Randomization, Ritual, and Cultural Evolution: Revisiting Omar Khayyam Moore’s “Divination: A New Perspective”

In 1957, Omar Khayyam Moore proposed a novel hypothesis that Naskapi divination (scapulimancy) functioned as a randomization device to improve hunting success. This paper traces the intellectual history of Moore’s argument, reviewing both the initial support it received and the significant critiques that have rendered its original formulation empirically and theoretically untenable. While Moore’s specific claims about caribou hunting and group-level benefits are likely flawed, I argue that the enduring value of his work lies in the profound question it raised: how can functionally adaptive cultural practices emerge without conscious design? By re-examining Moore’s hypothesis through the lens of contemporary cultural evolutionary theory, in this paper, I show how his core insight has been revitalized. Modern frameworks, particularly those developed by Joseph Henrich, provide a robust mechanism—biased social learning—to explain the evolution of “design without a designer”. This perspective demonstrates that causally opaque and seemingly irrational practices can be culturally transmitted and refined because they generate adaptive outcomes, an insight that has inspired and been supported by a wave of recent psychological, experimental, and historical research. Ultimately, Moore’s contribution is reframed not as a failed functionalist explanation, but as a prescient, foundational query that anticipated a central research program in the modern study of human behavior and culture.