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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Keith has hipsterized (hipnotized?) me to evolutionary psychology to some minor extent. I am trying to follow the papers the best I can. This one caught my attention, because I might have some insights to share.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>I have long thought the conclusion inescapable that evolution does work at the group level. Environment sure appears to influence culture and culture influences mate selection and mate selection influences the genetic content of the local population. That doesn’t seem like magic to me.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>My intuitions in this area are all subjective however, no equations, no physical constants, none of that. I don’t trust myself when I am not surrounded by systems of simultaneous equations and mathematical models. I am better with variables than I am with verbiage.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Check out this title and the quote:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=u-fs14 style='margin:0in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=u-fs14 style='margin:0in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'>You viewed <a href="https://www.academia.edu/keypass/UFpjR2lSVVlJejJWTDlPVHd3UWM3SzY0dkVpVkRyOHA5d2s5VCs2dndLMD0tLW1nelh3djNFMG5sZEJIUjNCK2plM2c9PQ==--130dc21b07ca0ad078bc68cccc30ccd84385897d/t/ocxid-N4KTC6b-PENvb/resource/work/777381?email_work_card=interaction-paper"><span style='color:#0954D3;text-decoration:none'>Evolutionary psychology, memes and the origin of war</span></a>. A related paper by <a href="https://auckland.academia.edu/keypass/RHJJenNLRUM1Yk9TK3VTTU9KM3hTbDFRR21UTGh5MUpnTWhHTUZCeVhtYz0tLVhTVkFoblM0ZktIQWJ2MGNBaWpwOUE9PQ==--b2578f55ea35770f35b321e180cb2d8533b9b7e8/t/ocxid-N4KTC6b-PENvb/JBulbulia"><span style='color:#0954D3;text-decoration:none'>Prof. Joseph Bulbulia</span></a> is on Academia:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=u-mt7x style='margin:0in;line-height:150%'><span style='font-size:12.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'><a href="https://www.academia.edu/keypass/RHJJenNLRUM1Yk9TK3VTTU9KM3hTbDFRR21UTGh5MUpnTWhHTUZCeVhtYz0tLVhTVkFoblM0ZktIQWJ2MGNBaWpwOUE9PQ==--b2578f55ea35770f35b321e180cb2d8533b9b7e8/t/ocxid-N4KTC6b-PENvb/resource/work/24317502/Fired_for_the_Phylogenetic_revolution_in_Religious_Studies_A_commentary_on_David_Sloan_Wilson?email_work_card=minimal-title"><span class=u-lineheight12><span style='font-size:21.0pt;line-height:150%;color:#0954D3;text-decoration:none'>Fired for the Phylogenetic revolution in Religious Studies: A commentary on David Sloan Wilson</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'>We hope you enjoy this recommendation!<br>The Academia Team<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'>Quote from the paper:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>The participants were divided into four groups that met over a period of five days to address the topics of “Cultural Evolution of the Structure of Human Groups”, “Cultural Evolution of Technology and Science”, “Cultural Evolution of Language”, and “Cultural Evolution of Religion”. The results will appear as a volume published by MIT press, but one conclusion emerged loud and clear: Human cultures are primarily adaptive at the group level. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>This conclusion might seem shocking to some, given the long history of controversy over the topics of cultural evolution and group selection, separately and in conjunction with each other. It might also seem suspect coming from me, a lifelong proponent of group selection. Nevertheless, not only did it represent the consensus view of all four groups—a claim that the participants are free to dispute—but it can also be justified by analogy with species as biological entities that are primarily adapted to their environments. In this article, I will first outline the case for biological species and then make the parallel case for human cultures…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Corresponding author’s e-mail:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> dwilson@binghamton.edu<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Citation:<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> Wilson, David Sloan. 2013. Human Cultures are Primarily Adaptive at theGroup Level (with comment).<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Cliodynamics<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> 4: 102–138.<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>