Episode 243: Lesley Newson and Peter Richerson
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Culture as Human Super Power in Evolution
The classic image of evolution everyone knows is the man who goes from apelike body to tool using biped. But the bigger, story would include families, groups of humans who worked together, including women, children, and people of all ages, which means division of labor and culture.
Lesley Newson and Peter Richerson are a Research Associate and Professor Emeritus, respectively, in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of California Davis. They are also authors, and their newest book is A Story of Us: A New Look at Human Evolution. Detailing far more than earlier works about the lives of the women and children of these societies, and the ways in which human culture has been shaped over time.
Lesley, Peter, and Greg discuss the surprises and wonders that their deeper dive into the evolution and the history of ancient cultures have produced. They detail how the use of tools and the stacking of technologies set humans apart from other animals. They discuss humans in relation to other animals. They also go over the transitions our primate ancestors had to make to evolve, and how modern cultural roles affect and inform and explain current human birthrates.
Episode Quotes:
What kept the birth rate high for most of human history?
[Peter Richerson] 59:21: The rising importance of teachers, non-relative colleagues, military officers, and bosses in our lives meant that much cultural transmission came from people who had achieved social roles that didn't involve being parents. You don't have to be a parent to be a teacher. You don't have to be a parent to be a charismatic boss. And so, the support for pronatalist norms that kept birth rates high throughout most of human history came because your relatives and people in your community were the most important influences on your values. You weren't really an adult until you married and had children in many communities. So the whole status system revolved around reproduction.
On language, culture, and stories
[Lesley Newson] 24:02: There's no way of telling a story without having language, and knowing the same stories binds people together. Believing the same stories binds people together, which is one of the most important things for any culture.
Why is culture good for adapting on a certain time scale?
[Peter Richerson] 10:01: What culture is good for is adapting to spatial and temporal environmental variation on a certain timescale. If the fluctuations are on a very short timescale, then the only thing that is useful is individual learning.
On complex culture
[Lesley Newson] 25:51: Culture got more complex and language got more complex once more and more groups got together and found ways of reconciling their different stories, beliefs, and that kind of thing, it made it possible to have a more complex culture.
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Guest Profile:
Lesley Newson
Faculty Profile at UC Davis
Professional Profile on The View of Life
Peter Richerson
Peter Richardson at UC Davis
Professional Profile on The Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny
Author’s Profile on the American Scientist