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The Ādam Paradox Hypothesis 220
Part VII — Objections and Alternatives
Chapter 23
Culture Alone Explains It
Culture advances learning but collapses without symbols.
If gradualism explains cognition as a slope of biology, another school shifts the
weight entirely to society. In this view, genetics did not need to ignite anything
new. Humans already had the necessary brainpower; it was culture alone that
transformed scattered abilities into symbolic life.
According to this model, once groups became large enough and traditions
accumulated, cognition blossomed naturally. The mind was always ready — it
only needed culture to unlock it.
Why the Cultural Model Persuades
The Ratchet Effect.
Psychologist Michael Tomasello (1999) describes culture as a ratchet: once
a new technique is invented, teaching and imitation prevent it from slipping
backward. Each generation builds on the last, so complexity accumulates.
Early hints of culture.
Red ochre use at Pinnacle Point (~164kya) and Blombos Cave (~100kya)
shows that humans experimented with pigments before the great symbolic
explosion. Perforated shells at Skhul and Qafzeh (~100–90kya) may have
been used as ornaments. These are taken as signs that symbolic traditions
were simmering long before 70kya.
Power of social learning.
Humans excel at imitation. Experiments show that even young children
“over-imitate”
— copying steps that are unnecessary. This bias creates
fidelity in cultural transmission, allowing knowledge to survive across
generations.
Put together, these arguments suggest that culture alone could account for the
eventual bloom of symbols.