The most rudimentary act of conscious adaptation involves a creative forming of the elements of protoculture. The transformation of protoculture into the forms of autonomous objective culture involves a massive creative effort, sustained over generations, of an order that one might compare to what some economists describe in speaking of a “takeoff” into self-sustaining economic growth.

DEFINE: Clarifies the distinction between protoculture and autonomous objective culture, positioning the transformation between them as a massive creative undertaking.

DEFINE: Clarifies 'protoculture' as the rudimentary elements that require massive creative effort to become autonomous objective culture.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 87