The Evolution of Ineffective Technologies in Human Societies – A Cognitive and Cultural Evolutionary Perspective

Abstract

Throughout history and across human societies, people practiced magic, divination, and other objectively ineffective technologies. Why would people engage in these ineffective and often costly practices? In this dissertation, I draw extensively from the literature of cognitive science and cultural evolution, and provide a theoretical framework for understanding the nature of ineffective technologies as well as empirical data (historical and ethnographic) that highlight some of the factors that contribute to their persistence. Briefly, I suggest that individuals often entertain much uncertainty in the efficacy of these technologies – they are aware that technological practices do not “work” 100% of the time, yet may be willing to try them as a result of rudimentary cost-benefit analysis. Importantly, the belief component is affected by both biases in cultural transmission (e.g., under-reporting of failures) and biases in individual cognition (lack of active comparison between perceived efficacy and chance). I also discuss the epistemic difference between traditional and modern societies, and why individuals in the latter have access to more genuinely effective technologies.