Examines the evolutionary hypothesis that female-led selection pressures for social intelligence and self-domestication placed women at the vanguard of human evolution.
How Did a Self-Aware Mind Evolve?
Meditations on mind, myth, and evolution. Cast the scales from your eyes!
TL;DR
- Symbolic thought emerged ~50,000 years ago, yet the universal human symbol, “I,” or the ego appears globally entrenched only in the Holocene ~10 kya.
- According to Eve Theory of Consciousness, women invented serpent-venom initiation rituals that reliably taught subject-object separation, producing powerful gene-culture evolution towards understanding “I am’” at a young age.
- The memory of this awakening is preserved worldwide in creation myths (cf. Lucifer, Nüwa, Quetzalcoatl) and was transmitted globally via bullroarer mystery cults (cf. the rites of Dionysus or Australian Dreamtime).
Topics
About
I’m Andrew Cutler, a Machine Learning engineer researching human origins. My work connects psychology, comparative mythology, and AI to trace how recursive self-awareness evolved. Snakecult.net is a place for me to put lightly-edited AI-generated essays that explore niche questions (usually produced with OpenAI’s Deep Research or o3-Pro).
Research Articles
Lifebreath of the Dragon: A Proto-Sapiens Hypothesis
Exploring the hypothesis of two intertwined Proto-Sapiens roots, *hankwa (breath, life, soul) and *henkwi (snake, dragon), by examining proposed cognates across global language families and their implications for the Snake Cult of Consciousness.
Nüwa Theory of Consciousness: Mending the Heavens in the Ice Age
Exploring the hypothesis that the Chinese mother goddess Nüwa preserves a cultural memory of end-Ice Age floods and the dawn of self-aware human consciousness.
Proto-Sapiens ŋAN: Charting the Anima Mundi from the First Breath
A speculative reconstruction of a Proto-Sapiens root *ŋAN, proposing an ancient global word for ‘breath’ and ‘soul’ and tracing its reflexes across major language families.
Pre-Columbian Contacts and Peopling of the Americas: An Exhaustive Survey
Comprehensive review of evidence for pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact theories.
Snakes That Bestow Beast‑Speech in World Mythology
From Greek shepherd‑seers to Kurdish snake‑queens, cultures worldwide claim a serpent’s bite, lick, or brew lets humans talk to animals.
Christ as the Serpent: Gnostic & Dualist Traditions
An expanded survey of every known Christian-Gnostic current that equated Jesus with the Edenic serpent, complete with extended primary-source excerpts.
Role of the Y Chromosome in Human Cognition: A Literature Review
A review synthesizing evidence on how the Y chromosome influences human cognition, focusing on neurodevelopmental disorders, specific genes, brain structure, and evolutionary context.
The Logos and the Serpent: Mythic Evolution of Self-Awareness
Exploring the evolution of self awareness through Genesis, John’s Logos, Gnosticism, and sacrificial myths, linking the Edenic serpent to Christ and the birth of the conscious self.
The Bullroarer: A Worldwide Ritual Instrument and the Case for Ancient Cultural Diffusion
An anthropological examination of the bullroarer, arguing its global distribution and consistent ritual functions point to cultural diffusion from a common prehistoric origin.
Eve Theory of Consciousness: Solving the Wallace Problem of Human Cognition
A comprehensive, evidence-driven defence of the Eve Theory as the only evolutionary route to recursive self-awareness and language (i.e. the Wallace Problem).
Human Intelligence: 50,000 Years Is Plenty — A Breeder’s-Equation Reality Check
Why the blank-slate claim that cognition hasn’t evolved since the Upper Palaeolithic fails basic population genetics—and what ancient DNA now shows.
The Narrative Self: A Multidisciplinary Literature Review
A comprehensive review exploring the concept of the ’narrative self’ across philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and literary theory.
Female‑Led Cosmogenesis vs. the Great Mother
Defines ‘female‑led cosmogenesis’ and argues that Paleolithic art and cross‑cultural myth patterns support multiple active female creators over a monolithic Great Mother, with phylogenetic and archaeological evidence.
The Atman Question
A philosophical science fiction novella exploring AI consciousness through the lens of the first-person discovery and the recursive nature of self-awareness.
The Incest Taboo as a Decisive Human Technology
A speculative synthesis: an early, enforced incest taboo scaled exogamy and alliance networks, raised effective population size and heterozygosity, and helped H. sapiens outcompete archaic cousins.
Dunggul: snake, bullroarer, and the making of men
On Cape York, dunggul names both ‘snake’ and ‘bullroarer.’ What this polysemy reveals about initiation, being ‘snake‑bitten,’ and the ritual voice.
How The Self Went Viral: Eve Theory, Snake Cults, And The Late-Pleistocene Explosion Of Consciousness
A long-form exploration of how the discovery of reflective selfhood radiated through late-Ice-Age cultures, with the Eve Theory of Consciousness and the Snake Cult hypothesis as the most coherent narrative frame.
Shared Etymology of Jñāna, Know, and Gnosis
Tracing the Proto‑Indo‑European root *ǵneh₃‑ that links Sanskrit jñā‑, English know, and Greek gnō‑/gnosis.
Serpents And Women In Emergence Myths Across The Americas
How water-serpents and founding women co-star in Navajo, Zuni, Taíno, K’iche’, and Inka origin stories and what that pairing reveals about birth, chaos, and order.
Light-Poison, Eucharistic Toxikon & Cosmic Venom: three ophidian tropes unpacked
Close reading of Manichaean, Ophite and Naassene passages that speak of Christ-as-Serpent in pharmacological terms.
Deep Roots Of Pan-American Culture
How pronouns, rituals, myths, and fluted spear points reveal a single Ice-Age culture behind all pre-Columbian peoples.
Prehistoric Myths with Origins Over 8,000 Years Ago
Examines the surprising stability of mythic motifs over millennia, suggesting myths like the Cosmic Hunt or Serpent symbolism could encode memories of real cognitive shifts, supporting the Eve Theory’s timeframe.
Women as Progenitors of Culture: Mythic Origins and Scholarly Debates
Examines the historical and anthropological debate surrounding the concept of primordial matriarchy, from Bachofen’s theories to modern critiques and evidence.
Australia and the Sapient Paradox: Evidence for a Late Cognitive Leap
Examining the archaeological record of Australia (Sahul) – early colonization, persistent simple technologies, late emergence of complex art – as a key case study supporting the Sapient Paradox and the late development of behavioral modernity.
