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Image source: California State University Monterey Bay, Vision Statement |
We are humans thanks to the fact that we communicate with each other. In the first weeks of our life, we lay the grounds for such basic concepts as "you" and "me". It takes some time until we realize the existence of a third party. If everything works out fine, we gradually develop communicative routines allowing us to interact successfully with various categories of fellow-men. With some of them we are in continuous tight contact, others are nothing but strangers we meet on the street. |
Our behavior is controlled by a biological "computer" sitting inside our skull. This machine has a long history of development. Over the past 4 million years or so it has grown to a remarkable size of 1.300 cm3, starting with some 400 cm3 in our australopithecian ancestors (not much more than our chimpanzee cousins still have today). Our brain consists of several billions of neurons, interacting with each other in complicated networks. Over hundreds of thousands of generations, these neuronal networks have been modified, by mutation and selection, to achieve the best possible adaptation to the necessities of our life. |
One of these necessities was communication. But of course, it was not communication via telephones or computers, and we also did not meet hundreds of strangers every day. Therefore, it should not be too surprising that we find ourselves not perfectly adapted to the technically enhanced communication of our modern days. We may refuse the electronic schnick-schnack and prefer to live in peace, like in the old days. But if we have to say something, something we deem important not only for those we know personally? |
In that case, we have to act counter-intuitively and step forward, out of our secure snail-shell. And we have to stick to certain rules, that have proven favorable during our cultural evolution. Culture: That are the rules we learn in addition to the rules that Mother Nature told us. While biological evolution has molded our behavior over hundreds of thousands of generations, cultural evolution has been doing the job over just a few generations. |
Biological evolution told us to fear spiders, snakes, and strangers (Öhman 2005; Peng et al 2013). Cultural evolution taught us manners to avoid complications possibly arising from our cognitive hard ware. And cultural evolution also taught us science, a restricted way to communicate our experiences and thoughts. Science allows the communication of millions, however without returning the rewards usually experienced from successful personal communication. |
Culturally transmitted behavior requires the uninterrupted input of the society to constantly adjust its expression to the general needs. The needs of a society may fluctuate, and so may our manners and cultural habits, with certain limits. Although cultural evolution is fast, much faster than the biological one, it cannot bring about changes from one day to the other, and not even from one year to the other. Usually, cultural changes occur from one generation to the next. |
Communication across cultures and across generations may be a difficult and risky endeavor. Due to the speed of cultural change, societies always have drifted apart. In our era of globalization, the ease of electronic communication and the dramatically increased mobility inevitably leads to the confrontation of incompatible societies. It will be the task of cultural tradition in the future, to reduce these incompatibilities. |
Science may play a beneficial role during this process. Since the rules of science are simple, they are not subjected to fast change as other cultural acquisitions. The mass of the electron, the speed of light, the nucleotide sequence of a certain gene, or the chemical identity of a neurotransmitter are found the same all over the world, and it is to be expected that they will be found the same also in thousand years. |
Scientific communication observes a small number of strict rules. Just to mention the most basic ones: (1) Measure and count, what can be measured or counted; (2) try to make measurable or countable, what cannot; (3) communicate the results of your measurements and observations; (4) keep to yourself your personal opinion (this last rule seems to be the most challenging one). Only by observing these rules, communication of millions is possible, without ending up in chaos. |
A. Öhman (2005) Conditioned fear
of a face: a prelude to ethnic enmity? Science 309: 711-713. M. Peng, L. Chang, R. Zhou (2013) Physiological and behavioral responses to strangers compared to friends as a source of disgust. Evol. Hum. Behav. 34: 94-98. |
Hardships of scientific research