China Social Science Review

No.3, 2023

Explanation of Cultural Evolution of Scientific Progress

(Abstract)

Wang Yucheng

Scientific cooperation among regional scientific communities for a long time has been the main driving force for maintaining the normal operation of science and promoting scientific innovation, and the scientific and technological development of all countries has benefited from this. However, under multiple attacks of anti-globalization, unilateralism, protectionism, regional conflicts and frequent turmoil, interregional scientific community cooperation exemplified by international cooperation is facing major challenges, with the frequency of scientific cooperation decreasing and the depth of cooperation stopping at the surface. Under such circumstances, whether China’s science and technology can achieve breakthroughs and a high level of self-reliance development is a serious issue facing the country’s scientific community. From the perspective of cultural evolution, cooperation within regional scientific communities can fully maintain the normal development of science and achieve self-reliance in science and technology. However, science may be distorted or even degraded during transmission learning due to its extremely counterintuitive cognitive characteristics. The key to avoiding scientific degradation and promoting scientific innovation lies in maintaining the size of the scientific community, increasing the diversity of scientific reasoning, and promoting the best theoretical choices.