The Origin of Science The Evolutionary Roots of Scientific Reasoning and its Implications for Citizen Science Louis Liebenberg Cape Town, South Africa www.cybertracker.org 2013 2 Endorsements “This is an extraordinary book. Louis Liebenberg, our intrepid and erudite guide, gives us a fascinating view of a people and a way of life that have much to say about who we are, but which soon will vanish forever. His data are precious, his stories are gripping, and his theory is a major insight into the nature and origins of scientific thinking, and thus of what makes us unique as a species.” Steven Pinker, Harvard College Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of How the Mind Works. “Louis Liebenberg’s argument about the evolution of scientific thinking is highly original and deeply important.” Daniel E. Lieberman, Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. “Although many theories of human brain evolution have been offered over the years, Louis Liebenberg’s is refreshingly straightforward.” PsycCRITIQUES. “The Origin of Science is a stunningly wide-ranging, original, and important book.” Peter Carruthers, Professor of Philosophy, University of Maryland, and author of The Architecture of the Mind. “Charles Darwin and Louis Liebenberg have a lot in common. Their early research was supported financially by their parents, and both studied origins... Both risked their lives for their work.” Ian Percival, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Sussex and Queen Mary, University of London and the Dirac medal for theoretical physics. “Louis Liebenberg is a scholar and adventurer whose work combines academic rigor, inspired leaps of insight, and a remarkable willingness to risk himself in pursuit of an idea.” Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run. Louis Liebenberg is an Associate of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and a Laureate of the Rolex Awards for Enterprise. 3 A New Vision of Science In this book I will address one of the great mysteries of human evolution: How did the human mind evolve the ability to develop science? The art of tracking may well be the origin of science. Science may have evolved more than a hundred thousand years ago with the evolution of modern hunter-gatherers. Scientific reasoning may therefore be an innate ability of the human mind. This may have far-reaching implications for self-education and citizen science. The implication of this theory is that anyone, regardless of their level of education, whether or not they can read or write, regardless of their cultural background, can make a contribution to science. Kalahari Bushmen trackers have been employed in modern scientific research using GPS-enabled handheld computers and have co-authored scientific papers. Citizen scientists have made fundamental contributions to science. From a simple observation of a bird captured on a smart phone through to a potential Einstein, some may be better than others, but everyone can participate in science. Today humanity is becoming increasingly dependent on science and technology for survival, from our dependence on information technology through to solving problems related to energy production, food production, health, climate change and biodiversity conservation. Involving citizens in science may be crucial for the survival of humanity over the next hundred years. Scientific reasoning was part of hunter-gatherer culture, along with music, storytelling and other aspects of their culture. Science and art should be an integral part of human culture, as it has been for more than a hundred thousand years. 4 The Origin of Science Endorsements A New Vision of Science Contents 1. A Paradox of Human Evolution 2. The Kudu Chase 3. Hunter-Gatherer Subsistence 4. Persistence Hunting 5. The Art of Tracking 6. The Evolution of Tracking 7. The Evolution of Science 8. The Scientific Imagination 9. Science, Language and Art 10. Modern Tracking 11. Citizen Science 12. The Future CyberTracker Conservation The Tracker Institute Acknowledgements About the Author References First Edition: Version 1.9 ISBN 978-0-620-57683-3 (e-book) Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs CC BY-ND This book is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs License and distributed as a free digital book. This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole (including the CyberTracker logo and website address on the title page), with credit to the author. 