KATHERINE~chapter 12 response ~

Chapter 12 is basically the history and possible future for cultural in general, and in the author’s words, it deals with the central question for human beings “who are we, where are we from, and where are we going” (p.432).

The chapter firstly demonstrated the brief history of culture, following the approach of “consilience” (p.435), indicating that biological and cultural evolutions are linked together. The history are divided into 5 periods, and they are five million to one million years ago: lonely planet; one million to forty thousand years ago: ice and fire, fluctuation of the climate; forty thousand to ten thousand years old: creative spark, extermination, richer art and technology; twelve thousand to seven thousand five hundred years ago: villages and agriculture; seven thousand five hundred years ago until now: large-scale civilizations. Then the author demonstrates sources of cultural diversity and change, they are the exposure of different peoples to different means of subsistence varies widely and selective pressures differ in different places. The 4 characteristics of the evolution of culture are suggested at last. This kind of evolution is unavoidable, doesn’t look ahead, uses many replications and evolves.

It is very meaningful to get to know about the gradual process of coevolution, since it has changed both our nature and our culture. It is certain that culture has become a vehicle that helps people build civilizations. Therefore we should know more about it and take good advantage of it in the future.