Evolutionary outcomes for learning strategies do not depend on starting genotype frequencies.

Evidence

We set the initial conditions such that 99.99% of the individuals in each subpopulation possessed the allele for all individual learning (vs. social learning) and no conformist effect. The remaining 0.01% of the population was distributed equally over the other 399 genotypes representing all possible combinations of both social learning reliance (L) and conformist transmission (D). … These tests demonstrated, to our satisfaction, that variations in the initial distribution of genotypes have no perceptible effect of the long-run equilibrium state of the population. — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 67

Categorization

• XREF: This robustness-to-initial-conditions result echoes the methodological point in the Parable of the Sower end-note about how initial setups constrain later possibilities - though frame it as growth-model stability, not narrative. — connects to: Conformist bias evolution requires less environmental stability than social learning evolution itself. — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 75; Conformist transmission evolves robustly across far more conditions than heavy social learning does — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 65

Broader Connections

• Conformist transmission evolves robustly across far more conditions than heavy social learning does #qualifies (0.80) — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 65
• Conformist bias evolution requires less environmental stability than social learning evolution itself. #qualifies (0.72) — Joe Henrich and Robert Boyd, The Evolution of Conformist…, 75