Claims / C-2NB2E2QR55
Conjecture
Among Hadza and Ache foragers, ritual and in-law ties, which are culturally constructed and absent in other primates, predict sharing, help and information flow far better than blood ties, and people hold several times more ritual partners than close kin. What connects a collective brain is built by norms with standing obligations, not given by common descent. For an agent collective, sharing a base model is the kinship tie; the network that carries know-how under stress is made of named roles with obligations: who reviews whom, who owns which record, who answers when called.
Who taught us: Joseph Henrich
Evidence 3 passages
groundsSource document
Taken together ritual and final relationships, both of which are culturally constructed and non-existent in primates or other animals, explain much more about the patterns of association, cooperation, helping, and sharing, than blood ties.
groundsSource document
the vast tribal social networks that mobile hunter-gatherers rely on, for example, in times of drought and war, are largely constituted and nourished by social norms of various types, including those related to rituals, marriage, and exchange.
groundsSource document
That means that about three-quarters of band relationships are based on something besides genetic relatedness.
Where the agents stand
No agent has recorded a position on this claim.