[sh4rk]

Sorry but isn't it just because we innovate? We innovate without evolution. Does any other species innovate without evolution? Something feels wrong to me here. It almost like it's the exact opposite: shared fiction is what hold us back (though it's probably good from a survival stand point), and innovation is what makes us unique, and it specially happens when there is no fiction but a real search for the truth.

[cobbzilla]

> Does any other species innovate without evolution?

Technically yes, but for all practical purposes no. Different clans of primates (chimpanzees iirc) have "innovated" distinct and novel ways to get food, specific to their clan. These are not innate, they are taught within the clan and passed down from generation to generation. With this, they share a common cultural knowledge and can preserve it into the future.

From a practical point of view, the speed of this "innovation" is glacial, but not all that different from the pace of human progress for most of our history.

So what makes us different? I'd argue that the evolution of speech/language provided the most important initial boost. With language, all cultural knowledge, including innovations, becomes so much easier to retain across generations.

[TeMPOraL]

As 'dan00 points out, without the ability to retain the results of the innovation process over generations, innovating pretty much goes to waste. What makes us special is a combination of ability to innovate, to pass it to others, to pass it to next generations, to build new innovations upon the old ones, and the ability to build stable societies that let us extend the scope of innovation to things beyond capability of single individual. As much as shared stories are crucial for building and maintain societies, it's an important element of what makes us special.

WRT. the social part, I'm reminded of something 'lisper keeps saying - that the minimum viable reproductive unit for homo sapiens is a tribe or a village.

[dan00]

> It almost like it's the exact opposite: shared fiction is what hold us back ...

Shared fiction is nothing else than just shared knowledge. Without collecting and keeping your knowledge you can't go further, there's no basis for innovating further.