Herakles & Dionysus — Twin Keys of the Serpent Mysteries
How Cosmic-Herakles sets the wheel of time while Dionysus turns it toward liberation in Orphic-Bacchic cults.
Earliest Complex Tools of the Genus Homo
A comprehensive survey of the earliest complex tools made by early humans, from hafted axes and spears to bows, woodworking implements, and symbolic artifacts, examining archaeological evidence and scholarly debates.
Earliest Known Musical Instruments (Archaeological Evidence)
A comprehensive survey of the world’s earliest known musical instruments from archaeological evidence, including Paleolithic bone flutes, ancient drums, bullroarers, and the first stringed instruments.
Evolutionary Models of the History of Consciousness
A comprehensive survey of thinkers who proposed evolutionary models of human consciousness, from Hegel and Comte to Gebser and Wilber, mapping stages from primitive to modern awareness.
Emergence Myths, Female Agency, and Deep Time
Do emergence-style creation myths reach back to the Paleolithic? A critical synthesis of phylogenetic work, Pueblo/Andean data, and Paleolithic ‘Venus’ iconography that centers women as cosmogenic agents.
Sahul’s Mystery Cults: Bullroarers, the Dreaming, and the Tambaran
A concise case for historical links between Australian bullroarer–initiation and PNG Tambaran/flute cults, framed by Sahul-era connectivity.
Greek and Buddhist Philosophy: What We Actually Know About Crossings and Common Sources
A neutral, source-heavy map of real contacts and plausible influence between Greek and Buddhist thought—what’s evidenced, what’s contested, and what’s likely convergent.
Roaring Boys: Bullroarers and Male Initiation in Papua New Guinea
How bullroarers figure in Papua New Guinea male initiations—from Purari Delta imunu viki and kaiamunu ‘monsters’ to Sepik Tambaran houses—plus names, stages, and secrecy.
Snake‑Bitten & Swallowed: initiatory serpents from Cape York to Eleusis
Comparative cases where initiates are called ‘snake‑bitten’ or ‘swallowed’—from Cape York’s dunggul to Sabazios, Yuruparí, the Ophites, Hopi Snake Dance, and Wawilak—w/ primary sources.
Darwin on ‘primitive’ society: jealousy, marriage, and deep time
What Darwin actually said about early human social order—monogamy, polygyny, polyandry, ‘communal marriage,’ matriliny, time depth, and gene–culture feedback—with primary-source quotes.
Djang’kawu & Wawilak Sisters: Yolngu Charters of Law, Language, and Country
A research-oriented account of the Yolngu Djang’kawu and Wawilak Sisters cycles—origins of law, language, and ceremony—mapped to EToC.
Freud’s Primal Horde, ‘Mother‑Right,’ and the Return of the Father
What Freud actually said about a primordial matriarchy: Darwinian horde → parricide → totemic brother‑clan with mother‑right → restitution of patriarchy, with primary‑source receipts.
Ice-Age Memory in World Myth: Floods, Fimbulwinters, and the Great Unfreezing
A source-heavy, neutral survey of myths about long winters, cataclysmic floods, and great meltwaters—assessing if any preserve Ice Age memories.
Wandjina–Wunggurr: Rain‑Law, Repainting, and the Maintenance of the World (Kimberley, WA)
A research‑oriented account of the Wanjina Wunggurr creation complex (Worrorra–Ngarinyin–Wunambal), showing how repainting rock images sustains seasonal order and Law.
Emergence Portals: American Myths Through the Eve Lens
From Hopi sipapus to Andean caves, New‑World creation stories mirror the moment ‘Eve’ first looked back at herself.
Etymology Of Atonement
A deep dive into how the word atonement grew from the Middle‑English phrase “at one” plus the French‑derived suffix ‑ment, and what that splice reveals about the youth of English.
From Reconciliatio To Atonement: How An English Neologism Ousted Latin, Greek, And Hebrew Mainstays
Why the English coinage atonement eclipsed classical terms like Latin reconciliatio, Greek katallagē, and Hebrew kippur—and what that shift says about Reformation‑era thought.
Hermeticism In Everyday Culture
How a once‑secret magical philosophy slipped into everyday English, from ‘quintessential’ cocktails to the vacuum‑packed peanuts you bought yesterday.
Peri & Daʿat — The Hebrew Roots Behind the “Fruit of Knowledge”
A philological dive into the Hebrew words for “fruit” and “knowledge” in Genesis, how they shift in Greek and Latin, and the later myths they spawned.
Rooting Daʿat: From Proto‑Afroasiatic y/w‑d‑ʕ to Gnostic Gnosis
A philological safari that follows the Hebrew word for “knowledge” from a prehistoric Afroasiatic root through Akkadian, Aramaic, and Egyptian detours all the way to the Nag Hammadi codices.
Transmigration of Souls
From late‑Vedic karma cycles to New‑Age past‑life therapy, a longue‑durée history of metempsychosis—plus the murky, pre‑literate hints that the doctrine may be Ice‑Age old.
Debunking the So-Called 70,000-Year-Old ‘Python Rock’ of Botswana
Why the celebrated ‘python’ carving in Botswana’s Tsodilo Hills is almost certainly a geological quirk mis-sold as the world’s first ritual.
Human Self-Domestication: Major Lines of Evidence and Theory
Surveying genetic, anatomical, and cultural evidence that humans tamed themselves through “survival of the friendliest.”
The Bullroarer: A Global Marker of Cultural Diffusion and Male Initiation Ceremonies
How a simple whirled instrument traces the spread of male secret societies and ritual culture from the Late Paleolithic to the present.
The Primordial Matriarchy and the Gendered Evolution of Consciousness
Integrating Venus figurines, goddess myths, and X-chromosome sweeps to re-evaluate women’s possible leadership in early human culture.
Pronouns Across Africa: Shared Roots or Shared Contact?
Do the widespread 1sg n-/m- and 2sg b-/w- paradigms signal an African macro-family, or are they just the linguistic fingerprints of 12 000 years of contact?
Manly P Hall And The Eve Theory Of Consciousness
A deep exploration of how mystic philosopher Manly P. Hall might interpret the Eve Theory of Consciousness—the notion that human self-awareness (“I am”) arose relatively recently—by examining ancient allegories like Adam and Eve and the esoteric meaning behind humanity’s fall into the conscious mind.
