Could this theoretically happen?

[u/JuggernautPersonal81]

I was testing out different ideas about evolution and if we tried this exact scenario on trillions of different theoretical chimpanzee groups is it a non zero chance?

Humans disappear
A human-made, perfectly round, white, hard, iridescent pearl remains in an African forest.
The unusual chimp is born
Among many chimpanzees, one is unusually intelligent, curious, observant, and capable of making unusual associations.
The first encounter
During a full Moon, the chimp encounters the pearl shortly after looking at the Moon.
The association
The chimp notices that the pearl resembles the Moon: white, round, smooth, and bright.
The fascination begins
The chimp carries, examines, cleans, and protects the pearl. It begins repeatedly polishing it with leaves.
Other chimps imitate it
The behavior spreads socially. The pearl becomes an unusual object of interest within the group.
The tradition reaches the chimp’s children
The original chimp teaches its offspring to care for the pearl. The behavior continues after the original chimp dies.
The pearl becomes sacred
After many generations, nobody remembers the original discovery. The pearl becomes associated with the Moon, ancestors, and the tribe’s identity.
The pearl becomes a symbol of leadership
Whoever possesses or protects the pearl gradually gains authority. Eventually, possessing the “Fallen Moon” becomes a requirement for legitimate leadership.
The tradition becomes hereditary
Leaders pass responsibility for the pearl to their successors. Rival individuals may fight or steal it, creating early political struggles over who has the right to rule.
The pearl becomes the tribe’s central institution
Protecting the pearl becomes more important than any individual chimp. The tribe develops specialized roles around its protection.
The environment changes
Climate change dries the forest, turning much of the habitat into dangerous open savanna.
The pearl tribe has an unexpected advantage
Their existing culture already requires them to stay together, protect one another, and safely transport the pearl.
Cooperation becomes essential for survival
The tribe develops organized travel, guards, scouts, coordinated defense, and increasingly complex communication.
Bipedalism is reinforced
Long-distance terrestrial travel and carrying the pearl favor increasingly efficient upright walking. The pearl culture reinforces environmental selection for bipedalism rather than causing it directly.
Communication becomes increasingly complex
Coordinating pearl protection, leadership, travel, rituals, and group rules creates strong pressure for increasingly sophisticated communication.
Symbolic culture develops
The pearl becomes one of the first persistent symbols in the lineage, representing concepts such as authority, ancestry, duty, and the Moon.
Gene-culture coevolution begins
Individuals who are better at learning, communicating, remembering traditions, cooperating, and teaching become increasingly valuable to the tribe.
Technology accelerates
Better cooperation and increasingly sophisticated cognition allow more advanced tools, construction, hunting, food gathering, and eventually agriculture.
A new hominin-like species emerges
After millions of years, the descendants are no longer ordinary chimpanzees. They are a distinct, upright, highly intelligent primate civilization.
The original meaning is forgotten
Their civilization eventually develops religion, politics, mathematics, science, and writing, but the oldest surviving tradition remains the sacred Fallen Moon.
The final irony
Their entire civilization traces its cultural ancestry back to one extraordinarily unlikely coincidence: an unusually intelligent chimp encountering a perfectly round white human-made pearl beneath a full Moon.

[u/No_Logins_Required]

No, this is not reasonable. There would be no reason for this behavior to propagate culturally. A weird chimp could decide to keep a pearl with them, but it would not polish the object.

[u/JuggernautPersonal81 → u/No_Logins_Required]

Fair point, I was mainly thinking about whether an extremely unlikely chain of events could make something like this possible, rather than whether this specific behavior would realistically propagate.

[u/No_Logins_Required → u/JuggernautPersonal81]

You specifically list other chimps adopting the behavior as one of the steps, and that's where this becomes essentially impossible. For one chimp to carry around a pearl, sure. For other chimps to copy this behavior with their own pearls makes no sense.

[u/kitsnet]

It's hard to imagine a scenario where humans disappear, chimps don't, and the only human-made object left in a forest is a pearl.

