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NOT JUST HUMAN. “Scientists once placed culture squarely in the human domain. But discoveries in recent decades suggest that a wide range of cultural practices—from foraging tactics and vocal displays to habitat use and play—may influence the lives of other animals as well.” Even the merest bacteria, http://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/7734.full View in LinkedIn

ANIMAL CULTURE. “Can animal culture drive evolution? Once the purview of humans, culture has been observed in all sorts of animals. But are these behaviors merely ephemeral fads or can they shape the genes and traits of future generations?” https://lnkd.in/dJXXw8R View in LinkedIn

GENES INTERACT WITH CULTURE. “Humans also exhibit many cultural adaptations to new environments, such as practices related to clothing, shelter, and food. Human culture interacts with genes and the environment in complex ways.” https://lnkd.in/dBjjWJE View in LinkedIn

NEW SCIENCE. “The theory of cultural evolution offers a means of taking culture seriously within a scientific, evolutionary framework.” http://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/7853.full View in LinkedIn

SELF-REFERENTIAL. “Science itself is a cumulative cultural evolutionary process.’” (Nature contemplating herself). http://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/7853.full View in LinkedIn

DRIVERS. “Demographically, the threefold increase in the world population and increased global mobility in the past century should also have accelerated cumulative culture.” (Or its demise). http://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/7853.full View in LinkedIn

SPEED OF ACCUMULATION. “Ideas regarding the origin of cumulative culture can inform thinking about factors that might affect recent and ongoing cumulative cultural evolution. The invention of writing, followed by digital media, surely greatly increased the fidelity of social learning and, potentially, the speed of cumulative culture.” http://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/7853.full View in LinkedIn

CULTURAL EVOLUTION of complexity that comes anywhere close to the extraordinary biological complexity we see in nature might include advanced mathematics, scientific enquiry, some music, writing and language, and the internet. But in truth, none of these compares to layered sophistication of the merest bristle on the nose of a flea. These types of complexity are not comparable, they are simply very different. Complexity should not even be in the formula. View in LinkedIn

ACCUMULATION. “However, genetic evolution is clearly also cumulative, involving the gradual accumulation of beneficial genetic modifications over time to produce complex adaptations, such as eyes or wings. Human cumulative cultural evolution bears a clear parallel with this form of cumulative genetic evolution. Indeed, the gradual accumulation of cultural innovations results in complex cultural adaptations, such as telescopes or airplanes, that resemble and rival complex genetic adaptations.” http://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/7853.full View in LinkedIn

MULTIFUNCTIONAL. "Augmented reality device turns your arm into a keyboard." https://lnkd.in/dtJ_uVc View in LinkedIn