RATCHET EFFECT X HUMAN What makes us special isn’t that we have culture — it’s that our culture evolves.”

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Here’s a ZIST (Zoom-In Summary Thought) for this passage on The Ratchet Effect from The Ape That Understood the Universe:

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🔧 ZIST: The Ratchet Effect – Culture That Builds Itself

• Old View Challenged:
  Humans were once thought to be the only cultural species, with culture as our unique buffer from natural selection.

• Jane Goodall’s Discovery:
  In the 1960s, Goodall observed chimpanzees using tools (sticks to fish termites), and — crucially — teaching by example.
  ➤ This showed that other animals have culture, too — learned behaviors passed down socially.

• The Cultural Ratchet:
  Human culture doesn’t just pass things on — it builds on what came before.
  ➤ Like a ratchet, it locks in progress and accumulates improvements over generations.
  ➤ Chimps fish termites. Humans build smartphones.

• Key Difference:
  Animals have simple culture. Humans have cumulative culture — knowledge that grows, refines, and complexifies over time.

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💡 Implication:

“What makes us special isn’t that we have culture — it’s that our culture evolves.”

The ratchet effect explains how human societies have progressed from stone tools to space travel — not because of our genes alone, but because of our unmatched ability to store, refine, and transmit cultural knowledge across generations.

Would you like a visual metaphor or timeline showing how this ratchet effect works across human history?