0021 The authors formulate an “omega principle” that confounds adaptation2b and phenotypes2b and mixes natural history and genetics. The omega principle states that long-lived cultural traits are likely to be adaptive.
Long-lived cultural traits are epigenetic features that guide human development. As such, long-lived cultural traits are genomic. Even though they do not directly influence the transcription (or lack of transcription) of DNA2a, they do so indirectly. As an example, the authors discuss an optical illusion that applies in Western civilization, but not to indigenous cultures in the Americas.
0022 Another way to say this?
Long-lived cultural traits influence phenotypic expression. After all, contemporary Western civilization has traits that allows writing, programming, race-car driving, ballet dancing and so on. These arise from the Western “cultural DNA”.
And, according to the omega principle, these cultural traits are likely to be adaptations.
So, adaptation2b and phenotype2b are linked. One does not situate the other. So, they intersect. They both contribute to a single actuality. I label the single actuality, “species”, in the widest sense of the term. A species ranges from the biological definition of a type of living being to cultural definitions of types of specializations.
0023 For biology, NeoDarwinism entails the intersection of adaptation2b and phenotype2b.
Here is a picture.
Figure 07
0024 Of course, there is a more aesthetic way to depict an intersection.
Figure 08
0025 This intersection applies to biological evolution.
However, the omega principle suggests that this intersection somehow… maybe, metaphorically… applies to cultural evolution, as well.
0026 How to theorize the nature of the author’s portrayal of an omega principle?
Humans adapt to the potential of triadic relations. Triadic relations are indifferent to nature and culture. Nature is perfused with triadic relations. So is culture.
0027 How does the intersection change when passing from the biological to the cultural?
Here is my guess.
The niche1H situates ‘something’ external to the species. Adaptations2H exploit that ‘something’ in the normal context of cultural selection3H.
The genome1V situates ‘something’ internal to the species. DNA resides in lineages. So, this ‘something’ is foundational to a cultural lineage1V and gives rise to the form of the cultural being2V in the normal context of institutional development3V.
0028 So, here is the resulting intersection.
Figure 09
0029 How about an application?
Here, I will develop a narrative… a theoretical expression… applying the omega principle to the authors’ professional trauma.
This theoretical expression does not capture the nightmare that these professors endured. Rather, it is a speculation about the evolutionary changes within their narrative. In particular, the intersection for biological evolution somehow applies to a contemporary shift occurring within cultural selection3H and institutional development3V. Figuratively, the intersection applies to a cultural episode of punctuated equilibrium.
0030 I start with the institution that these two professors labored in for fifteen years. Evergreen State College (pre-2017) is an institution that evolved in American civilization.
Here is a picture of the intersection for Evergreen State College (before 2017) at the beginning of the authors’ journey.
0031 How should I specify the elements in the prior diagram?
A little history may assist.
State colleges spring up to train returning soldiers after the Hot War Among Fraternal Ideologies (1938-1945 AD). The authors are employed by one of these colleges, located in the State of Washington. Then, the institution changes in 2017
0032 Let me consider Evergreen State College prior to 2017.
The adaptations2V?
Obviously, the term goes with the faculty. Professors2b(2H) are selected for by the college3b(3H) for their disciplinary expertise1b(1H). Disciplinary expertise1b expresses the potential of empirio-schematic inquiry2a, characteristic of such fields as physics, chemistry, biology, quantitative sociology, cognitive and evolutionary psychology, and so on. Empirio-schematic inquiry2a is a style of rational thought2a.
Diagrams for empirio-schematic inquiry are developed in Comments on Jacques Maritain’s Book (1935) Natural History. The empirio-schematic judgment is rational thought. However, it is not rational in the same way as Aristotelian or scholastic thought. Empirio-schematics characterize the modern Age of Ideas, which starts around 1600 AD. Scholastics characterize the Latin Age, stretching from around 300 to around 1600 AD.
0033 Here is the two-level interscope for the axis corresponding to Darwinism, for Evergreen State College, before 2017.
Figure 11
0034 Heying and Weinstein are selected as professors2b and serve well, for one and one-half decades, until a shift in both cultural selection3b and the actuality2a virtually underlying their positions2b.
