Humans are unique because we can imitate behavior well enough that a Darwinian process began.

Just like the gene, human behavior seeks out niches in the environment, eventually becoming the environment. Unlike the gene behavior evolves much faster, can be inherited horizontally and is far more prone to mutation.

Unfortunately we don’t have the equivalent of Mendelian genetics for behavior. We’re left with a unit but no understanding of the forces acting on it.

Before we knew these things in biology the best “research” we could do was classification. An interesting but unpredictive exercise. The social sciences are stuck here right now.

Until we have a the equivalent we’ll be stuck with articles like this. Articles that make a herculean (and valiant) effort to describe our society without a foundation in the physical sciences. Like trying to describe the behavior of a murmuration without knowing about starlings.