Jack effect

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In socio-cultural evolution, the jack effect describes the process of cumulative, intergenerational improvement of human achievements.

Map of Internet nodes 2016 ( BGP peers). The Internet is the result of a jack-up effect that has lasted for many thousands of years with constant improvements and technological leaps

Michael Tomasello introduced the term jack effect in 1993. He referred to the mechanism with which cultural achievements can be continuously improved or piled up. This happens because a technical achievement once acquired can be recorded by means of social learning (including teaching ) and that other people in the same or in other places or the same or subsequent generations can access the acquired knowledge and continuously improve it without you have to start all over again. The effect is understood from an evolutionary point of view, because the exact transfer of information can represent successful cultural adaptations to local conditions that are stable and maintained at the population level. Unsuccessful attempts, however, die out. The jacking effect of the present is greater than in the past as technical knowledge increases. One of the reasons for this is the global availability of information due to the Internet. The jack effect applies to both long distances and short ones. An example of the long-term effect is the chain that can be expanded as required: language , writing , letterpress , library , electricity , telegraphy , submarine cables , computers , the Internet . An example of a short chain is, for example: Draisine , bicycle , motorcycle , whereby further chains with longer phases can also be represented here. In addition to language and writing, the evolutionary prerequisite for the jacking effect is human motivation to pass on information and to assume that it is helpful for others ( evolution of thought ). The jack effect is unique in the animal kingdom. It only occurs in humans.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ M. Tomasello, S. Savage-Rumbaugh and A. Kruger (1993). Imitative learning of actions and objects by children. Child Development 68, pp. 1067-1081
  2. ↑ C. Tennie, J. Call, M. Tomasello: Ratcheting up the ratchet: on the evolution of cumulative culture . (PDF) In: Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B . 364, 2009, pp. 2405-2415. doi : 10.1098 / rstb.2009.0052 .