The Importance of Small Decisions

Small changes accumulate to create cultural evolution.

Why hunter-gatherers started agricultural societies about 10,000 years ago remains a pivotal archaeological question. Archaeologists once believed that agriculture emerged in just a few places and then spread. Contemporary thinking says that agriculture emerged at multiple times and in multiple places. One theory suggests that people ascended a “ladder of progress,” starting as savages, becoming barbarians and then achieving civilization. Nineteenth-century thinkers explained cultural differences by arguing that different societies “stalled” during this progression.

Individuals don’t decide what their culture is ready for or which way a larger society should go. What matters is the evolutionary impact of aggregated small decisions.

In his 1984 book, The Origins of Agriculture, botanist and archaeologist David Rindos held that the birth of farming advanced in phases. His model de-emphasizes individual choice and innovation and argues that human action evolved along with planting. People make intentional choices, but the results...