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Cooperation and Competition – An evolutionary path to a social-ecological trap

Bentsen, Amund Lindvang LU (2025) HEKM51 20251
Department of Human Geography
Human Ecology
Abstract
It is increasingly well-established that Homo sapiens’ significant influence and success as a species are due to our ability to cooperate – solving collective action problems. The evolutionary selection for this ability can be explained by the cumulative effect of cultural technologies and practices being imitated within the group and between generations. To gain new insight into the human evolutionary trajectory, this knowledge is, in the following thesis, coupled with thermodynamic theory on the maximization of energy throughput. The thesis argues that human evolutionary history encountered a critical juncture in the Neolithic period. With the advent of sedentary agriculture and surplus creation, agriculturalists started to alter the... (More)
It is increasingly well-established that Homo sapiens’ significant influence and success as a species are due to our ability to cooperate – solving collective action problems. The evolutionary selection for this ability can be explained by the cumulative effect of cultural technologies and practices being imitated within the group and between generations. To gain new insight into the human evolutionary trajectory, this knowledge is, in the following thesis, coupled with thermodynamic theory on the maximization of energy throughput. The thesis argues that human evolutionary history encountered a critical juncture in the Neolithic period. With the advent of sedentary agriculture and surplus creation, agriculturalists started to alter the environment radically, constructing niches, which increased the speed of the cultural between-group competition and selection pressure to maximize energy throughput. The thesis further argues that because of these Neolithic changes, humanity gradually stepped into a social-ecological trap – a collective action problem that triggers adverse environmental feedback loops, which lowered living standards and caused increased ecological degradation during the Neolithic. This thesis suggests that these Neolithic changes created a path-dependent trajectory that might influence the poly-crisis of contemporary society, and hence, calls for a research agenda that investigates the relationship between energy maximization in human culture and entrapment mechanisms such as the social-ecological trap. (Less)
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author
Bentsen, Amund Lindvang LU
supervisor
organization
course
HEKM51 20251
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Social-ecological trap, social trap, collective action problems, cultural evolution, multi-level selection, maximum entropy production, constraint-mechanisms, the Neolithic, path-dependency
language
English
id
9210082
date added to LUP
2025-09-26 08:14:48
date last changed
2025-09-26 08:14:48
@misc{9210082,
  abstract     = {{It is increasingly well-established that Homo sapiens’ significant influence and success as a species are due to our ability to cooperate – solving collective action problems. The evolutionary selection for this ability can be explained by the cumulative effect of cultural technologies and practices being imitated within the group and between generations. To gain new insight into the human evolutionary trajectory, this knowledge is, in the following thesis, coupled with thermodynamic theory on the maximization of energy throughput. The thesis argues that human evolutionary history encountered a critical juncture in the Neolithic period. With the advent of sedentary agriculture and surplus creation, agriculturalists started to alter the environment radically, constructing niches, which increased the speed of the cultural between-group competition and selection pressure to maximize energy throughput. The thesis further argues that because of these Neolithic changes, humanity gradually stepped into a social-ecological trap – a collective action problem that triggers adverse environmental feedback loops, which lowered living standards and caused increased ecological degradation during the Neolithic. This thesis suggests that these Neolithic changes created a path-dependent trajectory that might influence the poly-crisis of contemporary society, and hence, calls for a research agenda that investigates the relationship between energy maximization in human culture and entrapment mechanisms such as the social-ecological trap.}},
  author       = {{Bentsen, Amund Lindvang}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Cooperation and Competition – An evolutionary path to a social-ecological trap}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}