0035 What happens leading to 2017 and beyond?
On the content level, an imitation empirio-schematics2a fashions itself as a style of rational thought2a. Consider the blog for April at www.raziemah.com, titled Looking at Gad Saad’s Book (2021) “Parasitic Mind”. Like all fashions, inquiries pursuing social construction, critical theory and social justice take on the appearance of ‘something’ beautiful in order to adorn the one who wears the fashion.
Something beautiful?
Think of an adornment that signals one’s virtue, while sparkling with the certitude that accompanies empirio-schematic research.
On the situation level, the ones who fashion themselves as “righteous, in addition to rational” are instructors1b. Why? Instructors are defined by the potential of the faux empirio-schematics of social construction, critical theory and social justice2a. Their reward is in a fascination of their own varieties of righteousness.
In contrast, administrators2b exploit instructors1b, just as adaptations2a exploit a niche1b, in the normal context of cultural selection3b.
Here is a picture of the horizontal axis after 2017.
Figure 12
0036 In 2017, Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein resign their professorships at Evergreen State College.
0039 The vertical axis of biological evolution goes with body development3b, the phenotype2b and the genome1b. The genome1b is the potential1b of DNA2a, an internal actuality that is defines the lineage. DNA2a manifests descent with modification.
0040 How that translates into a metaphor for cultural development depends on the species… er… I meant to say… the institution.
An institution2b is like the phenotype2b. Traditionally, an institution2b virtually situates a traditional mission2a. So, a mission statement1b manifests the potential1b of a traditional mission2a and supports the institution2b.
Here is the corresponding two-level interscope.
Figure 13
0041 All this changes, leading to the trauma of 2017 at Evergreen State College.
Rather than a mission2a, whose normal context3a and potential1a should be protected by long-standing tradition, the content-level actuality2a changes to advocacy.
What is advocacy2a?
I could say advocacy2a is a type of mission2a. However, it is the type of mission where the normal context3a and potential1a are generated by another institution (safely hidden offstage, so to speak). Advocacy2a is like modified DNA2a. Advocacy2a supports indoctrination under the name of “education”. Advocacy statements1b manifest the potential1b of advocacy2a.
Here is a picture of the two-level interscope.
Figure 14
0042 Now, I combine the above situation-level nested forms to visualize interscopes for pre-2017 and post-2017 higher education.
The following diagram presents the system that selected for Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein as professors2H.
Figure 15
After the resignation of these professors, Evergreen State College may be portrayed by the following intersection.
Figure 16
0043 Higher education is a single actuality.
Before 2017, faculty2H are selected on the basis of their expertise1H.
After 2017, administrators2H are selected for on the basis of their ability to manage instructors1H (as well as other abilities).
The metaphorical niche1H changes and so does the metaphorical genome1V.
After 2017, Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein find that they no longer have jobs. But, surely, they remain professors.
0045 So what happens next?
The culture of podcasting on the internet3H values (selects for) people2H with disciplinary expertise1H.
Yes, the podcasting “culture” is looking for pre-2017 types of professors2H.
0046 Bret Weinstein launches the Darkhorse podcast, a very attractive production in the internet arena. He remains a professor. Now, he also professes more than biology.
And, that brings me to the book, which applies lessons from evolutionary theory to life in the 21st century.
Podcasting and book-writing are very similar to higher ed. Each podcast has its own mission statement. Each podcast format displays a certain expertise. Advertisers support well-subscribed podcasts. Patrons support the podcast directly.
0047 Here is a picture of what (I suppose) podcasting looks like, in terms of an intersection that appropriates the relationality of biological evolution for cultural evolution.
Figure 17
0048 What label applies to the single actuality that is the union of professor2H and podcaster2V?
How about the term, “guidance”?
One watches podcasts for guidance.
0049 On that note, allow me to recall the full title of Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein’s book, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century: Evolution and The Challenges of Modern Life.
If the single actuality is “guidance”, then I ask the reader how phrases in the title associate to elements in the above intersection.
0050 In the normal context of cultural selection3H, the actuality of the authors2H emerges from (and situates) the potential of expertise in biological evolution1H. That expertise1H covers the natural history of the Homo genus.
The normal context of institutional development3V brings the actuality of podcasting2V into relation with the possibility of addressing people who would otherwise be hunter-gatherers and who are now facing the novel Lebenswelt of the 21stcentury1V.
