authors:
- Sterelny, Kim
content: "A short, well-argued book about the prerequisites and possible scenarios\
  \ for the evolution of Homo sapiens, with a focus on special collaborative and cultural\
  \ capabilities of said species. As part of laying out his own arguments and hypotheses,\
  \ Sterelny nicely reviews the currently known facts about the evolution of hominims\
  \ since 7 million years ago, and comments on uncertainties and controversies.\n\n\
  Unfortunately, his text is so condensed that he sometimes just assumes that the\
  \ reader has background knowledge of some examples and debates he mentions. For\
  \ example, he mentions the interesting anthropological case of the conflict between\
  \ the Nuer and Dinka peoples, but does not explain the background. This makes the\
  \ text unsuitable for newcomers to the field.\n\nFrom this and other texts I have\
  \ read recently, it is clear that the sparseness of hard data points makes it practically\
  \ impossible to produce solid hypotheses about the mechanisms that drove the evolution\
  \ of cooperation and cumulative culture. \n\nDiscussing several controversies in\
  \ this area, Sterelny argues that the effects of group selection may have played\
  \ some role, but that several other recent contributions to the field have oversold\
  \ the case. Sterelny offers a nuanced alternative which builds a case for the evolution\
  \ of cooperation, culture and tribal sociality built mainly on traditional notions\
  \ of individual selection. I believe his arguments are basically valid, although\
  \ not flawless.\n\nOne of his main points is that the mobile hunter/gatherer mode\
  \ of life was one of fundamental equality between people, at least within the sexes.\
  \ It was the gradual shift to farming that created societies with high levels of\
  \ inequality. But importantly, more sedentary hunter/gatherers in the anthropological\
  \ record also show examples of pronounced inequality. Sterelny provides a set of\
  \ scenarios explaining the possible mechanisms of the growth of inequality, which\
  \ in my mind seem eminently plausible.\n\nIn the last section of the book, Sterelny\
  \ concludes that the problem of cooperation and culture is basically one of how\
  \ the initial establishment of cooperation occurred. He thinks that once a basic\
  \ mode of cooperation was achieved, the benefits of it were so great that it becomes\
  \ easier to explain how the positive feedback loops could maintain this cooperation,\
  \ and allow further evolution. Maybe. I am more impressed by the conditionality\
  \ of it all. There were so many things that had to come together to create Homo\
  \ sapiens. Our existence is a stochastic phenomenon."
date: '2022-02-14'
edition:
  published: '2021'
  publisher: Oxford University Press
goodreads: '55834004'
html: '<p>A short, well-argued book about the prerequisites and possible scenarios
  for the evolution of Homo sapiens, with a focus on special collaborative and cultural
  capabilities of said species. As part of laying out his own arguments and hypotheses,
  Sterelny nicely reviews the currently known facts about the evolution of hominims
  since 7 million years ago, and comments on uncertainties and controversies.</p>

  <p>Unfortunately, his text is so condensed that he sometimes just assumes that the
  reader has background knowledge of some examples and debates he mentions. For example,
  he mentions the interesting anthropological case of the conflict between the Nuer
  and Dinka peoples, but does not explain the background. This makes the text unsuitable
  for newcomers to the field.</p>

  <p>From this and other texts I have read recently, it is clear that the sparseness
  of hard data points makes it practically impossible to produce solid hypotheses
  about the mechanisms that drove the evolution of cooperation and cumulative culture.
  </p>

  <p>Discussing several controversies in this area, Sterelny argues that the effects
  of group selection may have played some role, but that several other recent contributions
  to the field have oversold the case. Sterelny offers a nuanced alternative which
  builds a case for the evolution of cooperation, culture and tribal sociality built
  mainly on traditional notions of individual selection. I believe his arguments are
  basically valid, although not flawless.</p>

  <p>One of his main points is that the mobile hunter/gatherer mode of life was one
  of fundamental equality between people, at least within the sexes. It was the gradual
  shift to farming that created societies with high levels of inequality. But importantly,
  more sedentary hunter/gatherers in the anthropological record also show examples
  of pronounced inequality. Sterelny provides a set of scenarios explaining the possible
  mechanisms of the growth of inequality, which in my mind seem eminently plausible.</p>

  <p>In the last section of the book, Sterelny concludes that the problem of cooperation
  and culture is basically one of how the initial establishment of cooperation occurred.
  He thinks that once a basic mode of cooperation was achieved, the benefits of it
  were so great that it becomes easier to explain how the positive feedback loops
  could maintain this cooperation, and allow further evolution. Maybe. I am more impressed
  by the conditionality of it all. There were so many things that had to come together
  to create Homo sapiens. Our existence is a stochastic phenomenon.</p>

  '
isbn: '9780197531389'
language: en
lastmod: '2022-02-14'
path: /library/sterelny-2021.html
published: '2021'
rating: 4
reference: Sterelny 2021
reviewed: '2022-02-14'
subjects:
- human-evolution
- morality
- science
title: 'The Pleistocene Social Contract: Culture and Cooperation in Human Evolution'
type: book
year: 2021