>So, an alternate theory would be - the lucky break came when learning was invented, the passing of new tricks to next generation and neighbors.

Obviouslly many animals learn. Parents of many species have taught their children to hunt, that's how they survive.

In my zenetics web page I postulated that "learning" occurs after the mind asks itself a question and comes up with an answer. I think this has been there all along, well before the cultural explosion.

So I don't disagree with you that learning (perhaps an advanced form of mimcry) was important, but did that lead to art and advanced tool making?

You can look at the suggestion "someone asked someone else a question" like this:

The Old Way: We learned by applying our mind to observations, as a result creating culture (including language)

The New Way: We learned by applying our mind through our culture back to our culture, as a result creating a breeding ground for the rapid development of culture

Language and culture has always existed. You can witness it in birds (they make nests, they have calls).

The ability to recursively apply language and culture to itself is unique to humans. As far as I know.