0051 Here is a picture of the intersection for the cultural evolution that Heying and Weinstein now enter.
Figure 18
0052 The mission statement intimates that we are adapted to survive as hunter-gatherers. Figuratively, we have “ancient bodies”. Hunting and gathering describe team endeavors in the Lebenswelt that we evolved in. Team endeavors? Surely, no one hunted or gathered on his or her own.
According to Clive Gamble, John Gowlett and Robin Dunbar (in their 2014 book, Thinking Big), hominins evolve in social circles, including family (5), intimates (5), team (15), bands (50) and communities (150). These social circles play big roles in the Lebenswelt that we evolved in. Indeed, the German word, “Lebenswelt”, means “living world”. The German language is ideal for synthesizing words through concatenation.
What does that imply?
Heying and Weinstein are on your team. So read their book. Plus, tune into the Darkhorse podcast!
0053 After dealing with theory in chapter one (titled, “The Human Niche”), the authors provide a broad view of all of evolution (chapter two, “A Brief History of the Human Lineage”). In chapter three (titled, “Ancient Bodies, Modern World”), the authors present the mission of their book. Our bodies are innate expressions of our DNA. Yet, our Lebenswelt has radically changed. It is no longer the Lebenswelt that we evolved in. Rather, our current Lebensweltincludes a hypernovel postmodern civilizationfilled with hazards, such as colleges2V that switch from traditional mission statements1H to statements of advocacy1V.
0054 Yes, the postmodern world of the 21st century is a dangerous place.
It is especially hazardous because administrators2H are selected for, rather than faculty2H.
Plus, instructors1H manifest the potential of the appearance of expertise2a, because certification triumphs over… well… dealing with observations and measurements of natural phenomena. What certification do instructors1H obtain? Instructors1H are certified to promulgate knowledge about models that are endowed with certitude and supported by certain observations and measurements of social phenomena. State bureaucracies provide certitude. Selective observations provide proof that the models are… um… beyond question.
0055 How does instruction work?
Well, it starts with a sales pitch, sort of like that serpent in the garden of Eden telling Eve, who is obviously not aware that the serpent is instructing her, how the fruit ofthe tree of the knowledge of good and evil is beautiful and should be tasty. Oh, did I mention that it will also make Eve wise and, even better, if she eats the fruit right now, if she buys into the narrative, she can be even more powerful than that patriarchal, know-it-all, busy-body, who thinks that He can tell Her what is or is not forbidden?
Talk about hyper-novelty befuddling innate adaptive tendencies.
0056 Our current Lebenswelt is clearly not the same as the Lebenswelt that we evolved in.
0057 What is the concept of punctuated equilibrium?
Steven J. Gould came up with the idea that natural history contains long periods of stasis followed by sudden unravelings of the stasis… or should I say?… changes. So, the pattern is long period of one configuration, change, then long period with a different configuration. Punctuated equilibrium is not a theory. It is an observation that makes sense of the fossil record.
0058 Now, I would like to consider the author’s creation of the omega principle, as a principle where apparently distinct concepts get muddled.
0059 For example, consider this claim. A cultural adaptation may be in the service of the genes of a particular human lineage. In other words, there is a crossover from adaptation2H to phenotype2V, even though their nested forms are distinct.
How could this happen?
They belong to a single actuality!
0060 Another example is the way that the intersection for biological evolution (unexpectedly) applies to cultural evolution. The cultural trauma endured by the authors fits a cultural evolution version of punctuated equilibrium. Higher ed2, as a cultural species, foundationally changes between the pre-2017 and post-2017 intersections. The unraveling of the pre-2017 stasis presumably will end in a post-2017 stasis. At least, administrators2H hope so. But, the instructors1H are restless. State funding is increasingly limited. Plus, there is an entirely new species evolving, called “guidance2“.
0061 Now, I ask, “How can I appreciate cultural punctuated equilibrium using the intersection? Is there more to the picture than snapshots labeled ‘before’ and ‘after’?“
Perhaps.
The intersection is a single actuality2 composed of the contradiction-filled union of two actualities, each with its own nested form.
Here is a picture for biological evolution.
