This week, we tackle the dynamics of how culture evolves. In the process, Kenny Smith answers the questions you never thought to ask: why do Mormons have a reproductive advantage? is a rock cultural? how is a dog technology? where do gods go when they die?
Dr. Kenny Smith is a lecturer in the department of Linguistics and English Language here at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on communication, human language and the human capacity for language.
For more on Kenny and the kind of work that he does, check out the Language Evolution and Computation Research Unit at
http://www.lel.ed.ac.uk/lec/our-research/
To see the power of cultural evolution in just one GIF, head to
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jpmoore/the-evolution-of-the-vault-in-one-gif
Show credits:
Host- Mark Dance
Production help- Leonie Wolters
Artwork adapted from detail of Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights.
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