British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
Human Evolution Aids Advanced Communications
Findings from the British Academy's Centenary Research Project: 'Lucy to Language: the Archaeology of the Social Brain', are helping scientists, who have recently been awarded an EU research grant of approximately £2,000,000, to develop advanced communications technology.
The Lucy to Language project, co-directed by the evolutionary anthropologist Professor Robin Dunbar, FBA, is exploring how the early hominid brain evolved from its apelike beginnings, around 3-5 million years ago, to its modern human form, and the implications this has for the evolution of modern human sociality.
The project is taking a special interest in how human communications and social networks have evolved over millions of years; this research is proving relevant to the needs of communications specialists. In the future it is expected that the use of both fixed and portable communications devices, which are able to initiate, store and communicate information in ways that mimic human communication, will become widespread.
Linking the worlds of psychology, anthropology and modern technology, Robin Dunbar is part of an Europe-wide consortium of computer scientists. The consortium runs a project entitled 'Social Networks for Pervasive Adaptation' (SOCIALNETS). This project takes insights into human evolution, especially our ability to communicate and create social groups, and applies them to the development of new communications technology.
Robin Dunbar explained: "My computer science colleagues have picked up on the significance of the 'Dunbar Number'. This number is 150 and is the theoretical limit on the number of other individuals with whom we can maintain coherent social relationships - the kind of relationship that goes with knowing who each person is and how each person relates socially to every other person. This is a radical departure from the traditional engineering notion of a communication network. Instead we are seeking to embed in communication devices the key characteristics that have enabled humans to evolve and exhibit agility way beyond any other species. This can be exploited for communication and knowledge acquisition for a large numbers of devices in the future."
NOTES TO EDITORS
Published:
03 April 2008
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