"[...] Articulating how abstract ideas that promote social coordination are invented and spread through society is a challenging task, but due to progress in several fields it is becoming possible to sketch an outline of how it might occur. The first point to recognize is that economies of scale are intrinsic properties of human social networks. This has been amply demonstrated for contemporary urban systems (Bettencourt et al. 2007; Bettencourt et al. 2010), and it is also apparent in the archaeological record. For example, figure 1 plots the population vs. the settled area of the largest site in archaeological traditions from around the globe.
FIGURE 1. Population vs. settled area of the largest settlements in archaeological traditions from around the world. The fit line is a power law with exponent β. Data from Ortman and Blair 2012
The power law fit to these data, which span five orders of magnitude, exhibits the precise economy of scale, in the form of area per person, predicted by urban scaling theory (see Bettencourt 2012); but, in this case, each point represents a settlement that developed in a different cultural tradition, with a different technological and economic base, and in a different part of the world. These data make a strong case that, as human social networks grow, they necessarily lead to systems that require fewer resources per person, and produce more per person. In other words, the benefits of scale for human groups have always been there.[...]" pagg. 188-189
"[...] Whether we look at ancient or modern people, Homo sapiens has always been extremely adaptable. Preindustrial humans had to make do with what was in their environment that they could forage for or grow, and some groups had more specialized diets than others. Likewise, today’s humans embrace everything from narrow, locally sourced vegan diets to the highly general diets of the Anthony Bourdains of the world, who constantly seek out new food experiences from across the globe. [...]" pag. 251
"[...] Jorge Luis Borges captured this view in his famous short story, “On Exactitude in Science”:
In that Empire, the Art of Cartography attained such Perfection that the map of a single Province occupied the entirety of a City, and the map of the Empire, the entirety of a Province. In time, those Unconscionable Maps no longer satisfied, and the Cartographers Guilds struck a Map of the Empire whose size was that of the Empire, and which coincided point for point with it. The following Generations, who were not so fond of the Study of Cartography as their Forebears had been, saw that vast map was Useless…
But Borges in some ways got it wrong. He is correct that detailed maps cannot be the goal—but they can serve as rigorous starting points. The behavioral maps we build with the vast data that are now being collected will allow us to find and quantify the hidden regularities in our social interactions—regularities we may think we understand but have never measured. Why is religious fundamentalism on the rise across the globe? How is it connected to income inequality, educational achievements, disease patterns, environmental degradation, and climate change? Why do we fear some people (xenophobia) and embrace others (xenophilia)? What factors, for individuals and groups, determine whether we perceive a foreigner as a threat or an opportunity? [...]". pagg.257-258
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