Subjective selection needs socially transmitted goals and culturally evolving problems

Our commentary aims to enrich Singh’s subjective selection framework in two fundamental ways. First, language is necessary for coordinating on shared instrumental goals. Without it, the explanatory burden rests largely on evolved psychology. Second, goals themselves are culturally constructed, socially transmitted and cumulatively evolving over time. This co-evolutionary dynamic between problems and solutions exceeds what fixed psychological hierarchies can explain.