Evolutionary biologists at Arizona State University have attempted to understand two of the uniquely human traits of our species: that we cooperate with people we’re not related to and we learn from each other. By studying 32 present day foraging (i.e. hunter – gatherer) peoples, the research uncovered that:

hunter-gatherers are always blending and moving in smaller and larger groups, with lots of interaction between them. The interaction facilitates learning and the exchange of new ideas. You don’t evolve the cognitive propensity to learning if you aren’t exposed to ideas that are worth copying,”

The concept of mimesis, or imitating a new skill, is stressed as particularly crucial here. There is also an incredibly powerful link to the network theory which is so relevant to the Internet: the means by which our scope for social interactions is magnified.

Humanity is like the Internet. One network alone isn’t that powerful. Connect it to another and it’s more than doubled in power. Connect in even more and with each addition, it becomes richer and more powerful. Human culture is like that because humans share things they’ve learned across tribal boundaries in ways that other primate species don’t.

The importance of novel sources of information and skills arising from such interaction adds more weight to arguments calling for better web filtering that doesn’t simply supply us with more of what we usually like.

“It’s well established that when human groups are isolated and not in contact with other tribes or bands, they begin to lose cultural complexity. Pacific islanders on smaller islands forget ocean fishing techniques. One small tribe even forgot how to make fire.”

via psfk