5 Contents Chapter 1: A Paradox of Human Evolution The history of science suggests that when a theory confronts a paradox, the resolution will be a new paradigm that transcends what went before. In this chapter I look at one of the greatest paradoxes in human evolution: How did the human mind evolve the cognitive ability for scientific reasoning? Chapter 2: The Kudu Chase Persistence hunting was probably one of the first forms of human hunting and may have played a critical role in the origin of science. Chapter 3: Hunter-Gatherer Subsistence To reconstruct the context in which the art of tracking may have evolved, it is useful to identify and define various aspects of hunter-gatherer subsistence. While the methods used by recent hunter-gatherers cannot simply be retrojected back into the past an analysis of known methods of hunting and gathering may help to recreate the ways in which hominin subsistence may have evolved. Foraging 24 Scavenging 26 Hunting 29 Persistence Hunting 29 Hunting with Missile Weapons 31 6 Natural Traps 32 Artificial Traps and Snares 32 Ambush 33 Hunting with Domesticated Animals 34 The Evolution of Hunting and Gathering 35 Chapter 4: Persistence Hunting Persistence hunting may have been the origin of hunting and represent a transition from predation to hunting. Early forms of persistence hunting that involved simple and systematic tracking would have been a form of predation, while more sophisticated forms persistence hunting that involves speculative tracking may have been the first form of hunting that involves creative human culture. Participatory Observations 37 Observations of the Persistence Hunt 39 Local Knowledge and Practice 44 Endurance Running by Humans 45 Relative Success Rates of Hunting Methods 48 Chapter 5: The Art of Tracking In this chapter I look at the art of tracking as practiced by Kalahari Bushmen in a traditional hunting context. Lion Tracking 53 Track Identification 56 Recognition of Signs 58 Peripheral Perception 62 Intuition 64 7 Interpretation of Activities 66 Ageing of Tracks & Signs 67 Reconstruction of Activities 68 Track Anticipation and Prediction 70 Systematic and Speculative Tracking 73 Knowledge of Animal Behaviour 80 Knowledge for the Sake of Knowledge 85 Mental Qualities 88 Underlying Simplicity, Symmetry and Unity 90 The Scientific Process in Tracking 92 Mythology and Religion 101 Skepticism and Individualistic Theories and Hypotheses 104 !Nate’s Cosmology 105 Chapter 6: The Evolution of Tracking To reconstruct how tracking may have evolved, this chapter breaks down tracking into three levels. Climate change resulting in environmental change would have resulted in the evolution of tracking from simple to systematic through to speculative tracking. This would explain how, through natural selection, humans evolved the ability to develop creative science. Tracking an Aardvark 108 Simple, Systematic and Speculative Tracking 109 The Origin of Tracking 111 How Tracking Evolved 114 The Evolution of the Human Brain 122 Visual Perception and the Imagination 122 Landmarks in the Evolution of Tracking 127 The Logistic Growth of Knowledge 129 8 Chapter 7: The Evolution of Science In this chapter I will develop a model of the growth of science based on an evolutionary definition of science. This model will allow us to resolve apparent paradoxes and explain how science evolved through natural selection. Scientific Revolutions 132 The Logistic Growth of Scientific Knowledge 133 An Evolutionary Definition of Science 136 Natural Selection for the Origin of Science 138 Rare and Infrequent Technological Inventions 142 The Cultural Evolution of Science 142 Cultural Relativism 145 Conceptual Discontinuities 147 Chapter 8: The Scientific Imagination To develop an explanation of how science evolved, we need to have some understanding of what we mean by the term “science.” In this book I will make a clear distinction between “empirical knowledge” and “creative science.” I will look at how some scientists think when they engage in scientific reasoning and the views of various scientists and philosophers of science. I will point out the similarities between the art of tracking and modern science, with particular reference to modern physics. Novel Predictions in Tracking 149 Unifying “Law-Like” Generalities in Tracking 155 Novel Predictions in Modern Science 156 The Origins of Special Relativity Theory 157 Deeper Underlying Unity 159 Anthropomorphic Representation 161 9 Spatial Visualization 164 Benefits of Relativity Theory to Bushman Trackers 164 The Logic of Science 165 Inductive-Deductive Reasoning 166 Hypothetico-Deductive Reasoning 168 Thematic Presuppositions 170 Constructing a Scientific Theory 173 Reasonable even if Impossible to Verify 177 The Absence of the Scientific-Philosophic Tradition 178 Why Science is so Successful 180 Superstition and Irrational Beliefs 181 Chapter 9: Science, Language and Art Science required complex language and art played