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The Ādam Paradox Hypothesis 222
The Math Structure
Think of cultural fidelity like probability of accurate copying, call it q.
Why Pre-70kya Fits the Model
Archaeology before ~70,000 years ago shows:
Ochre, beads, burials appear sporadically.
But they vanish after a few generations instead of becoming permanent.
Mathematically, that’s exactly the sub-threshold regime: cultural signals flicker
but don’t accumulate because fidelity of teaching/learning was too low. Once
fidelity crossed the threshold (through symbolic language, ritual, etc.), culture
became self-sustaining.
So the math is really saying: if copying accuracy is less than some critical
percentage (say 90–95%), then traditions statistically
“die out faster than they
ignite.
”
The pre-70kya archaeological record looks like this: sparks without
lasting fire.
