BBC

A History of Ideas: The Idea of Cultural Transmission

Gillian Anderson on The Idea of Cultural Transmission

What truly sets humans apart from other animals? In this animation, we discover that one such characteristic is our ability to communicate thoughts and knowledge across space and time to other generations. Even chimpanzees, who can use tools and have societal structures, can only pass information through direct observation. But cultural transmission means that each human generation doesn’t have to effectively start from scratch.

Want to hear more on this topic?

Here’s the whole episode from A History of Ideas – Simon Schaffer on Humans, Apes and Carl Linnaeus.

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