Cultural Transmission

All through out his book I have learned so much about evolution. I have been learning about Darwin and about how the most stable and the strongest species evolved. However I had never considered thinking about evolution in any other subject apart from biology. Now that I have read chapter twelve I have discovered that absolutely  everything evolves. A great example was the experiment conducted by P.F Jenkins in New Zealand. It’s is clear how the different types of songs were born from trying to imitate that last song. It was even more to me when Dawkins gave the example “George Chaucer couldn't hold a conversation with a modern English men.” This chapter made me realize that truly as all living things all of the human inventions evolve.

I would like to start out talking about fashion. Fashion is a clear example of how human inventions evolve. Before, clothing was very different from the way it is today. Women were supposed to wear long dresses, dark dresses, and their hair had to be all tied up. Nowadays you can see plenty of women in bright orange tee shirts with white mini skirts. Another example that can be seen evidently is with the brand logos. Twenty years ago if you bought a Ralph Lauren Polo Shirt it would have a tiny bitty horse in the upper left side, which marks the difference between a normal Polo shirt and a Ralph Lauren shirt. Today that tiny bitty horse has evolved into a massive horse that now covers half of your shirt so that everybody can see that you are wearing is in deed Ralph Lauren. The same has happened with tennis rackets, purses, soccer balls, computers, chocolates, cellphones and lots of other products that used to have no logos and nowadays have giant logos so that people can differentiate them from not just any product.

Another clear case of evolution is language. Or, for this matter, specifically nicknames. I have various friends whose nicknames have evolved so much that it’s impressing. For example I have a friend whose nickname is Cheviosky. His nickname evolved from his name Sebastian, who then went to Sebas, who then went to Chevas who then went to Chevis, who then went to the now present Cheviosky. It has been the same with many other friends whose nicknames have evolved so much that we have no idea why we call them that way.

Cellphones, for example, evolve every now and then. They go from big to little to very little. It is the same with Ipods computers and other technological devices Food portions have also evolved a lot. 40 years ago McDonalds hamburgers were normally 1/4 of a pound and some had cheese some didn't. Today, hamburgers are 1/2 of a pound and come with lettuce, cheese, tomato, bacon, onions, peppers and about 5 to 6 different sauces. This is a clear example of how everyday common things evolve.