Has mental time travel really affected human culture? A comment on Suddendorf and Corballis (2007)

Suddendorf and Corballis (SC) claim that mental time travel has significantly affected human cultural change. This echoes a common criticism of theories of Darwinian cultural evolution: that, whereas evolution is blind, culture is directed by people who can foresee and plan for future events. Here I argue that such a claim is premature, and more rigorous tests of SC’s claim are needed.