Peter Turchin on Cultural Macroevolution

Abstract: During the Holocene the scale and complexity of human societies increased dramatically. Generations of scholars have proposed different theories explaining this evolution, which range from functionalist explanations, focusing on the provision of public goods, to conflict theories, emphasizing the role of class struggle or warfare. To quantitatively test these theories, I develop a general dynamical model, based on the theoretical framework of cultural macroevolution. Using this model and Seshat: Global History Databank I test 17 potential predictor variables (and more than 100,000 combinations of these predictors) proxying mechanisms suggested by major theories of sociopolitical complexity. The best-fitting model indicates a strong causal role played by a combination of increasing agricultural productivity and warfare intensity, proxied by invention/adoption of military technologies (most notably, iron weapons and cavalry in the first millennium BCE). Overall, these empirical results support the idea that a major evolutionary force explaining the rise of large-scale complex human societies, organized as states, was Cultural Multi-Level Selection.

 

 

Turchin, Peter. "Peter Turchin on Cultural Macroevolution – Understanding the Rise of Large-Scale Complex Societies in Human History." Video lecture, Complexity Science Hub Vienna, Jan. 2023. YouTube (Institute for Analytical Sociology) 26 Jan. 2023.* (Statistics, Civilizations, Agriculture, Warfare, Weapons, Paradigms, Revolutions, Political organization, States, Moralizing religion).

https://youtu.be/B5nvW9icM4Q

2023