A study soon to be published in the online Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on February 19, has presented the possibility that human culture suffers from the same natural selection that our own species has endured over time. A revolutionary study, it will either cause strife or further understanding in the world of anthropology.
Whenever a study focuses on canoe design however, you could be excused for tuning out. But the focus of the research is not the interesting part; that comes afterwards, so I’ll make this brief.
The Stanford University research team studied reports of canoe designs from eleven Oceanic island cultures. They constructed a list of 96 features that could be linked towards the necessary sea-worthiness of the canoes. These included hull construction, how the outriggers were attached, etc.
However they also studied 38 decorative or symbolic traits to the canoes, such as the types of carved or painted designs.
What they found was that over time the functional design of the canoes changed more slowly, indicating that natural selection was weeding out the ineffective and inferior designs.
So now that we have canoes out of the way, it is time to turn to what this actually means in a global standpoint; outside of the Oceanic Canoe Appreciation Society sphere.
Nina Jablonski, chair of the Anthropology Department at Pennsylvania State University, said she is sold on the research. "This paper is revolutionary in its approach … one of the most significant papers to be written in anthropology in the last 20 years," she said.
She is so adamant about this, possibly because the idea of cultural evolution is in and of itself very controversial. Many historians, social scientists and biologists simply do not believe that human culture is predictable enough to present a coherent form of evolutionary traits.
But according to the authors of this study, their findings could have wide reaching implications; well beyond the OCAS (yes, I’ve made that up). "People studying climate change, population growth, poverty, racism and the threat of plagues all know what the problems are and what we should be doing to solve them," said Paul Ehrlich, the Bing Professor of Population Studies at Stanford.
Now it seems at first a stretch to jump from canoes to climate change, but Ehrlich has a valid point. Ehrlich is the author of The Population Bomb, as well as other books that focus on the dilemma of facing contemporary human society. He expresses his dismay and lack of understanding concerning why humanity is not urgently seeking solutions. "What we don't know, and need to learn, is how cultures change and how we can ethically influence that process," he said.
All of this ties in to cultural evolution though. Deborah S. Rogers, a research fellow at Stanford, said their findings demonstrate that "some cultural choices work while others clearly do not."
"Unfortunately, people have learned how to avoid natural selection in the short term through unsustainable approaches such as inequity and excess consumption. But this is not going to work in the long term," she said. "We need to begin aligning our culture with the powerful forces of nature and natural selection instead of against them."
In other words, by allowing our cultural weaknesses the opportunity to influence our sustainability on this planet, we are risking our lives on this planet. Examples of cultural approaches that are putting humans at risk include "everything from the economic incentives, industrial technologies and growth mentality that cause climate change, pollution and loss of biodiversity, to the religious polarization and political ideologies that generate devastating conflict around the globe," Rogers said. "If the leadership necessary to undertake critically needed cultural evolution in these areas can't be found, our civilization may find itself weeded out by natural selection, just like a bad canoe design."
So from canoes to socially responsible living, this study is definitely going to create waves. One would hope that, even if those who have a scientific problem with the base idea of cultural evolution continue to disagree on a factual level, they might agree to disagree when it comes to what action must be taken.
Joshua Hill, a Geek’s-Geek from Melbourne, Australia, Josh is an aspiring author with dreams of publishing his epic fantasy, currently in the works, sometime in the next 5 years. A techie, nerd, sci-fi nut and bookworm.