Figure 19
0061 Long periods of stasis (the “equilibrium” aspect of punctuated equilibrium) may be depicted as the single actuality2of the intersection entering into a category-based nested form.
Figure 20
0062 As long as the normal context3 and the potential1 remain stable, then the single actuality2 holds together, despite the contradictions between the two wedded actualities, adaptation2H and phenotype2V.
Take a look at the phylogenetic trees in chapter two (A Brief History of the Human Lineage). Each branch point may be viewed as an episode where one nested form “branches” into two. Because normal contexts3 tend to exclude one another, each lineage goes its own way.
0063 The beauty of this depiction of the equilibrium aspect of punctuated equilibrium may be found in the divergence of the chimpanzees and humans (on page 31). One lineage stays in tropical wet regions. The other moves further into mixed forest and savannah. The phenotype for the former remains knuckle-walking. The phenotype for the other shifts to bipedalism.
Once the second lineage is fully bipedal, the human niche (of the potential of triadic relations) opens up and the genome (the potential of australopithecine DNA) begins to produce phenotypes that are more attentive to signs, mediations and other triadic relations. The second lineage changes through descent with modification.
0064 So, I can label the normal context3 for the human genus2 as “the Lebenswelt that we evolved in” and I can imagine that the potential corresponds to actualities2a on the content level below the situation-level actualities of adaptation2b(2H)and phenotype2b(2H).
Figure 21
0063 As long as the normal context3 and the potential1 remain stable, then hominins become more and more adapted to triadic relations2, such as signs, mediations, judgments, category-based nested forms and so on. Plus, they become more phenotypically capable in cognitively processing triadic relations. This is discussed in Razie Mah’s masterwork, The Human Niche.
0064 Now, I shift to the cultural, using the example of higher ed (before 2017). Recall, higher ed2 is the intersection of professors2H and colleges2V.
Here is a picture of cultural equilibrium before 2017.
Figure 22
Here is a picture of the category-based nested form that allows us to understand the single actuality.
Figure 23
Here is a picture of how I configure the normal context3 and potential1 for the single actuality of higher education (before 2017)2.
Figure 24
Once again, the potential1 consists in the content-level actualities that underlie the situation-level nested forms that comprise the intersection.
0065 Here is the first picture of cultural equilibrium after 2017.
Figure 25
In this cultural equilibrium, administrators2H, not faculty, adapt to the niche of an education system composed of instructors1H. Heying and Weinstein depart.
Here is a picture of how I configure the normal context3 and potential1 for the single actuality of higher education (after 2017)2.
Figure 26
0066 Where do Heying and Weinstein migrate to?
They enter another cultural equilibrium, discussed before, where professors adapt to the challenge of applying the lessons of biological evolution to life in the 21st century. The metaphorical genome of podcasting are individuals who sense that our current Lebenswelt is not the same as the Lebenswelt that we evolved in. We are adapted to the lifestyle of hunters and gatherers. But, that is not all, we are also adapted to the potential of triadic relations.
Here is a picture of a new single actuality2, guidance.
Figure 27
0067 Here is a picture of how I configure the normal context3 and potential1 for the single actuality of guidance (after 2017)2.
Figure 28
0068 Listening to a darkhorse podcast is more rewarding to a team of moderns (remember hunters and gatherers work in teams) than attending a formal lecture by an instructor who is grading on the curve. How so? The darkhorse podcast is a conversation geared to draw people into conversation. In the course of conversation, one learns information and how to be a member of a team. If one becomes a member of the podcast community, one joins the team.
The cost is small, compared to a college course.
0069 The exorbitant cost of higher education pays tribute to the long-held belief that certification opens the door to professionalism.
So, what happens when podcasts offer alternate certification?
Then, guidance2 will directly compete with higher education2.
0069 Chapter three (Ancient Bodies, Modern World) completes the author’s theoretical approach, which has been critiqued, using the philosophy of Charles Sanders Peirce. The authors are not aware of a novel vision that encompasses their view that biological evolution involves adaptation into proximate niches of material conditions. The ultimate human niche is the potential of triadic relations. Why are hominins capable of switching proximate niches? All proximate niches are perfused with signs.
