The evolutionary biologist and philosopher Richard Dawkins argues that the colossal changes in human societies encountered in past centuries were not caused by extreme changes in human biology, but rather by cultural evolution.

Though microevolution continues to occur, the fundamental appearances and mental capacities of humans in the present are not significantly more advanced than those of their ancestors 50,000 years ago. At the same time, technology, art, literature, and ideology have radically shaped men's standards of living, levels of intellect, and states of mind.

The gulf between the Middle Ages and the Industrial Revolution was perhaps greater than that between Homo sapiens and Australopithecus, all due to a fundamentally different mode of thought present during those two eras, the first, a hierarchically oriented time of subservience and stagnation, the second, an era of powerful entrepreneurial innovation.

Cultural evolution is by far the dominant factor in human development, yet Dawkins's theory does have its flaws. Dawkins contends that "memes," or cultural units of evolution, are passed along through imitation and conformity. Yet the greatest leaps of advancement in human history have not been made by the gray masses who thoughtlessly mimicked the paradigms of their environment; they were orchestrated by outstanding individualists who introduced new and unprecedented ideas that were adopted by other individuals who employed their own rational minds to extrapolate on the ideas and "evolve" them at a far faster rate than nature could ever manage.

The vast majority of evolutionary biology, for example, was derived from the individual thoughts of Darwin, who expanded on some of the individual thoughts of Malthus and Lyell, and upon whose individual thoughts scientists such as Mayr and Dawkins expanded.

Just as a cultured man is separated from the primitive savage by a greater degree than man is from the animals, so is the individualist innovator separated from the conformist "average man" more significantly than the average man is from the savage. Throughout history, around several hundred of these exceptional beings served as the creators of culture and the prime movers of "memetic evolution." Where they succeeded, it was not because they were imitated, but because their thoughts opened so many new (and unique) applications for other individuals that they continued to grow even beyond the life span of the original creator.

Perhaps Dawkins's theory could be modified to incorporate the extraordinary innovators, who create the memes which then spread throughout a given society and are imitated by the masses. As a result, these memes obtain widespread influence and acceptance, but credit for their creation can still be given to their individual authors.

G. Stolyarov II is a science fiction novelist, independent philosophical essayist, poet, amateur mathematician, composer, contributor to Enter Stage Right, Le Quebecois Libre,  Rebirth of Reason, and the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Senior Writer for The Liberal Institute, weekly columnist for GrasstopsUSA.com, and Editor-in-Chief of The Rational Argumentator, a magazine championing the principles of reason, rights, and progress. Mr. Stolyarov also publishes his articles on Helium.com and Associated Content to assist the spread of rational ideas. His newest science fiction novel is Eden against the Colossus. His latest non-fiction treatise is A Rational Cosmology. His most recent play is Implied Consent. Mr. Stolyarov can be contacted at gennadystolyarovii@yahoo.com.

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Learn about Mr. Stolyarov's novel, Eden against the Colossus, here..

Read Mr. Stolyarov's new comprehensive treatise, A Rational Cosmology, explicating such terms as the universe, matter, space, time, sound, light, life, consciousness, and volition, here.

Read Mr. Stolyarov's new four-act play, Implied Consent, a futuristic intellectual drama on the sanctity of human life, here.