacred in all beings - adjacent to Michel Bauwens and the oscillation of the commons - to - book - publisher's page - Hierarchy in the Forest - The Evolution of Egalitarianism - 2001 - Christopher Boehm - https://hyp.is/_w4TEtZoEfCcjmPIvOEOaQ/www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674006911
book Goliath's Curse, the history and future of societal collapse
for - to - book - Goliath's Curse: the History and Future of Societal Collapse - Luke Kemp
democracy can basically help save the world. That the use of things like citizen assemblies and citizens juries would lead to far better governance outcomes.
for - citizen assemblies & juries - lead to better governance outcomes - can save the world
Edward Tellella, another physicist, had naughty calculation that there's a nonzero chance that detonating the bomb would ignite the entire atmosphere of Earth, killing not just all humans, but every single shred of life. By that time, the US also knew that the Nazis were no longer capable of making the bomb nor even pursuing their own project anymore. They still went ahead and took the risk.
for - progress trap - technology - nuclear - psychopathic behavior - Edward Teller calculation - decision to go ahead anyways!
killing large groups of people who often at the prime of their working age means suddenly you're losing often decades or centuries of working hours as well. In every single case, it's a wasteful use of energy. Conspicuous consumption or as a way of saying I am more important than you. I have higher status than you do.
for - status competition - conspicuous consumption - war - waste in general
boardrooms and parliaments, it's somewhere between 3 to 21%. Now, again, numbers are very disputed
for - stats - psychopathy - 3 to 21% in boardrooms and parliaments - more likely to find psychopath in boardroom and parliament than grocery store - SRG comment - stats- shadow side of leadership - high percentage of leaders have dark triad
the dark triad
for - definition - dark triad - Narcissism (grandiosity, entitlement, self-adoration), - Machiavellianism (manipulative, strategic self-interest, callousness), and - Psychopathy (impulsivity, lack of empathy/remorse, antisocial behavior). - SRG comment - dark triad - useful for Deep Humanity profile
And why does this happen? How do we have such a huge shift in human social relations? One of the big reasons is status competition
for - reason for - social shift - from egalitarianism - to power hierarchy - status competition - SRG comment - Goliath's Curse - status competition - Deep Humanity antidote
Some call it civilization, I prefer to call Goliath.
for - definition - Goliath - the anthropological shift from egalitarianism to power hierarchy over the holocene - to - book publisher's page - Goliath's Curse - Luke Kemp - from - youtube - The Anthropocene Paradigm Shift
optimal foraging theory
for - definition - optimal foraging theory - our ancestors minimized energy expended for gathering food and maximized leisure time
for - book - Hierarchy in the Forest - The Evolution of Egaliterian Behavior - author - Christopher Boehm - from - youtube - The Anthropocene Paradigm Shift
Goliath’s Curse
for - book - Goliath's curse - author - Luke Kemp - SRG comment - a naughty social superorganism! - from - youtube - The Anthropocene Paradigm Shift - https://hyp.is/a1E9ZtQ4EfCEQs_6Hskbmw/www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ggpzwSI1qY