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Disengaging from the ultrasocial economy: The challenge of directing evolutionary change
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 June 2016
Abstract
We appreciate the depth and breadth of comments we received. They reflect the interdisciplinary challenge of our inquiry and reassured us of its broad interest. We believe that our target article and the criticisms, elaborations, and extensions of the commentators can be an important contribution to establishing human ultrasociality as a new field of social science inquiry. A few of the commentators questioned our definition of ultrasociality, and we begin our response with an elaboration of that definition and a defense of our argument that human ultrasociality began with agriculture. We then respond to the second major area of controversy, namely, our use of group selection to explain the economic drivers behind the agricultural transition. We then focus on the issue of human intentionality raised by the phenomenon of collective intelligence. The intriguing question is to what extent can an entire culture change its own destiny? We then address the issue of the division of labor raised by a number of commentators. The complex division of labor was both a driver and a defining characteristic of ultrasociality, even though it was present in simpler forms in earlier societies. The remaining issues addressed include energy and complexity, expansion and sustainability, and the accelerating evolution of human ultrasociality. These were raised by only a few commentators, but their importance warrants further elaboration.
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Target article
The economic origins of ultrasociality
Related commentaries (26)
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Differentiation of individual selves facilitates group-level benefits of ultrasociality
Does ultrasociality really exist – and is it the best predictor of human economic behaviors?
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Human and ant social behavior should be compared in a very careful way to draw valid parallels
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“If it looks like a duck…” – why humans need to focus on different approaches than insects if we are to become efficiently and effectively ultrasocial
Author response
Disengaging from the ultrasocial economy: The challenge of directing evolutionary change