Culture: Constructive Tweeting

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What songbirds could teach us about
 constructive tweeting

Ofer Tchernichovski

is a zoologist and professor in the department of psychology at Hunter College at the City University of New York, where he runs the Laboratory of Vocal Learning.

1,500 words

Edited by Sam Dresser

We are surrounded by cultural products: cities, technologies, the arts and music. But culture is also deep inside us, in our ability to speak, in our sense of belonging, in our values. The capacity of our brain to adapt to and integrate culture is what makes us human: from birth, your mind was set to absorb concepts, technologies and social conventions that accumulated over thousands of generations. Feral children, deprived of human society during early life, can rarely recover, and often remain dysfunctional throughout their lives. In contrast, a socially isolated kitten will develop into a fairly normal, functional cat.

Yet cultures can be seen (and heard) in many non-human animals. Studying them reveals some of the mechanisms through which our own culture has evolved. Cultures are not just the passive accumulation of customs and traditions; they are formed, and then sustained by a fine balance between social forces. And we can learn from other species about the biological origin of those forces – as well as how these forces are now shaping the future of our culture./.../