As I think I've said before, I am a big promoter of TED Lectures, there are a fantastic way of learning about current research and theories and are delivered in a was that is easy to understand even if you have no previous knowledge of an issue. With that being said I have included a lecture by Mark Pagel on how language has transofmed humanity. Language is one of the corner stones of what makes us different from the rest of the animal kingdom, its development is argued to be a key as the development of bipedalism (a topic I covered in an earlier post) and the control of fire.
The lecturer in the video above explains that the development of social learning, through copying, imitating and observing, allows us to develop on others' ideas. Other advanced species, including Homo erectus and even perhaps Neanderthals were unable to do this. He calls this cumulative cultural adaptation, it allows ideas to develop and enables people to 'stand on the shoulders of giants'.
However social learning leads to visual theft - your neighbour can copy your best ideas and perhaps do them even better. The way we overcame this is through developing language, allowing us to strike deals with one another and cooperate effectively.
I tend to agree with Mark Pagel's ideas, without language and the cooperation it brings, large complex social groups would be very difficult and living in cities would be impossible.
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