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The Ādam Paradox Hypothesis 139
Comparative Insights: Why Not Neanderthals?
If Neanderthals had brains as large as ours, why did they not scale?
Archaeological evidence shows Neanderthals buried their dead, used pigments,
and perhaps wore ornaments. But these behaviors appear sporadic, not
continuous. Their population densities remained low, their exchange networks
local. They never scaled beyond the grooming–gossip ceiling.
By contrast, Homo sapiens developed cumulative culture: symbols taught and
retaught, ornaments standardized, myths retold across generations. This
continuity enabled population growth not just in numbers but in
connectedness.
The APH interpretation is clear: Neanderthals lacked the ignition of
symbolic cognition. Homo sapiens, endowed with Adamic breath, crossed
the threshold — and the rest of prehistory is the unfolding of that spark.
APH and the Demography Debate — A Resolution
Demographers such as Mellars hold that bigger populations drove cultural
takeoff; anthropologists like Tattersall counter that new cognition made large
populations possible in the first place. Both glimpse part of the mechanism.
The Adam Paradox Hypothesis (APH) resolves the sequence: symbols are the
independent variable, demography the dependent. Without symbolic cognition,
scaling fails—groups fracture under mistrust. With it, larger coalitions become
viable and, once formed, feed back to accelerate innovation. This is not an
endless chicken-and-egg loop; the order is clear: cognition precedes number.