Collective Learning

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What is collective learning and how have humans used it?

Collective learning is sharing information from an individual to another as well as passing it down from generation to generation. Humans are cable of doing this because of our powerful brains and language. Through collective learning humans adapt to our environment without changing genetically. Our ancestors have passed on their knowledge to us, and as time passed on, we began to develop and expand our knowledge. The more knowledge we have the more we are able to develop our society. Humans use collective learning in their everyday life in order to communicate, and establish society as it is today. Through collective learning we are able to distinguish different people and establish a social structure. Intelligence gained through collective learning often leads to power.

Ingredients and Goldilocks Conditions:

• Powerful brains
• precise and versatile symbolic language
• interactions between individuals and between communities

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Complexity:

A new species , Homo sapiens, that uses collective learning to: connect with each other in new ways, adapt to their environment without changing genetically, and pass information from generation to generation.