Beorn-eL-Feared
Idiot riding pedals
Workers and settlers cost population, and the more pop you have, the faster you research, the best your chances of beating Dave to philo. If you overdo (relative to Dave) your early settler pumping for expansion, you'll work on lower total citizens and will get to philo second. So you have to aim for either a good chance at philo or a good chance at out-expanding the others. They might both happen or both not happen regardless, but aiming for one helps.