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25 Jun 09

Party Animals: Early Human Culture Thrived in Crowds | LiveScience

Article reports on research (noted & bookmarked earlier: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/ucl-hpd060109.php) arguing the benefits of density (in early urban settings), which accelerated intellectual and cultural development.

www.livescience.com/...04-human-behavior-evolved.html - Preview

urbanization urban_development urban_energy cities population density

08 Jun 09

High population density triggers cultural explosions

Report on a new study by University College London that high population densities enable cultural & technical innovation. This directly results in modern human behavior, by which the authors mean "a radical jump in technological and cultural complexity," including "symbolic behavior" (abstract & realistic art, body decoration, etc.; music, and other technical innovations). The study aims to explain why advanced behavior and technology only begin to "explode" around 45,000 years ago - even though humans had been around for 160,000 to 200,000 years.

"Ironically, our finding that successful innovation depends less on how smart you are than how connected you are seems as relevant today as it was 90,000 years ago."

www.eurekalert.org/...ucl-hpd060109.php - Preview

urbanization urban_development urban_energy cities population density

  • complex skills learnt across generations can only be maintained when there is a critical level of interaction between people
  • high and low-skilled groups could coexist over long periods of time and that the degree of skill they maintained depended on local population density or the degree of migration between them
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