Biological and Cultural Evolution By Gabriel Tordjman Dawson

Biological and Cultural Evolution By Gabriel Tordjman Dawson College, Fall 2019

Introduction • This Power. Point supplements material in your main text, Darwin’s Tea Party. Please read this first. • A fuller explanation of Cultural Evolution is covered in chapter 2. • A fuller explanation of Biological evolution is covered in chapter 3. • This Power. Point focuses on key differences between biological and cultural evolution.

Biological Evolution is a process by which species adapt to changing environment and change into other species, e. g. , from ape-like creature to humans

Biological Evolution Exactly how this happens is dealt with later in this course

Biological Evolution Sometimes, however, species do not adapt fast enough and they therefore go extinct (e. g, dinosaurs) Source: https: //www. thoughtco. com/the-5 -major-mass-extinctions-4018102

Biological Evolution works very slowly, gradually changing creatures over “deep time”. The figures on the left of this table refer to millions of years ago.

Biological Evolution • However, very small changes happen in every generation in a short space of time (“shallow time”) • Biological Evolution happens when these small changes pile up over thousands of generations and result in large changes (i. e. , one animal evolves into another)

Biological Evolution The small changes in every generation are caused by reproduction and heredity – the transmission of hereditary characteristics from parents to offspring.

Biological Evolution We can imagine heredity as a process of transmission of genetic “information” from one generation to another.

Biological Evolution • Biological Evolution is not under any creature’s control, but is a natural process that all species undergo. • It changes the physical bodies and behaviours* of all species and explains how they adapt to a changing environment *Plants don’t have “behaviour”

Cultural Evolution

Cultural Evolution Is a rather different process…

Cultural Evolution But also involves “transfer of information”

Cultural Evolution However, the “information” is not passed through heredity but from one mind to another – i. e. , through learning

Cultural Evolution Or from one mind to many….

Cultural Evolution The lines in the graphs below contrast “information flow” in Biological evolution (BE) and Cultural evolution (CE). In BE information goes only from parents to offspring (i. e. , through sexual reproduction and heredity). IN CE information can flow from parents to offspring, from one to many people, from one culture to another, etc… Petter Porter, “Biological and Cultural Evolution”, Journal of Genetics, vol. 94, 1 March, 2015.

Cultural Evolution In CE, the information doesn’t have to flow forward in time, as with BE (i. e. , from parents to offspring). One generation or culture can learn from past cultures or generations (as we do in this class).

Cultural Evolution The kinds of information or knowledge passed on in CE are extremely varied. It includes, language, customs, ideas, social institutions and practices, tools, technology, even fashions, musical styles, etc ….

Cultural Evolution The development of stone tools and weapons is technological evolution, a part of cultural evolution

Cultural Evolution The development of computers is another example of technological and cultural evolution

Cultural Evolution Technological evolution of mobile phones

Cultural Evolution Cultural evolution also includes the spread of new kinds of food, a result of the discovery of new lands.

Cultural Evolution Biological Evolution definition • “Change in the genetic composition of a population during successive generations [due partly to natural selection] and resulting in the development of new species” (Webster’s) • “and resulting in the development of new species” means that after thousands or millions of years, this process results in the development of new species. • Roughly speaking a “species” is a “kind of” animal or plant, such as a dog or a human, etc… (NB: This is not an adequate definition of species but will do for now). • A new species means a new “kind of” animal (or plant) which differs significantly in body and behaviour from the original ancestor • Example: Homo erectus Homo sapiens (us)

Cultural Evolution Not just food but just about everything else can now spread far and wide. This is a map of the spread of reggae music 1965 -85

Cultural Evolution The spread of ideas is also part of cultural evolution

Cultural Evolution first appears with our hominid ancestors. However, Some animals can also learn and transmit knowledge to others. But humans are the creatures that most rely on the transmission of knowledge (“information”) and therefore on cultural evolution.

Thanks to cultural evolution, humans have spread all over the world

Cultural Evolution

Cultural Evolution • Unlike biological evolution, cultural evolution, can transform the human and natural worlds in a very short time span. • Think about how quickly the world has changed thanks to the development of computers and the internet. • While biological evolution changes species to adapt to a changing environment, Cultural evolution, changes the environment to “adapt” to human goals and purposes.

Where to next with cultural evolution?