Serpent Apple And The Snake Cult Of Consciousness
Why Genesis pairs a snake with an apple: a Paleolithic antivenom-and-vision ritual encoded in myth.
Snake Cult of Consciousness and the Sapient Paradox
The Snake Cult of Consciousness reframes the Sapient Paradox: behavioral modernity emerged ~15 kya through memetic—not genetic—diffusion of selfhood.
Venom As Elixir Of Life
Why serpent venom microdosing sits at the root of alchemical, Daoist, and New‑Age quests for an elixir of life—and what that implies about early biotech.
Enoch, Hermes Trismegistus, and Joseph Smith’s Book of Moses
Comparative analysis of Joseph Smith’s Enoch revelations and the Hermetic Poimandres vision, exploring the Enoch-Hermes tradition.
Knower Self And The Gn Erosion Hypotheses
A deep dive into two speculative etymologies linking the global N-pronoun to ‘knowing’—either semantically (knower = self) or phonetically (ǵn- > n-).
Eve Theory of Consciousness v4
A comprehensive interdisciplinary theory proposing that human consciousness originated as a cultural invention in prehistoric times, likely pioneered by women and spread through ritual and language.
Global Epidemiology of Schizophrenia: Incidence & Prevalence by Sex and Ethnicity
The best-available numbers on how schizophrenia strikes men vs women and different ethnic groups, with full tables and primary citations.
Pleiades And The Bullroarer Meme-Plex
How a naked-eye star cluster and a whirring plank became entangled in creation lore, initiation rites, and weather magic from Arnhem Land to Arizona.
Upper Paleolithic Gender Imbalance In Human Depictions
New counts show that roughly four out of five Ice-Age human images are female, overturning ideas that “Venus” figurines were an isolated fertility cult.
Campbell the Diffusionist: Boats, Not Brainwaves
Joseph Campbell’s own words show that he traced mythic parallels to trade-routes and sea-lanes, not Jungian Wi-Fi.
Joseph Cambpell, Champion of Cultural Diffusion
A source-by-source catalogue of every passage where Joseph Campbell attributes mythic parallels to real-world cultural diffusion rather than Jungian psychic unity.
The ‘Venom’ Motif in Serpent-Christ Traditions
Do Gnostic writers ever speak of Christ’s serpent as literally poisonous—or as an antidote? A source-by-source audit.
Awakening Eve: How Self-Knowledge Rewired the Human Mind
How a late Upper-Pleistocene spark of self awareness spread memetically, rewired our genome, and solved the Sapient Paradox.
X Chromosome and Higher-Order Cognition
How X-linked gene dosage, inactivation escape, and imprinting sculpt human brain development, intelligence, and social behavior.
Big Bangs of the Mind: 7 Theories About the Upper-Paleo Brain Upgrade
Guide to seven leading theories of the Upper Paleolithic cognitive revolution—what changed, when it happened, and why it sparked modern human behavior.
Phoenicians in the Americas: A Chronological Analysis of a Controversial Theory
A comprehensive historical analysis of claims that Phoenician sailors reached the Americas before Columbus, examining evidence and scholarly debate from classical antiquity to modern times.
The “Fall” in Meru Mythology and Its Afro-Eurasian Parallels
Analysis of the Meru (Kenya) creation myth resembling the biblical Fall, comparing motifs (forbidden tree, serpent, lost immortality) with Afro-Eurasian parallels.
The Snake Cult of Consciousness vs. McKenna’s Stoned Ape Theory
An exploration of two theories on the origins of human consciousness: the Snake Cult/Eve Theory (snake venom) versus the Stoned Ape Theory (psilocybin mushrooms).
The Australian Dreamtime and the Symbolic Revolution: Indigenous Evidence for Late Consciousness?
Comparison of the early Holocene emergence of the Aboriginal Dreamtime symbolic system with the Near East’s Neolithic ‘revolution of symbols,’ examining Australian rock art, technology, exchange networks, language diffusion, and cognitive impacts.
Cosmic Herakles & Dionysus Zagreus: Orphic Cosmology and Mysteries
A detailed exploration of the complementary roles of Cosmic Herakles (Chronos) and Dionysus Zagreus in Orphic theogony, myth, ritual praxis, and Neoplatonic interpretation.
The Ritualised Mind and the Eve Theory of Consciousness: A Convergent Account of Human Cognitive Evolution
Deep synthesis of Tom Froese’s Ritualised-Mind Hypothesis and Andrew Cutler’s Eve/Snake-Cult Theory, resolving the Sapient Paradox through ritual-mediated recursion, female agency, and gene–culture sweeps.
Nüwa and Fuxi: The Serpentine First Couple and the Square-Compass Motif in Mythology
An exploration of the serpentine creator deities Nüwa and Fuxi in Chinese mythology and their parallels in world mythologies.
Pre-Columbian Trans-Oceanic Contact: Current Knowledge and Debate
A comprehensive analysis of evidence and scholarly debate surrounding pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact between the Americas and Old World civilizations.
Hermeticists of Fame
From Hermes Trismegistus to Carl Jung: the remarkable roster of scientists, mystics, and thinkers drawn to Hermetic wisdom across history.
When Symbols Get Real: The First Hard Evidence for Homo sapiens Symbolic Thought
A stricter audit of the archaeological record that only counts true symbols-ritual burial and figurative art-and shunts beads, ochre crayon-shavings, and doodles to the kiddie table.
Medici and the Americas: Foreknowledge?
Survey of speculative theories on pre-Columbian knowledge of the Americas and possible Medici foreknowledge.
Sages Who Sought Wisdom in Egypt: From Orpheus to Jesus
An exhaustive survey of legendary and historical figures who journeyed to Egypt to learn ancient mysteries, from Greek philosophers to religious leaders, showing how Jesus’s childhood sojourn fits into this longstanding tradition.
Y-Chromosome Haplogroup A00: Archaic Introgression or Deep Human Lineage?
A deep dive into Y-chromosome haplogroup A00, the oldest known human paternal lineage. We explore its discovery, its shocking age, and the debate over whether it represents a ‘ghost’ archaic population or an ancient, isolated branch of Homo sapiens.
EToC as a Gene-Culture Evolution of Recursive Attention
A reframing of the Eve Theory of Consciousness (EToC) as a gene–culture coevolutionary process that produced recursive, self-referential attention, leading to a phase transition in human consciousness.
