It all depends on what we call “higher”, but of course, as a species, we are no more evolved or better adapted than an ant or a mouse. We are different, yes, but not better and, in a way, we could fall into imagining ourselves as just another monkey, but that is not entirely true either. We are deeply extravagant, we have taken our oddities to the extreme, exploring possibilities that no other animal has ever contemplated. So, we are neither superior, nor are we another, and therein lies the mystery: what makes us human? Now, a team of scientists at Arizona State University believes they have the answer.
His research has been published in the scientific journal Nature Human Behaviour and maintains that The answers we have considered so far are incorrect or, at best, incomplete. We know that there are animals with a kind of grammar, animals that do something similar to cooking and, of course, animals with conscience and that reason. The key, for these experts, was in culture, but not in any culture. Our specialty would be what they have decided to call “unlimited openness.”
In the words of Thomas Morgan, co-author of the study and evolutionary anthropologist: “Ten years ago, it was basically accepted that the ability of human culture to accumulate and evolve was what made us special, but new discoveries about animal behavior are challenging these ideas. and they are forcing us to rethink what makes our cultures and us as a species unique.” Because, as we said, We can attribute culture to many animals if we follow most definitions of the word.
For example: whale songs evolve over the decades and chimpanzees have been transmitting techniques for using rudimentary tools to obtain food for thousands of years. Denying animal culture has been part of the consequences of our anthropocentrismbut not the only ones, according to Morgan: “It used to be thought that other species simply did not have culture and now we know that many do. It was then thought that only human cultures accumulated or evolved over time, but now we know that animal cultures can do this too. So, If animals have cultures that evolve, what is special about human culture that differentiates us from other animals?”
The key for the authors of the article was in the flexibility of our culture: “The way animals think about what they do limits the way their cultures can evolve.” Researchers maintain that other animals have a hard time imagining very elaborate sequences of actions, each divided into smaller objectives. For example: if I intend to prepare for a trip I will have to shave, shower, maybe iron clothes, pack my suitcase, set my alarm. In turn, shaving requires a series of steps: putting foam on, shaving, rinsing the soap, applying lotion so the skin doesn’t get irritated…
Many animals can do complex actions, but they are not so good at planning and following such long and detailed series. Although, to be honest and judging by the anxiety that preparing for a long trip produces in many people, we are not as good at it as we might think from the previous example. In any case, Morgan maintains that “just like animal cultures, there are limitations that these systems encounter that stop their evolution.”.”
“I think the key question is what is special about human culture, and we tried to answer it by comparing human cultures with animal cultures, with epigenetics, and with parental effects—as many evolutionary systems as we could imagine. And in the end we conclude that what is special about human culture is that […] It can build up, but it never has to stop, it just keeps going.”
Because, indeed, the behavior of a population of animals changes over time, either because information is transmitted from parents to children or because the environment leaves an epigenetic imprint on their DNA, without modifying its information, but altering how it is read. The difference would then be that our culture has a much greater potential, an unlimited openness, being able to give rise to new complex and detailed processes that unlock sophisticated technologies and interwoven rituals.
So, At least, from the perspective of these researchers, the key is clear and, of all the distinctive features of our speciesunlimited openness would possibly be what makes us more unique or, at least, what makes us more unique in the sense that we consider relevant.
DON’T BE KNOWN:
- In reality, the question of what makes us unique is more complex and multifactorial. We cannot possibly reduce it to a single characteristic, but “unlimited openness” is, without a doubt, a differentiating concept that is worth reflecting on.
REFERENCES (MLA):
- Morgan, Thomas, y Marcus Feldman. “Human Culture Is Uniquely Open-Ended Rather Than Uniquely Cumulative.” Nature Human Behaviourvol. 8, 2024, doi:10.1038/s41562-024-02035-y.
