An Update of the Sapience Papers

I have just completed an update of the sapience working papers. It is a major revision and extension that is approaching book length! So for those who were interested in this thesis, you may want to take a look. The graphics are much improved anyway. The papers have been relocated but you can get to them using the index page: Series Indexes, or by going directly to the first paper: Introduction to Sapience. The links to the other four papers are in each one.

I doubt that these will be the final versions. Almost as soon as I started transfering them to the web server I thought of some other things I should probably have covered. Oh well. I do call them my working papers for a reason.

George

Comments

[t0wnp1ann3r]

What graphics program do you use to create those?

[George Mobus]

Hi T0wnp1ann3r,

Still have trouble spelling that one!

I used PowerPoint to draw the graphics, then cut/paste to Paint and then save-as .png files. A poor man's way!

George

[kiralık devremülkler]

thank you. i love to read this type of information posts. again thank you...

[hombredelatierra]

George, in part one, Strategic Perspective, you write:

"My suspicion is that our species was just starting to evolve higher capacities for strategic thinking (which explains why we even know what strategic thinking is!) as an advancement of our evolving sapience. But with the advent of technology, and especially agriculture, the selection pressures that would have moved us further in that direction were removed. The result is that the vast majority of people do not think very strategically, even about their own lives let alone the lives of their fellow beings and the lives of future generations."

I have heard exactly the opposite argument used: agriculture forced hunter gatherers who thought in the short term to "plan for the morrow", thus evolving long term - strategic?? - thinking..

[George Mobus]

Hombredelatierra,

I've heard that argument too. But it really doesn't make sense. It isn't just the time scale for planning, but rather being able to think about different strategic scenarios that might obtain. Hunter-gatherers had to be aware of patterns of animal/plant behaviors including migration, but more importantly how these are affected by climate shifts, which took place over much longer time scales than human life. The wise elders of the tribe were responsible for directing the tribe to move or stay put based on their judgments of where a better living situation might be found.

The same is the case for interactions with other tribes. Those kinds of interactions are far more complex than interactions with crops or livestock! Once a military methodology was perfected to defend one's food production territory, there was no more need to consider long-term evolution of inter-tribal interactions. If the other guys attacked, then we would just be ready to fight them off. Not much strategic thinking going on there.

Agriculture doesn't actually require any long-term thinking beyond the cycles of seasons. Changing crop types with shifts in climate is a reactive adaptation rather than an anticipatory one. Managing crops and livestock and the methods of farming require astute logistical thinking and some tactical thinking, but nothing of the form of strategic thinking.

George