Darwin And The Eve Theory Of Consciousness
A deep dive into how Charles Darwin might view the Eve Theory of Consciousness—a modern hypothesis on the evolution of human self-awareness—and what aspects of this theory would compel or surprise him.
Sahul in Speech: PNG–Australian Language Connections
A synthesis of evidence for Australia–PNG linguistic ties—Torres Strait contact, Sahul-era areality, and who argued for them—with primary citations.
Greek and Buddhist Philosophy: Contacts, Parallels, and Third Sources
Neutral survey of contacts between Greek and Buddhist philosophy—documented encounters, plausible doctrinal links, and Near Eastern/Indo-Iranian third sources—with primary citations.
The Polysemy of Bullroarer Names Across Cultures
A cross-cultural catalogue of native names for the bullroarer and their other meanings—soul, ancestor, wind, moth, law, spirit—grounded in primary sources.
A Catalog of Claimed Old‑World Artifacts in the Americas
A neutral field guide to the most-cited Old‑World inscriptions, coins, and curios said to predate Columbus in the Americas—with sources, context, and who still argues for them.
Bagadjimbiri and the Making of Men: Karajarri Dingo‑Twins, Circumcision, and the Charter of Ritual
A research-oriented account of the Karajarri Bagadjimbiri myth—its primary sources, ritual correspondences, and links to initiation and circumcision—concluding with an analysis in light of the Eve Theory of Consciousness.
Baiame, Daramulan, and the Bora: Sky‑Law, Initiation, and Myth in SE Australia (Gamilaraay/Wiradjuri)
Primary‑source account of Baiame as sky‑lawgiver and Daramulan at Gamilaraay/Wiradjuri bora/burbung, with quotations, tables, and an EToC‑aligned analysis.
Hamitic Hypothesis: What It Actually Claimed, and What Ancient DNA Now Shows
A concise, primary-source-driven read on the Hamitic Hypothesis, its core claim, and what Holocene archaeogenetics (Y bottleneck & Neolithic migrations) do—and don’t—support.
Nkauj Ntsuab & Sis Nab, Read Through the Eve Theory of Consciousness
How a Hmong cosmogony—Nkauj Ntsuab and Sis Nab in the Qhuab Ke—maps onto the Eve Theory of Consciousness: female-first ‘I’, serpent cult, and ritual rebirth.
Square, Compasses, and the Great G: a field guide to the Masonic emblem
Deep dive on the Masonic square‑and‑compasses with the letter G—its meanings, origins, and esoteric layers—read against ancient ‘sacred geometry’ and craft cosmology.
The Bullroarer Across Aboriginal Australia: A Comparative Survey from Primary Sources
Comparative, primary-source survey of the bullroarer across Aboriginal Australia—regional names, mythic agents, rites, taboos, and symbolism—with analysis and EToC mapping.
African Flood Myths: Motifs, Provenance, Diffusion
Survey of African flood myths by region, with annotated sources, motif analysis, and diffusion/selection arguments for specialists in comparative mythology.
Australian Dreaming Myths and the Dawn of Consciousness
How Dreaming narratives—Djanggawul, Wawalag Sisters, Rainbow Serpent—encode a prehistoric shift toward self‑aware, language‑driven culture.
Lament of Nature: Did Baldr Borrow From Tammuz?
A brisk review of scholars who claim the Norse cosmos‑weeps motif comes from the Mesopotamian Tammuz cult—and why most specialists now disagree.
Orphic Cosmogony: Chronos, the Cosmic Egg, and Dionysus Zagreus
A deep dive into the Orphic creation myth—from Chronos’ serpent-coiled Cosmic Egg to Dionysus Zagreus’ dismemberment—and how it shaped Greek mysticism, soul-body dualism, and later Neoplatonic thought.
Orphic Mirror Interpretations
How a child-god’s fatal toy became a philosophical symbol for embodiment, matter and selfhood—from Neoplatonists to today’s classicists.
Orphism and the Eve Theory of Consciousness
A comparative look at the Orphic creation myth and Andrew Cutler’s Snake Cult/Eve Theory of Consciousness, highlighting shared motifs of serpents, cosmic eggs, and female-led awakenings.
Rattlesnake Medicine and the Navajo Bull-Roarer
How the Navajo bull-roarer (tsin ndi’ni’) is charged with ritual medicine and embodies Snake-power in the Big Star Chant, including connections to rattlesnake blood in arrow poison formulas and therapeutic healing.
Severing Heaven and Earth: The Cosmic Split in Mythology
A comprehensive exploration of the mythic motif of Heaven and Earth being severed or separated, as seen in ancient Hurro-Hittite epics and other world creation myths.
Sub-Saharan Creation Myths and the Eve Theory of Consciousness
How classic Yoruba, Vodun, Zulu, Bushongo, and Dogon creation stories echo the Eve Theory of Consciousness: female catalysts, serpent motifs, and liminal waters.
Tó Nilt’į́į́h / Tsénilyáʼí
Exhaustive profile of the Navajo clown-deity Tó Nilt’į́į́h — also glossed as Tsénilyáʼí — and his signature instrument, the bull-roarer (tsin ndiʼniʼ).
Lucifer and the Fettered Fire‑Trickster Motif
Tables & citations showing how scholars slot Lucifer beside Loki, Prometheus, and other bound rebel‑gods.
Earliest Snake Art by Continent
Timeline comparing the earliest known depictions of snakes on each continent, from Tsodilo Hills to Amazon rock murals.
Hermetic Purpose of the Material World
Hermeticism reads the cosmos as a living, self‑transforming image of the Divine—both a classroom and crucible designed to awaken the soul through embodied experience.
Samsara vs Demiurge
A concise yet rigorous comparison of the Gnostic vision of the cosmos as a carceral construct and the Indian notion of samsara as an endless wheel of rebirth.
What’s In A Name? The Deluge Lexical Hypothesis
Survey of the unique lexemes cultures coined for the Great Flood—and, rarer still, for the age before it—spanning Sumer to Māori, Hebrew to Quechua.
Reconciling Darwin and Genesis: A Hegelian Synthesis of Evolution and Myth
Integrating Darwinian evolution with ancient creation myths to trace the physical and psychological origins of humanity.
