Cultural cognition--aha!

Am I the only one who loved that this chapter started out with a joke? Where was that all book?

This chapter was nice for me--I almost feel like I could have just read chapters 1 and 7 and three months from now, I would have the same knowledge about the topic, but thats okay--because it stated in a more explicit way the integral role culture plays in cognition. The pieces definitely fit more clearly. The biggest theory it seems Tomasello is trying to disprove is that human cognition is unique simply because of genetics--that humans are innately more advanced than other primates. His explanation that we need the rachet effect and cultural exchanges, et cetera to develop the well-oiled mental machine that is the human mind makes sense, if only because we didn't have enough time to evolve these things. Here's my question: is it even possible to evolve--over an infinite time horizon, and obviously without a human presence around, dominating the planet and just messing things up--a being that can do the same things (from joint attention to advanced mathematics) that humans can do? Could a species become so genetically advanced that they pop out ready to do math like a bird knows to fly?