Page 140 - Flipping book The Adam Paradox Hypothesis - Second Edition.pdf

The Ādam Paradox Hypothesis 117
Logical Validity, Institutional Consensus, and the Emerging Superiority
of APH
1. Human Revolution (Klein)
Claim: Symbolic behavior appears suddenly ~50–40 ka due to a genetic or
neurological “revolution.
”
✅ Strengths: Explains the European Upper Paleolithic explosion.
❌ Logical fallacies: Post hoc fallacy, ad hoc reasoning, confirmation bias.
🌍 World opinion:
Once dominant (1980s–1990s), but now rejected by most institutions.
Smithsonian Human Origins: emphasizes African evidence pre-dating
50 ka, undermining the “sudden revolution”
view.
National Academy of Sciences (NAS): consensus shifted away from
“mutation theory
” due to abundant African finds before 70 ka.
🔎 Scientific verdict: Outdated; no longer defensible.
2. Demography (Mellars)
Claim: Symbolic culture required large populations and social networks to
sustain innovations.
✅ Strengths: Fits cultural transmission models; explains stabilization of
symbolic practices.
❌ Logical fallacies: Correlation ≠ causation, circular reasoning.
🌍 World opinion:
Harvard (Department of Human Evolutionary Biology): often
highlights demographic and network effects as critical.
Science/Nature journals: still publish pro-demography models; widely
considered a mainstream explanatory factor.
Smithsonian: acknowledges population role but notes it cannot alone
explain origin of symbolic capacity.
🔎 Scientific verdict: Mainstream but incomplete. Popular in academia, but
not a full explanation.