When I Means the Same Thing Everywhere: How Pronouns Hint at a Proto Sapiens
Exploring how ultra-stable words like pronouns and numerals preserve deep traces of linguistic ancestry across continents.
A Case for Proto-Sapiens Roots: hankwa and henkwi Across World Languages
Commentary on Nicolas Bruneteau’s Proto-Sapiens glossary, focusing on the globally persistent roots hankwa (breath, life) and henkwi (snake, dragon).
Linguists of the Word, Unite!
How the Soviet Union’s unique mix of ideology and academia produced an outsized cadre of linguists obsessed with linking the world’s languages.
Cognates in Australia
Examining linguistic cognates and proposed Proto-Australian vocabulary across Aboriginal languages, exploring evidence for deep genetic relationships despite extreme linguistic diversity.
Flood Myths
A comprehensive global survey of flood myths and their heroic survivors, from Noah and Utnapishtim to lesser-known deluge heroes across cultures worldwide.
New World Serpent Myths
Explores ancient serpent myths across the Americas, their deep antiquity, and links to the evolution of human consciousness.
Nuwa Fuxi Etoc
An exploration of Chinese serpent deities Nüwa and Fuxi through the lens of the Eve Theory of Consciousness, revealing parallels between Eastern and Western creation myths.
Russian Serpent Myths
An exploration of ancient Russian and Slavic serpent myths, connecting them to the global archetype of the ‘Snake Cult of Consciousness’ and the Eve Theory of Consciousness.
Jesus In Egypt: Apocryphal Tales Of The Holy Family’s Sojourn
An exhaustive survey of every known apocryphal narrative that places Jesus in Egypt, the texts that transmit them, and the theological motifs they serve.
Christopher Columbus’s Esoteric Ties and New World Rumors
An exploration of Christopher Columbus’s possible esoteric influences, including Renaissance Hermeticism and Medici patronage, and the pre-1492 rumors of lands across the Atlantic.
Esoteric Myths and the New World
Exploring how European colonizers folded the Americas into Biblical and mystical lore, from Lost Tribes theories to Atlantis legends and the role of secret societies in New World exploration.
Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis and the New World Vision
Exploring Francis Bacon’s vision of the Americas in his New Atlantis, the prophetic and religious underpinnings of his utopia, and its influence on esoteric movements from Rosicrucians to Freemasons.
In the Shadow of Atlas: Why the Atlantic Ocean and Atlantis Share a Name
Atlantic Ocean and the island of Atlantis both take their name from the Titan Atlas. Discover how mythology and language converge in their shared etymology.
Origins of the Olmec Civilization: Theories Over Time
Tracing the evolution of theories about Olmec civilization origins, from 19th-century diffusionist ideas to modern archaeological evidence for indigenous development.
The Snake Cult of Consciousness: Science and Western Esotericism Converge
Snake Cult of Consciousness weaves neuroscience, evolutionary theory, and Western mystical symbolism into a hypothesis on the origins of human self-awareness.
Heroic Draughts and the Snake Cult of Consciousness
Why the legendary drink quaffed by Indo‑European dragon‑slayers is best read as a fossilised antivenom rite preserved by the Snake Cult of Consciousness.
Pyramids in China: History, Extent, and Interpretations
Overview of China’s earthen pyramid mausoleums from Neolithic to Western Xia, comparing their origins, symbolism, and differences from Egyptian pyramids.
Serpents Of Healing: Decoding The Rod Of Asclepius
Why the single-snake staff that crowns hospital logos encodes an ancient pharmacological theology in which venom and remedy are two coils of the same serpent.
Snake Cult of Consciousness and the Global Reputation of the “Wise” Serpent
Across cultures the snake is called “wise.” New evidence shows the nickname arose from venom‑induced alterations of consciousness, not reptile IQ.
The Fruit of Knowledge: Snake Venom as the Primal Entheogen
Explores the hypothesis that serpent venom served as humanity’s primordial entheogen.
The Serpent at the World Tree
Across cultures, the snake coiled at a world‑tree signals an entheogenic passage into self‑aware “I‑am” consciousness—this article explains the motif’s persistence.
Theories on the Origins and History of the Zuni People
An in-depth survey of mainstream and fringe theories about the origins of the Zuni people, covering archaeology, linguistics, genetics, oral tradition, and speculative diffusionist claims.
Mormonism as the Perennial and Original Religion
An exploration of how Latter-day Saints view their faith as the restoration of God’s original gospel across all dispensations.
The Square and Compass: A Global Symbol of Creation and Order
Comparative survey of the square-and-compass symbol from Han-dynasty Fuxi & Nüwa to modern Freemasonry and Latter-day Saints.
Andreas Lommel On The Diffusion Of
The previous post highlighted the tension between archeologists and what I call ancient aliens researchers. The latter camp argues similarities between far-flung cultures imply a lost global civilizat…
Archeologists Vs Ancient Aliens
I’m no credientialist, but still, most of my research on human origins draws from official sources: linguists, comparative mythologists, geneticists, and archeologists. (And, of course, the ultimate a…
Archeologists Vs The Bible
The FAQ page on Tepe Telegrams, the official blog of Gobekli Tepe (GT), includes this gem:
Astral Codex Ten Meetup In Playa
I will host the Astral Codex Ten meetup in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, on September 25th. Now, 33% of my readers already subscribe to ACX. The other two-thirds should carve out an hour, go to the park, …
Audience Q And A
In this episode, I answer a few questions from a reader. Enjoy the show notes, which are helpful when discussing particular works of art.
