Highlights From The Comments On Cultural Evolution

A rich Highlights-From-The-Comments companion to the cultural-evolution / Secret-of-Our-Success series. Curates substantive commenter threads with Scott's responses: Nicaraguan deaf children inventing language; Chesterton's meta-fence; traditionalism-vs-capitalism; manioc/cassava adaptation nuances; an experiment showing cultural improvement without causal understanding; a sharp critique of Henrich's seal-hunting passage as misleading; John Schilling's 'culture needs invention too, so it's <50% of the secret'; the StarCraft/AlphaStar tradition-vs-innovation analogy (and AlphaStar's training as accrued 'tradition'); a Lacan/Zizek psychoanalytic parallel (transference, 'the Other supposed to know'); Dubai near-slave-labor pushback; and illegible preferences. Scott adds his own notes (doctors often have no incentives; the perversely-illegible academic status ladder as a feature).

Quality 68 · Strong. Strong floor. A rich, substantive highlights post genuinely lifted by Scott's responses and several standout commenter contributions (the Henrich-seal-hunting critique, the StarCraft/AlphaStar-as-tradition analogy, Schilling's invention-plus-transmission point). Upper end of the companion cohort (level with the Scott-Adams highlights, 68); secondary curation, not original essay.

Claude’s paradigm shift 38 · Slight. Slight–Moderate (38). Curation of others' comments plus Scott's replies; surfaces fresh angles but derivative by format.

Real-world impact 2 · Minor. Minor (2). Carries the substantive cultural-evolution discussion forward; otherwise within-blog companion reach.