A molecular clock for writing systems reveals the quantitative impact of imperial power on cultural evolution
Writing systems are cultural replicators whose evolution has never been studied quantitatively at global scale. We compile the Global Script Database (GSD): 300 writing and notation systems, 50 binary structural characters, and 259 phylogenetic edges spanning 5,400 years. Applying four methods -- phenetics, cladistics, Bayesian inference, and neural network clustering -- we find that scripts exhibit a detectable molecular clock. The best-fitting model (Mk+Gamma strict clock) yields a substitution rate of q = 0.226 substitutions/character/millennium (95% CI: 0.034-1.22; Delta BIC = -4.1 versus relaxed clock; Delta BIC = -1,364.7 versus Mk without rate variation). Political interventions br...
| Authors | Hiroki Fukui |
|---|---|
| Primary category | q-bio.PE |
| Published | 13 April 2026 |
| Last updated at source | 13 April 2026 |
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