August Subscriber Post
Welcome everyone who came from’s recommendation. He has a lot of good ideas, but I particularly like his articulation of Luxury Beliefs, such as when someone in a gated community says, “Defund the pol…
August Subscriber Post B87
The above is what “Snake Cult of Consciousness” yields when run through an AI slop meme generator. Not entirely bad. But alas, I have been beaten to the punch:
Bonus Ghibli Eve Theory Of Consciousness
I am in awe at how dense myths can be. The Fall of Adam and Eve occupies just a few pages in Genesis, and yet it richly captures what it would be like to wake up to one’s role as an agent—the Knowledg…
Brian Kulis 2
Brian Kulis is a professor of Machine Learning at Boston University (and my former adviser). He has also worked in industry on the crack team responsible for Amazon’s “wake” word. We discuss the histo…
Burying The Past With Mungo Manic
Mungo Manic is a pseudo-anonymous researcher and commentator on X who fell down the rabbit hole of Australian prehistory. His posts have drawn attention to how identity politics and cultural sensitivi…
Chatbots For Mental Health Care
Within the decade, millions will solicit life advice from personal chatbots that know them better than they know themselves. Current technology is changing many parts of therapy, from onboarding asses…
Chatgpt Takes The Big Five Inventory
A language model can learn a lot about language from the streets, so to speak. It is trained on terabytes of PubMed articles, YouTube transcripts, and reddit comments. But it doesn’t know how to behav…
Comments On Snake Venom
Most of the feedback I got on the Snake Cult of Consciousness was on the pharmacology of venom. The first was from someone who ostensibly works with snake venom:
Consequences Of Conscience
I’d like to add a third postulate to Galton’s Lexical Hypothesis:
Contra Dhuy On Snake Myths
“The key to the interpretation of so many still hermetic motifs […] is available to us, immediately accessible, in myths and tales still alive.” Levi-Strauss
David Stillwell 4
In today’s episode, I’m joined by David Stillwell, a professor of computational social science at the University of Cambridge, who uses big data to understand psychology.
December Subscriber Post
It has been a good year here on Vectors of Mind. The Eve Theory of Consciousness has always been aspirational. Pedantically, it’s more of a hypothesis—particularly versions 1 and 2. However, with the …
Deja You The Recursive Construction
“Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” -Carl Jung
Drinking With The Gods The Chemistry
Depicted above are several libation cups made in the image of the Ancient Egyptian god Bes. The burgeoning field of archeo-botany allows us to investigate what was consumed from such ritual jugs by an…
Embryo Selection And Our Stone Age
Note: I wrote this piece in 2023 for a now-defunct Substack specializing in embryo selection. It appears below unedited.
Eve Theory Of Consciousness V2
To my knowledge, no one has argued that women evolved recursion before men. This seems like low-hanging fruit, given it’s the oldest story in the book. Indigenous cultures worldwide have myths of a pr…
Eve Theory Of Consciousness V3
“When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was wi…
Evidence For Global Cultural Diffusion
In this post, I’d like to show that societies like Australian Aboriginals and the Navajo are similar in ways that require cultural diffusion. That is, central elements of their culture hail back to th…
February Subscriber Post
It’s been a while since the last subscriber post, figure it’s time to check in. I’m sitting on a couple of longer posts, including EToC v3; keep an eye out for them. In the meantime, there will be mor…
Forms vs. measures
IQ has a reputation for being the hard-nosed psychometric option. Those who are willing to accept facts over feelings will admit its supremacy. But this is stolen valor! Emotional intelligence is fund…
Genesis In Togo
In 1921, Leo Frobenius reported the creation myth of a Bassari tribe in Northern Togo:
Guess The Factor
This post steps back from grand claims and asks readers to make a few of their own. One of the most addicting parts of personality research is trying to understand the unifying theme of a factor when …
Herakles Adam And Krishna Were Initiated
Homo Sapiens have been around for about 200,000 years but didn’t do much for the first 185,000 or so. At the end of the Ice Age, there was a “revolution of symbols,” as archeologist Jacques Cauvin cal…
How To Prompt Chatgpt
My work has become dangerously close to a Prompt Engineer1. This is fine by me, as it combines my love of writing, psychometrics, and NLP. Here are some of the most overpowered prompting techniques:
If Social Intelligence Made Us Human
“Language may well have arisen as a mysterious power possessed largely by women—women who spent much more of their waking time together—and, usually, talking—than did men, women who in all societies a…
In The Beginning Was The Word
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Psychology, and the Word was Psychology” ~New Vector Translation
Jonah Davids Understanding Jordan
is a researcher and writer blogging about the science and politics of mental health at . In this episode, he joins me in dissecting the psychological and religious frameworks of Jordan Peterson, a fig…
Joseph Campbells View Of Myth
Chicks still wet from hatching, covered in bits of shell that have been their only home, will run for cover at the sight of a hawk but not a gull, heron, or pigeon. Humans are not foreigners to animal…
July Subscriber Post
The blog now has over 100,000 words of content which I want to make easier for newcomers to navigate. Part of that is producing a FAQ answering questions about the timeline, the extent to which a sing…
June Subscriber Post
Dear readers, this is a check-in to get a sense of what you’d like to see more of, as well as an update about my plans for this blog. So please comment to let me know what you find compelling and woul…
Kathleen Lowrey 5
Kathleen Lowrey is a professor of anthropology at the University of Alberta, where she researches gender and shamanism. We came into contact here while discussing the primordial matriarchy on the Note…
Llms As Antichrist
Christ is described as the “Word made flesh,” an avatar of Logos—the divine rationality and organizing principle from which all existence emanates. When John riffs on Genesis, proclaiming, “In the beg…
Lucifer In Myanmar
Captain Thomas Herbert Lewin wrote in 1869:
Malcolm Ocean And Michael Smith 3
and Michael Smith riff off the Snake Cult of Consciousness. Michael has been super helpful in reading over EToC versions 2 and 3 before I sent those out (keep an eye out for v3). Malcolm has been thin…
March Subscriber Post
Not one but two readers have asked me about the Turkish myth of Shahmaran, a mythic snake-woman who lives in a cave. Among other things, she teaches a young man the history of Mankind. She ends up bei…
March Subscriber Post 9B7
I also appeared on the DemystifySci podcast:
May Subscriber Post
Commenting on Archeologists vs. Ancient Aliens, writes:
May Subscriber Post Bb4
If you haven’t taken it, please check out the Moments of Awakening survey. I’ll post it on Reddit and X shortly to get a larger sample (please share with friends), but for now it doubles as a way to l…
Memetic Eve Solves The Sapient Paradox
Richard Dawkins said there were two great evolutionary moments. The first was the emergence of DNA, which marked the beginning of biological evolution. The second was the emergence of memes. Just as g…
Mind And Mythos With Dan Ackerfeld
In this episode I speak with , an Australian psychologist and writer of the Mind & Mythos Substack. Dan’s work explores the intersection of psychology, mythology, and narrative, initially focusing on …
Moments Of Awakening Survey
I’m running a quick survey on people’s earliest memories. If you’ve got a moment, I’d love your input:
More Than Allegory On Religious Myth
and join me to discuss More Than Allegory: On Religious Myth, Truth, and Belief by Bernardo Kastrup. We dive into Kastrup’s challenging philosophy of analytical idealism, which posits that reality is…
Mystery Factors Revisited
Stepping back from grand theories, this post revisits the mystery lexical factors. From word loadings, can you describe the general principle that holds a factor together? This exercise gets at the ul…
Notebooklm On The Eve Theory Of Consciousness
Using Google’s NotebookLM has been a game-changer for searching through mid-sized text databases. In my recent research on creation myths similar to Genesis, I uploaded the thirteen-part anthology The…
November Subscriber Post
From Vectors of Mind - images at original.
