Dual Inheritance Theory
Dual Inheritance Theory (DIT) posits the existence of two streams of inheritance in our species: A genetic stream similar to all species and a cultural stream that is distinctively human.
While many branches of the human-related disciplines are centered on culture and cultural change, DIT approaches these topics from an explicitly Darwinian perspective.
To date, DIT has been largely theoretical, has focused mostly on the macro-evolutionary scale, and has seldom been applied to real-world personal and cultural change efforts. This initiative strives to study DIT at the micro-evolutionary scale, with a focus on individuals and groups interacting with their immediate environments.
In addition to contributing to the academic study of DIT, our micro-evolutionary focus will be highly relevant to real-world positive change efforts across all contexts and scales. DIT tells us that while every symbolic system results in a repertoire of behavior (cultural phenotypic plasticity), going beyond this repertoire requires changing the symbolic system. Outer change requires inner change. Understanding this dialectic from an explicitly evolutionary perspective can help to improve upon it.
We realize that DIT is a recent perspective, emerging from within evolutionary science only during the last few decades, whereas symbolic systems have been studied by the human-related disciplines for centuries. We therefore intend our initiative to be highly transdisciplinary with the goal of learning from each other and achieving conceptual integration.
The initiative will have a weekly meeting time of Thursdays, alternating between noon and 6PM Eastern US, to accommodate different schedules and time zones. We will begin with general introductions and community building, leading to presentations and the formation of working groups to achieve multiple co-created objectives.
Please click here to access a short introductory statement that includes a more detailed description of the research program.
