ABSTRACT
Evolutionary theory is one of the most successful theories of science. It provides the framework for understanding the most important biological phenomena: the emergence and interaction of species, the development of the biosphere and its self-sustaining operation. Such a culture is efficient as long as it is stable, because only then is it possible to predict future events. This need for stability is the source of the phenomena best described by the term group transcendence. The culture that develops in closed groups based on conceptual thinking is a very special kind of system. In the brains of individuals belonging to the group, beside the emotional network mentioned earlier, a huge semantic network develops which comprises all that the group can conceptualize. A community of constantly negotiating and cooperating local cultures would thus form a global cultural ecology. This solution entails two levels of organization, that of traditional cultures and that of a global cultural ecosystem embracing all of them.