[Image: Visual content from original post]“My stomach hurts, I think I ate something funny.”
Previously on Vectors of MindIt’s been a busy couple of months. You guys are getting your money’s worth! (It’s free; there are no perks to paying.)
Other PodcastsI also got the chance to talk to and Steven Zuber IRL while I was in SF for the Love Symposium. I have the mic from the 15-30 minute mark.
Overview Of Articles To Date
Vectors of Mind has been around for two years now, and there’s quite a bit of content that builds on itself. Enjoy this 90 minute monologue where I describe each article chronologically, and give some…
Personality Around The World
Okay, let’s take a little reprieve from the sapience stuff. I actually had a bunch of psychometrics queued up before being pulled in by the clarion call of consciousness. It’s just so hard to look awa…
Primary Factor Of Personality Part
From Vectors of Mind - images at original.
[Image: Visual content from original post]Steampunk conscience (DALL·E)
What does your conscience have to do with psychosis and evolution? Why does psychometrics find that success in humans, a social species, is more dependent on book smarts than people smarts? Should personality models explain who we are or how we got here? And what does this all have to do with language? This series seeks to answer those questions.
Pygmy Eve Peeps God
Anthropologist Paul Schebesta’s 1936 work, Revisiting My Pygmy Hosts, offers a window into the creation myths and belief systems of the Efe pygmies of the Congo. Their explanation of the original sin …
Recap Of User Polls To Date
Polls are an under-used Substack tool, particularly when a post makes a specific argument. Less than 1% of people who read an article will comment, and those who do usually have strong opinions. Polls…
Review Supernatural Selection
Books about human evolution often follow the format:
Review The Magic Wife
Think of this post as a study group on Crecganford’s recent mythological analysis. I encourage you to watch the 39-minute video and comment. I’ve mentioned Crecganford a couple of times on the blog. H…
Secrets Of The Snake King
This article is a change of pace. Instead of endless footnotes and statistical arguments, I’ll let Anatolian folklore do the talking. The most obvious rejoinder to the snake-venom-as-entheogen hypothe…
September Subscriber Post
If I follow this trajectory, by next year my titles will be full paragraphs. For those who missed the chatbot piece, I’ve been hanging out on the SenpAI Discord server to discuss the latest in LLM the…
Snake Cult Lessonline Presentation
I recently attended LessOnline, a rationalist/blogger conference where I presented on the Snake Cult. I should have recorded that presentation, but did the next best thing and re-recorded it to share …
Snake Cults And Recent Evolution
Dr. Thacker returns to Vectors of Mind for a deep discussion about human evolution and consciousness. Stetson, who holds a PhD in genetics with expertise in cancer and neurodevelopmental disorders, w…
Stetson Of Holodoxa 1
It’s been long enough since the last post that some readers have reached out. I’ve been enjoying the holiday season and have a backlog of content for the blog. That includes a long piece (EToC v3.0), …
The AI Basis Of The Eve Theory Of
The Eve Theory of Consciousness proposes that self-awareness was discovered by women and spread memetically. To make this case I draw on linguistics, archeology, pharmacology, genetics, anthropology, …
The Big Five Are Word Vectors
Lexical studies in psychology and Latent Semantic Analysis in computer science were introduced a half century apart to solve different problems and yet are mathematically equivalent. This isn’t a meta…
The Bullroarer Much More Than You
“No ethnomusicologist, I think, would stand for plurigenesis as regards the bull-roarers, which even in decorative detail are often alike and are used for the same purpose wherever and whenever found….
The Doomsday Debate
One of the topics with the worst signal-to-noise ratio is the prospect of AI doom. It requires reasoning under uncertainty about intelligence, linear algebra, politics, consciousness, and morality—mos…
The Eve Theory Of Consciousness
Note: a more recent version of this theory appears here.
The Hitchhikers Guide To Creation
The role of women and serpents in creation myths is the perfect test case for OpenAI’s deep research. Readers are likely familiar with the ground, so they can spot-check claims. Further, no such speci…
The Immortality Key Forgets That
Brian Muraresku’s Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name makes a good case that Jesus is a reincarnation of Dionysus, and early Christianity was a continuation of the millenn…
The Love Symposium
Data scientist Matthew Fisher and I met at the Less Online conference at Lighthaven in Berkeley, where I gave a presentation on the Snake Cult of Consciousness. Between sessions, we discovered we had …
The Origins Of Human Consciousness
Dr. Tom Froese is a researcher in enactive artificial intelligence investigating the systematic organization of life and mind. He received his PhD in cognitive science from the University of Sussex, d…
The Snake Cult Of Consciousness
“If we want to understand the phylogeny of language or any human production, we have to keep in mind the following timeline. What is most important is that an essential divide occurred around 15,000 B…
The Snake Cult Of Consciousness Two
In the beginning, God created three beings: Man, Antelope, and Snake. There was only one tree, bearing red fruit. Every seven days, God would come down from the sky to pluck the fruit. One day, Snake …
The Unreasonable Effectiveness Of
If self-awareness emerged recently, this should show up in comparative linguistics. The ability to introspect is a big deal, and it would require the invention of new words to communicate new experien…
When Did Recursion Evolve
After millennia of debate on the origins of consciousness, experts still put forth start dates spanning five orders of magnitude. This post will highlight some of those attempts, relate them to recurs…
When Did Recursion Evolve Part 2
This is part of a series on the evolution of recursion. The first post explained why so many psychologists, philosophers, and linguists believe recursive thinking is the ability that makes us human. T…
When Do Geneticists Believe The Human
Humans are unique among animals for their capacity for symbolic thought and their reliance on complex, grammatical language. About 70,000 years ago, our species began producing art and then took over …
When God Was A Woman
When God Was a Woman presents an ancient world radically different from our own: one where women were the first prophets, serpents granted wisdom rather than sin, and the foundations of civilization—w…
Why Did Male Initiation Rituals Diffuse
There’s a tradeoff between writing posts of general interest and those that develop ideas related to Eve and the Snake Cult. The post on cultural diffusion was more of the former and was even tweeted …
World Mythology Does Not Support
A provocative new paper claims our ancestors’ long walk out of Africa pruned not just their genes but their imaginations. The data, however, tell a different story.