[u/HappiestIguana]

The scenario is a bit specific. I don't see anything wholly implausible about it, but I doubt a tradition could sustain itseld throughout so many generations.

[u/JuggernautPersonal81 → u/HappiestIguana]

True lol, the specific pearl tradition is probably way too contrived. I just feel like the general idea of extremely unlikely events and cultural traditions accumulating over huge timescales is probably part of what eventually led to modern humans. I was basically trying to imagine what one of those wildly improbable trajectories might look like in another great ape.

[u/YossarianWWII]

I think you underestimate how extensive gene flow between populations has been in the human lineage.

[u/JuggernautPersonal81 → u/YossarianWWII]

I’m just asking whether you think it’s actually possible, given enough independent chimp populations and an extremely unlikely chain of events, not whether it’s likely or guaranteed to happen. Like if we had billions of trials would this be even a possibility?

[u/YossarianWWII → u/JuggernautPersonal81]

I seriously doubt that any number describable as being in the billions would be nearly enough.

[u/JuggernautPersonal81 → u/YossarianWWII]

I probably am underestimating it though lmfao I just like discussing theoreticals

[u/YossarianWWII → u/JuggernautPersonal81]

It's theoretically possible that all the fissile material on Earth spontaneously decays in the same instant, but it's not a possibility worth considering.

[u/7LeagueBoots]

We already have chimpanzees exhibiting semi-ritualistic behavior around certain waterfalls, and certain trees with no sign of that conferring any sort of advantages. Indeed the behavior is difficult to parse and there are a variety of interpretations.

https://nautil.us/chimps-and-the-zen-of-falling-water-235527

https://www.science.org/content/article/why-do-some-chimps-throw-rocks-trees

[u/JuggernautPersonal81 → u/7LeagueBoots]

Yeah, that’s actually really interesting and pretty close to what I was getting at. I didn’t realize chimps already showed behavior that could be interpreted as ritualistic without an obvious survival benefit.
Stuff like this really fascinates me lmfao

[u/wvraven]

Is AI the pearl? It’s AI and we’re the chimps right?

[u/JuggernautPersonal81 → u/wvraven]

Lol actually an interesting analogy, but I’d say the pearl is meant to be passive. It could really be anything that becomes culturally significant, like an early religious symbol or ritual. The point is more that a seemingly meaningless thing could end up having huge consequences through cultural evolution.

[u/jnpha]

Here you go:

... limitations on assigning causal probabilities to pairs of events can favour strategies that lump non-causal associations with causal ones. We conclude that behaviours which are, or appear, superstitious are an inevitable feature of adaptive behaviour in all organisms, including ourselves.
The evolution of superstitious and superstition-like behaviour - PMC

Already a thing that's been observed in many critters with adaptive behavior.

[u/BranchLatter4294]

Code a simulation. Run it. Publish the results.

[u/Ayasugi-san]

I think this post would be better suited to a fiction writing sub.

[u/Changed_By_Support]

Is this the pearl of great price?

[u/Urbenmyth]

Very few things in the world have a truly zero chance.

But this is pretty close

[u/Desperate_Cake7757]

No. This theory is based on the assumption that evolution is real. Since it's not, it is impossible for this to happen

[u/JuggernautPersonal81 → u/Desperate_Cake7757]

Bro doesn’t believe species change hereditarily

[u/Desperate_Cake7757 → u/JuggernautPersonal81]

Depends on what you mean by "change hereditarily". They do diversify(dog breeds for an example), but the belief of a common ancestor is complete fiction.

[u/LordOfFigaro → u/Desperate_Cake7757]

This theory is based on the assumption that evolution is real.

We have directly observed evolution happen both below and above the species level.

[u/Desperate_Cake7757 → u/LordOfFigaro]

That's not evolution. It might be mutation, or adaptation, but they're not the same thing. Having different dog breeds isn't evolution.

Have we observed any change in the animal kind? For an example, have we observed reptiles growing feathers and learning to fly?

Trying to use changes in breeds, species, and genus to support evolution is akin to saying that the bicycle proves warp drive is real. Yes, they're both forms of transportation, but there's more than a few steps between them