The “new” group selection (e.g. here and here) works with both organic and cultural evolution.
Dogs pass on fleas they acquired during their lifespan to their offspring—much as humans pass on ideas they acquired during their lifespan to their offspring. Both the fleas and the ideas can mutate inside their hosts—and those changes are passed on as well.
The differences between organic and cultural evolution are thus frequently overstated. Critically, Darwinian evolutionary theory applies to both realms.
except it’s more like viruses than flies: singificant amounts of evolution can hapen within a single host generation, and entirely different species can crospolinate if they end up within the same host.
Depends on yer memes—but sure, often more like viruses.
“Species” is one of the more tricky areas—if there’s much interbreeding, then maybe it’s not two species. It isn’t just memes, though—bacteria and viruses exhibit this too, as you say.
The “new” group selection (e.g. here and here) works with both organic and cultural evolution.
Dogs pass on fleas they acquired during their lifespan to their offspring—much as humans pass on ideas they acquired during their lifespan to their offspring. Both the fleas and the ideas can mutate inside their hosts—and those changes are passed on as well.
The differences between organic and cultural evolution are thus frequently overstated. Critically, Darwinian evolutionary theory applies to both realms.
except it’s more like viruses than flies: singificant amounts of evolution can hapen within a single host generation, and entirely different species can crospolinate if they end up within the same host.
Depends on yer memes—but sure, often more like viruses.
“Species” is one of the more tricky areas—if there’s much interbreeding, then maybe it’s not two species. It isn’t just memes, though—bacteria and viruses exhibit this too, as you say.
Yea, I oversimplified a bit.