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I read somewhere that neanderthals were not less intelligent than humans, but humans "won" because being more social animals they can better learn from each oth
by perfunctory 6y ago
I read somewhere that neanderthals were not less intelligent than humans, but humans "won" because being more social animals they can better learn from each other and spread ideas faster. Sometimes I feel like excessive "intellectual property" laws make us more like neanderthals.
- jimmySixDOF 6y agoAnthropologist Joseph Henrik has a theory about H.Sapiens vs Neanderthal using a Copycat vs Genius metaphor explained in the book Humankind [1] Copycats are 10x more social Geniuses are 100x more inventive 1 in a 1000 Copycats will invent a new fishing rod but will share this knowledge with 10 others 1 in 10 Geniuses will invent the new rod and only teach to 1 other Given a 50% sucess rate for learning: A max of 1 in 5 Geniuses will ever have the new Fishing Rod knowledge in a population (50% invented and 50% learned) Copycats will get to 99.9% [1] Humankind: A Hopeful History https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52879286-humankind https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52879286-humankind also [2]https://aeon.co/essays/forget-the-lone-genius-it-s-copycats-who-drive-progress https://aeon.co/essays/forget-the-lone-genius-it-s-copycats-...