It seems to me that the key threshold has to do with the net impact of meme replication:
Transmitting a meme imposes some constraint on the behaviour of the transmitting system.
Transmitting a meme sometimes benefits the system (or descendants).
Where the constraint is very limiting, all but a small proportion of memes will be selected against. The [hunting technique of lions] meme is transferred between lions, because being constrained to hunt is not costly, while having offspring observe hunting technique is beneficial. This is still memetic transfer—just a rather uninteresting version.
Humans get to transmit a much wider variety of memes more broadly because the behavioural constraint isn’t so limiting (speaking, acting, writing...), so the upside needn’t meet a high bar.
The mechanism that led to hitting this threshold in the first place isn’t clear to me. The runaway behaviour after the threshold is hit seems unsurprising.
Still, I think [transmission became much cheaper] is more significant than [transmission became more beneficial].
It seems to me that the key threshold has to do with the net impact of meme replication:
Transmitting a meme imposes some constraint on the behaviour of the transmitting system.
Transmitting a meme sometimes benefits the system (or descendants).
Where the constraint is very limiting, all but a small proportion of memes will be selected against. The [hunting technique of lions] meme is transferred between lions, because being constrained to hunt is not costly, while having offspring observe hunting technique is beneficial.
This is still memetic transfer—just a rather uninteresting version.
Humans get to transmit a much wider variety of memes more broadly because the behavioural constraint isn’t so limiting (speaking, acting, writing...), so the upside needn’t meet a high bar.
The mechanism that led to hitting this threshold in the first place isn’t clear to me. The runaway behaviour after the threshold is hit seems unsurprising.
Still, I think [transmission became much cheaper] is more significant than [transmission became more beneficial].