Reframing Evolution with Autocatalytic Networks

Biology explains how life evolves ... but culture follows different rules. Today we're looking at why human culture requires a separate evolutionary framework. Dr. Liane Gabora (University of British Columbia) traces how culture emerges through self-organizing minds, not genes, unfolding like a long riff that finds its meaning only while being played. Language, memory, and creativity arise through a sudden inner shift, where symbols begin talking to each other and thought turns inward on itself. What follows is an account of human origins that feels less like machinery and more like confession: culture as a conscious system, restless, cumulative, and unfinished.

Part 2: https://youtu.be/nVpXwd9ke1A

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00:00 Go! Evolution Beyond Darwin

00:02:17 Humans as Uniquely Cultural Beings

00:05:05 Evolution as a Creative, Systemic Process

00:08:08 Modeling Cultural Evolution in Artificial Life

00:11:13 Autocatalytic Networks and the Origin of Life

00:14:00 From Pre-Darwinian to Darwinian Evolution

00:17:08 Epigenetics and the Limits of Darwin’s Model

00:20:17 Autocatalysis vs Autopoiesis

00:23:20 Molecular Cooperation and Phase Transitions

00:26:20 Culture as a Cognitive Autocatalytic Network

00:27:55 From Chemical Chaos to Genetic Fidelity

00:30:09 Memory, Accuracy, and Cumulative Complexity

00:32:43 What Culture Is (and Is Not)

00:37:00 Cumulative Culture and Human Uniqueness

00:38:56 Language as a Cultural Catalyst

00:42:12 Pre-Language Symbols and Shared Meaning

00:43:07 The Cultural Big Bang

00:44:57 Minds as Autocatalytic Webs

00:49:04 Time, Memory, and Abstract Thought

00:53:26 Cognitive Integration and Creative Thinking

00:56:28 Triggers for the Cultural Phase Shift

01:00:00 Culture as a Phase Transition in the Mind

01:02:18 Why Phase Transitions Feel So Strange

#culturalevolution, #humanorigins, #creativity, #consciousness, #evolutionarytheory, #origins, #philosophyofmind, #humanbehavior, #language, #emergence, #complexity, #futureofhumanity, #deepconversations #philosophypodcast

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