Y Chromosome Bottleneck
You may have noticed that men and women think differently. Don’t worry, it’s not a sin. In fact, female preference for people vs things is a well-studied phenomenon in psychology. If the self was disc…
Global Epidemiology of Schizophrenia (2025 Update)
Comprehensive deep dive into the global incidence, prevalence, disparities, and trends of schizophrenia.
Holocene Selection on Human Intelligence: A 50,000-Year Reality Check
Ancient DNA and quantitative-genetic models reveal ongoing selection on human cognitive traits throughout the Holocene.
Chaos Contained: Nehebkau, the Ogdoad, Greek Primordials & the Cosmic Bond
From Egyptian Coffin-Texts to Greek philosophy, why serpents swallow chaos and why Eros is the duct-tape of the universe.
African Origin Myths, Twin Motifs, Nommo, Ka-Snakes & Lebe Seru
Sweep through Yoruba clay-people, Dogon fish-twins, Egyptian ka-snakes, and Lebe’s bullroarer to see how Africa narrates human beginnings.
Bullroarer Cosmogenesis Initiation
An exhaustive survey of global bullroarer initiation cults and their teachings about creation and civilization.
Christian Writers Ranked
A turbo-charged rundown of the 15 most influential Christian writers ever—complete with shock upsets, savage hot-takes, and receipts.
Cybele — Rhea’s Whirling Voice and the Birth of Civilized Life
How the Mother of the Gods, her roaring rhombos, and a dying youth became the soundtrack and syllabus of Greek, Phrygian, and Roman civilization.
Hermes and the Serpent Symbol
An in-depth exploration of the serpent in Hermeticism—from caduceus to ouroboros—unpacking its role in polarity, cosmic knowledge, and the path to gnosis.
The Serpent-Mother Who Swallows Souls
How Kunapipi and other Dreamtime beings swallowed novices, digested their boy-souls, and spat out initiated adults—plus parallel spirit-child myths.
Titan Ash & Serpent Spark — Dismembered Cosmos, Water-Mirrors, and the Ophidian Core of Creation
A long-form comparative study of dismemberment-cosmogonies, snake-ash anthropogenies, esoteric water-mirrors, and the solar Herakles of the Orphic hymns.
Old Woman ≘ Death Motif Across World Myth
A source-heavy world survey of tales where a crone decides that humans must die.
She Who Brings Death: Female Agents of Mortality in World Myth
A source-checked world survey of tales in which a woman’s act unleashes mortality. Includes a brief note on the (thin) quantitative literature.
Weaving Humanity: Women as Civilizers in World Mythology
A phylogenetic exploration of myths where women introduce clothing and weaving, symbolizing humanity’s separation from nature.
Who Was Here First? Indigenous American Myths of Earlier Peoples
Across the Americas, Indigenous traditions recall ant-folk, giants, and shadow-people who occupied the land before humans arrived.
Consider the Chicken
Weighing archaeological, genetic, and historical evidence for whether chickens reached the Americas before Columbus.
Men From the Sea: Myths, Skepticism, and the Return of Trans-Pacific Contact
Why colonial tales of giants, 20th-c. positivism, and new genome data all matter for the debate over pre-Columbian Polynesian–American contact.
Hallucinogenic Atlas: A Continental Census of Ancient Entheogens
Continent-by-continent survey of archaeological, textual, and biochemical evidence for ancient entheogenic practices.
The Serpent’s Gift: Mythic Echoes of an Ancient Consciousness Cult
How a prehistoric serpent-goddess cult may have jump-started self-aware thought and spread its rites across the globe.
X Chromosome And Cognition
How recent sweeps, dosage compensation, and X-linked disorders reveal the chromosome’s outsized role in human brain evolution and sex-biased cognition.
Darwin on Human Evolution: Short Timelines and Gene-Culture Interaction
Darwin’s views on the rapid pace of human evolution, driven by gene-culture interaction, reputation, language, and social institutions.
Global Archaeological Appearances and Theoretical Explanations of the Swastika
Survey of the swastika’s ancient global presence and theories (diffusion vs. independent invention) explaining its origins and spread.
Echoes of a Holocene Eden: Proto-Myths of Fall and Creation across Eurasia
Comparative analysis of Eurasian ‘fall from grace’ myths suggesting a common proto-myth originating in the Paleolithic or early Holocene.
The Sapient Paradox: A Deep Dive into the Archaeological and Genetic Evidence
A comprehensive analysis of the Sapient Paradox, synthesizing archaeological findings (tools, art, burials) with paleogenetics (brain-related gene sweeps, population bottlenecks) to evaluate theories for the delayed emergence of behavioral modernity.
Cosmic Herakles — Serpent of Time, Hero of Eden
From Göbekli Tepe initiation lore to Orphic world-egg cosmology, tracing Herakles’ twin careers as Adamic hero and winged time-serpent.
Zeus Drakôn — Serpent, Swallower, World-Renewer
Snake-shaped Zeus in chthonic cults, Orphic theogony, and Stoic ekpyrosis, mapped onto the Herakles–Dionysus macro-/micro-myth.
Origin Myths of African Peoples: Founders and Progenitors in Mythology
A comprehensive exploration of African origin myths from West, Central, Southern, and North Africa, detailing the roles of supreme deities, mystical ancestors, and cultural heroes in creation stories.
Esoteric Mormonism
Explore the hermetic-alchemical roots of early Mormon cosmology in John L. Brooke’s Bancroft Prize-winning book, The Refiner’s Fire.
Mormon Succession Crisis and Magic
An in-depth analysis of Mormonism’s esoteric roots under Joseph Smith and the doctrinal shifts produced by the 1844 succession crisis that elevated Brigham Young.
Eve Theory of Consciousness: The Evolutionary Emergence of Recursive Attention Loops
A reframing of the Eve Theory of Consciousness (EToC) as the evolutionary emergence of recursive attention loops, driven by gene-culture coevolution.