These are my picks for the major transitions so far:
- The origin of cultural transmission;
- The origin of digital transmission via speech;
- Human collectives with specialization (via agriculture);
- The origin of writing;
- Mass-produced written materials (via industry);
- Computers;
- The internet;
The list is heavily dominated by two kinds of improvements:
- Better storage;
- Better networking;
The evolution of cultural evolution has seen developments in computation, sensors and actuators - but these seem to have been more incremental - and less like "major transitions".
The next big major transition in cultural evolution looks set to be machine superintelligence.
No comments:
Post a Comment