authors:
- Richerson, Peter
- Boyd, Robert
content: 'An interesting and provocative argument that culture has influenced human
  evolution since one million years. The authors propose that the variable climate
  of the Pleistocene provided the conditions for favoring culture in pre-humans, since
  it allowed our ancestors to adapt more quickly than genetic evolution would have
  allowed.

  However one views that argument, I think that their (partly) independent argument
  about the importance of culture in human history is solid. The fundamental observation
  is that cultural evolution affected human genetic evolution in the long term, and
  the development of different forms of society in the short term. The authors also
  propose that modern global society is a "giant field experiment in which the social
  instincts adapted to smaller-scale societies are subjected to a wide range of new
  environmental conditions."

  They make an interesting observation that "social innovations that make large-scale
  society possible, but at the same time effectively simulate life in a tribal-scale
  society, will tend to spread." This was written before Facebook became a global
  phenomenon.'
date: '2019-06-27'
edition:
  published: '2006'
  publisher: University of Chicago Press
goodreads: '104527'
html: '<p>An interesting and provocative argument that culture has influenced human
  evolution since one million years. The authors propose that the variable climate
  of the Pleistocene provided the conditions for favoring culture in pre-humans, since
  it allowed our ancestors to adapt more quickly than genetic evolution would have
  allowed.

  However one views that argument, I think that their (partly) independent argument
  about the importance of culture in human history is solid. The fundamental observation
  is that cultural evolution affected human genetic evolution in the long term, and
  the development of different forms of society in the short term. The authors also
  propose that modern global society is a &quot;giant field experiment in which the
  social instincts adapted to smaller-scale societies are subjected to a wide range
  of new environmental conditions.&quot;

  They make an interesting observation that &quot;social innovations that make large-scale
  society possible, but at the same time effectively simulate life in a tribal-scale
  society, will tend to spread.&quot; This was written before Facebook became a global
  phenomenon.</p>

  '
isbn: '9780226712123'
language: en
lastmod: '2019-06-27'
path: /library/richerson-2004.html
published: '2004'
rating: 4
reference: Richerson 2004
reviewed: '2019-06-27'
subjects:
- human-evolution
- morality
- science
title: 'Not by Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution'
type: book
year: 2004