The human mind is not primarily a product of genetic evolution designed for survival. It functions instead as a habitat for a second, faster form of evolution where Cultural Replicators copy themselves through imitation and language. Genes created large brains capable of advanced imitation, but once this capacity became excessive, ideas and habits began replicating independently. They spread horizontally across minds in minutes rather than across generations, moving with a speed that biological inheritance cannot match.
This shift explains why we invest in non-adaptive activities like fiction, music, and endless digital content. These are effective vehicles for the transmission of information rather than the propagation of a bloodline. What we experience as the self or personal choice is often a protective illusion constructed by these tenants to ensure their own survival. The brain provides the chamber while the ideas reshape society, often lowering birth rates in favor of Idea Density and turning individuals into carriers for narratives rather than ends in themselves.