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> > people seem to overlook the fact that superhuman intelligence already exists as human organizations > Culture is faster than meat. > Faster to inculcate.

by vageli 5y ago

> > people seem to overlook the fact that superhuman intelligence already exists as human organizations > Culture is faster than meat. > Faster to inculcate. Faster to copy. Faster to communicate. Faster to update. > And it's a lot harder to kill. > The day our primate progenitors began passing down their own knowledge to subsequent generations was the greatest leap forward in global learning rate that our planet has ever seen. > I think the jury's still out on our impact of printing it out into a three ring binder. Culture and memes are the software side of evolution.

makerdiety 5y ago
Culture and memes are the software side of evolution? What is the hardware side?
- cdirkx 5y ago
  Your body and genetics, it takes a really long time to evolve a different body (thousands of generations), but it takes very little time to update culture (couple of generations).
  - Swizec 5y ago
    There is evidence that single generation evolution can happen with strong enough shocks. Nothing immediately obvious, just detectable DNA changes that lead to changes in risk for certain conditions. https://amp.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/21/study-of-holocaust-survivors-finds-trauma-passed-on-to-childrens-genes https://amp.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/21/study-of-hol... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96verkalix_study https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96verkalix_study
- nanomonkey 5y ago
  Epigenetics and Genetics (DNA). Epigenetics allows for changes within an organism's lifetime, and include the ability to pass along environmental stressors to the next generation. There is a great book from MIT press [Evolution in Four Dimensions](https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/evolution-four-dimensions https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/evolution-four-dimensions) that goes into how Genetics, Epigenetics, behavior and symbolic transmission of data between generations guide evolution.

by vageli 5y ago

makerdiety 5y ago

Culture and memes are the software side of evolution? What is the hardware side?

cdirkx 5y ago
Your body and genetics, it takes a really long time to evolve a different body (thousands of generations), but it takes very little time to update culture (couple of generations).
- Swizec 5y ago
  There is evidence that single generation evolution can happen with strong enough shocks. Nothing immediately obvious, just detectable DNA changes that lead to changes in risk for certain conditions. https://amp.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/21/study-of-holocaust-survivors-finds-trauma-passed-on-to-childrens-genes https://amp.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/21/study-of-hol... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96verkalix_study https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96verkalix_study
nanomonkey 5y ago
Epigenetics and Genetics (DNA). Epigenetics allows for changes within an organism's lifetime, and include the ability to pass along environmental stressors to the next generation. There is a great book from MIT press [Evolution in Four Dimensions](https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/evolution-four-dimensions https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/evolution-four-dimensions) that goes into how Genetics, Epigenetics, behavior and symbolic transmission of data between generations guide evolution.