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The Ādam Paradox Hypothesis 213
4. Bridge (Ratchet) Test
Culture amplifies what already exists. Does the model supply a credible baseline
for stable symbols (so that cultural “ratchets” can actually bite), or does it
quietly assume the very platform it needs to prove?
5. Falsifiability and Specificity
Does the model say what would change its mind (discoveries that would count
against it), and does it offer checkable predictions instead of elastic stories that
can stretch to fit any outcome?
6. Parsimony without Ad-Hoc Patches
When confronted with anomalies, does the model add minimal, principled
assumptions—or does it multiply special pleas (“the record is incomplete,
” “a
local quirk did it”)?
7. Theological Integrity (for Chapter 25)
Where revelation is engaged, are we humble and disciplined—avoiding
concordist overreach and preserving Adam’s moral uniqueness rather than
reducing him to a fossil label?
How to Read the Next Four Chapters (Roadmap)
Chapter 22 —
“Gradualism Can Do It All.
”
We grant what gradualism gets right (anatomy, tools) and show where it
fails the shape and synchrony tests, and why its elasticity weakens
falsifiability.
Chapter 23 —
“Culture Alone Explains It.
”
We credit cultural ratchets and social learning, then apply the bridge test:
without an initial symbolic platform, ratchets slip. We also show why
culture-only cannot pass the global synchrony test.
Chapter 24 —
“Multiple Origins, No Single Threshold.
”
We examine scattered “sparks” (regional innovations) using
synchronization and network logic: sparks explain flickers, not the lockstep
stabilization seen worldwide.
Chapter 25 — Theological Concerns and Safeguards.
We set guardrails: tafsīr discipline, non-concordist humility, respect for
classical scholarship, and preservation of Adam as the first bearer of
responsibility, not merely the first body.