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> Think of elephant matriarchs who may be the only ones to remember where to find water during unusual droughts, or birds and whales that perform long-distance migrations. Some of these species have been hunted to near extinction, causing severe losses of diversity, cultural as well as genetic.

The original meaning of "meme" equated cultural snippets to genes. This seems to be a confirmation of the validity of that way of thinking about cultural ideas.

While the CCE studies are undoubtedly exciting and represent (to me anyway) the new paradigm for anthropology, it will be even more exciting to look at evidence for/against the evolutionary inevitability of intelligence and culture.

The currently popular understanding based on hopes of eternal progress would of course be in support of this, but sophisticated CCE based on a high level of intelligence may itself be only one of the ways that genes 'achieve' propogation.

The fact that the biomass of bacteria is an order of magnitude larger than the biomass of all eukaryotic life, including all animals with brains, shows that intelligence is not necessary for long-term evolutionary success.

What bacteria lack is an ability to build a starship and travel outside their gravity well. This may strictly require intelligence in life forms which are able to colonize a neighboring celestial body.

Maybe they don't need the ability to build a starship?

Maybe over their billion+ year existence they're content with waiting for the occasional asteroid to blow them into space to the moon or mars or some other asteroid or what-have-you?

Or maybe they're content with waiting for meatbags to get intelligent enough to build space ships for them? I know that we are full of bacteria, and wherever we go, there we are. So the bacteria would be there as well.

I just think bacteria have so many methods of getting to extreme environments, and surviving them, that I'm not sure starships are necessary to their continuance.

Where do homeless bacteria go? Do they go alone or as colony? What is the minimal viable product for a bacteria's exoskeleton capable of reaching Alpha Centauri with enough water to terraform the exoplanet reached?