Heying and Weinstein are not alone in this regard. Few modern biologists (before 2023) have considered Razie Mah’s three masterworks, The Human Niche, An Archeology of the Fall, and How To Define the Word “Religion”, that pertain to the Lebenswelt that we evolved in, the first singularity, and our current Lebenswelt, respectively.
Yet, even without a well-articulated theoretical framework, Heying and Weinstein can draw lessons from biological evolution as it is currently configured, as if adaptations2H and phenotypes2V belong to the separate disciplines of natural history and genetics, and no one is quite sure how they belong to a single actuality.
Plus, disciplinary knowledge in biological evolution is superior to advocacy, in the same manner that a professor is superior to an instructor.
0070 Our bodies evolved in the Lebenswelt that we evolved in.
Our modern world in the 21st century is a hypernovel episode of our current Lebenswelt.
So, lessons from our biological evolution will show how our modern world is not so good for our ancient bodies.
0071 The remaining chapters contain applications.
Chapter four (medicine) applies guidance to the topic of medicine.
Figure 29
And, the cultural intersection looks like the following.
Figure 30
0072 At the end of chapter four, the authors offer a section called, “The Corrective Lens”, in which they encapsulate their guidance on medicine.
0073 For purposes of this examination, I will look closely at chapter five (Food).
Figure 31
0074 Guidance2, the intersection of professors2H and podcasting2V, enters into the nested form of postmodern internet education3 and situates the possibility of the authors’ disciplinary expertise along with their mission (which is to join your team at the same time that you join theirs)1.
0075 The chapter starts with two warnings. First, there is no fixed recipe as to what to eat. Second, food is not merely nutrition for survival. Eating food occasions social engagement. Yes, cooking is important. So, is eating with others. Know the culinary habits of your lineage.
Here is a picture of what the authors are offering.
Figure 32
0076 Here is how they proceed. Place food2 in the place for species2 as the single actuality2 that is composed of adaptation2H and phenotype2V. Then, consider the following intersection from more than one point of view.
Figure 33
0077 The first adaptation2H that comes to mind is cooking with fire2H. What does fire do to raw food? Elevated temperatures break down cellular and structural impediments to digestion. Cooked food provides more calories than raw.
The corresponding phenotype2V includes changes in the ways that we perceive flavors. Cooked food tastes good. But, that is not all. Cooking offers an occasion for everyone to eat together and talk. In the Lebenswelt that we evolved in,humans practice hand talk, which means that no one talks while eating raw food. But, with cooked food, one does not have to eat and eat and eat and chew and chew and chew to get nutrition. Plus, cooked food tastes better! Plus, afterwards, everyone can sit around the fire and enjoy conversation.
In this respect, after the domesticatin of fire, hunter and gatherers have it good.
Figure 34
0078 But, what about our current Lebenswelt? What about the 21st century?
0079 Our current Lebenswelt is one of specialization. After the mechanical revolution starting in the early 1800s, specialization increases beyond imagination. All sorts of new species of “food for humans” arise in the 21st century. And, one popular item is called, “fast food”.
On the horizontal axis, the normal context of product selection3H brings the actuality of processed food2H into relation with the potential of industrial food processing1H.
On the vertical axis, the normal context of business development3V brings the actuality of restaurants2V in line with commercialization1V. Commercialization1V appears to be like the genome1V. Think of brand recognition. Each brand has a slogan. Slogans are the DNA of advertising.
0080 Here is the resulting interscope.
Figure 35
0081 Well, that is my guess as to how the author’s discussion plays out.
Every inquirer will come up with a different scenario.
That is one beauty of this type of exercise.
0082 Once can replace restaurants with diet regimes. Once can replace processed food with vitamin supplements.
On top of that, different topics are available. Fire is just one. Fire is domesticated in the Lebenswelt that we evolved in.
What about other domestications?
Animal and plant domestication occurs much more recently. Sometimes it is hard to tell whether animal and plant domestication begins in the Lebenswelt that we evolved in as opposed to our current Lebenswelt. Dogs are domesticated in the Lebenswelt that we evolved in. What about pigeons?
0083 The topic of food shows me that there is a big difference between cooking2H and eating2V in the Lebenswelt that we evolved in and processed foods2H and restaurants2V in our current Lebenswelt. Guidance is required. Guidance2 is the single actuality that combines the professor2H and the podcaster2V.
