So fiction is an important part of this narrative, and while I think epigenetic heritable gene modification is a powerful mechanism we are just starting to understand, (Lamarck rolls his eyes i his grave) it’s probably naive to discount the forces of natural selection and vanilla evolutionary forces on our current iteration. It’s possible that a series of brushes with hallucinogenic fungi crossed with epigenetic heritability led to the shared fiction phenomenon, not seen anywhere else in the animal kingdom, and the rest is history.
Discussion
Stoned ape theory lol, it’s definitely thought provocative, can you reiterate and explain what you mean by shared fiction though?
We are presumably the only animal that can communicate a reality that isn’t readily evident using spoken language. Until the communicated object is observed, it’s fiction. Money is a shared fiction we all believe in. Culture fits into that category as well.
Okay I get what you’re saying, but ultimately the evidence points to the latter, because the environmental surroundings show us rapid complexity, compare the evolution of New York City to the Amazon and I’m sure you can easily find a distinct difference, interesting thought nonetheless.
And I mean we can literally go on and on with this question lol…
There is a lot to it. The why is difficult to answer, but I think it’s pretty difficult to argue that shared fiction isn’t the pivotal mechanism for Homo Sapien’s ascension to the very top tip of the food chain and dominant evolutionary force on this planet. Just look at the fossil evidence and disappearance of mega fauna on the island of Australia!
I think there’s a strong argument against personally bro, only because it’s clearly event environmentally and technologically.