eli5, what makes humans so advanced compared to other species on Earth?
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Language/culture
Imagine an experiment where ten of the same animal are locked in a cage (doesn’t matter what animal) and tasked with getting out by completing a puzzle that opens the door. Let’s say they are monkeys – monkey 1 would work this out eventually but then all of the other monkeys would have to do this independently meaning it would take a long time for all ten monkeys to get out.
Conversely, if it were humans, as soon as human 1 works it out they would/could share the solution with all 9 other humans so they could get out of the cage in the same way, much more quickly.
I think of this as the basis of most, if not all, human advancements that distinguish us from other creatures, all the way up to you having the capacity to read this now – wherever you are in the world – and being able to visualise the example through reading of the words and a shared cultural understanding of the concepts involved.
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