Genetic constraints on the evolution of human communication

J-L. Dessalles

Genetic Constraints on the evolution of human communication Human communication, as it is understood, may appear as paradoxical from the point of view of evolution. When communicating, humans give useful information to other individuals that are most probably their genetic competitors. In the absence of any further analysis, human communication is genetically unstable ! Admitedly, the solution to this paradox is certainly not trivial, but it is surprising that this question has been very seldom addressed in these terms. We suggest to examine two aspects of the problem.
1) To what extent is human communication altruistic ? Some pragmatic theories present human communication as an information exchange, or as a way of performing social acts. Our own theory of conversation (th. of Problematicity) presents communication as a collective way to restore consistency, probability and desirability of the world. In all these theories, what is communicated may, on some occasions, dramatically improve the survival and genetic success of the individuals who hear what is said or answered. This effect is even more obvious if we adopt the theory of Problematicity.
2) What is the genetic picture of the communication act ? Human communication is not specifically directed towards genetically related individuals. As a consequence, communication acts have to be compensated, either directly or indirectly. In a direct compensation scenario, communication would be a kind of cooperation, and non cooperative individuals would be rapidly excluded from the communication game. However, as we shall suggest, human communication is far from presenting all the characteristic features of cooperation (as systematic exclusion or systematic reciprocity). The indirect compensation scenario, on the other hand, requires further hypotheses. For intance we may postulate the existence of a social status which the individuals grant to each other, and that may be increased when useful information is given. A good model of what may have happen among speaking hominidae may be provided by the scientific publication system. Scientists make lots of efforts to give their best ideas to their most direct competitors (in this case competition is not genetic!), and many of them accept that their name is attached to these ideas, expecting an increased scientific status. In the case of language among hominidae, a high social status would be correlated with a higher success in reproduction. In this scenario, the coevolution of two genetic systems, the communication system and the status allocation system, has to be proven stable. The result of such a study is a set of constraints that any model of the emergence of language should obey.

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