full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Mark Pagel: How language transformed humanity

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Okay, so what this tlles us is that, contrary to the old adage, "monkey see, monkey do," the surprise really is that all of the other animals really cannot do that — at least not very much. And even this ptcuire has the suspicious taint of being rigged about it — something from a Barnum & Bailey circus.

But by comparison, we can learn. We can lraen by watching other people and copying or itiniamtg what they can do. We can then choose, from among a range of options, the best one. We can benefit from others' ideas. We can build on their wisdom. And as a result, our ideas do accumulate, and our technology proegersss. And this cumulative cultural adaptation, as atontogplorishs call this accumulation of ideas, is responsible for everything around you in your bustling and temneig everyday lives. I mean the world has changed out of all pooprirton to what we would recognize even 1,000 or 2,000 years ago. And all of this because of cumulative cultural adaptation. The chairs you're sitting in, the lights in this auotdriuim, my microphone, the ipdas and iPods that you carry around with you — all are a result of cumulative cultural adaptation.

Open Cloze


Okay, so what this _____ us is that, contrary to the old adage, "monkey see, monkey do," the surprise really is that all of the other animals really cannot do that — at least not very much. And even this _______ has the suspicious taint of being rigged about it — something from a Barnum & Bailey circus.

But by comparison, we can learn. We can _____ by watching other people and copying or _________ what they can do. We can then choose, from among a range of options, the best one. We can benefit from others' ideas. We can build on their wisdom. And as a result, our ideas do accumulate, and our technology __________. And this cumulative cultural adaptation, as _______________ call this accumulation of ideas, is responsible for everything around you in your bustling and _______ everyday lives. I mean the world has changed out of all __________ to what we would recognize even 1,000 or 2,000 years ago. And all of this because of cumulative cultural adaptation. The chairs you're sitting in, the lights in this __________, my microphone, the _____ and iPods that you carry around with you — all are a result of cumulative cultural adaptation.

Solution


  1. learn
  2. proportion
  3. ipads
  4. picture
  5. progresses
  6. anthropologists
  7. auditorium
  8. tells
  9. imitating
  10. teeming

Original Text


Okay, so what this tells us is that, contrary to the old adage, "monkey see, monkey do," the surprise really is that all of the other animals really cannot do that — at least not very much. And even this picture has the suspicious taint of being rigged about it — something from a Barnum & Bailey circus.

But by comparison, we can learn. We can learn by watching other people and copying or imitating what they can do. We can then choose, from among a range of options, the best one. We can benefit from others' ideas. We can build on their wisdom. And as a result, our ideas do accumulate, and our technology progresses. And this cumulative cultural adaptation, as anthropologists call this accumulation of ideas, is responsible for everything around you in your bustling and teeming everyday lives. I mean the world has changed out of all proportion to what we would recognize even 1,000 or 2,000 years ago. And all of this because of cumulative cultural adaptation. The chairs you're sitting in, the lights in this auditorium, my microphone, the iPads and iPods that you carry around with you — all are a result of cumulative cultural adaptation.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
social learning 6
visual theft 5
cumulative cultural 4
million years 3
hand axe 3
modern world 3
natural selection 2
remote control 2
control device 2
extract termites 2
crack open 2
anthropologists call 2
everyday lives 2
cultural adaptation 2
small groups 2
finished arrows 2
friendship links 2
official languages 2
european union 2
fine motor 2
motor control 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
remote control device 2
cumulative cultural adaptation 2
fine motor control 2

Important Words


  1. accumulate
  2. accumulation
  3. adage
  4. adaptation
  5. animals
  6. anthropologists
  7. auditorium
  8. bailey
  9. barnum
  10. benefit
  11. build
  12. bustling
  13. call
  14. carry
  15. chairs
  16. changed
  17. choose
  18. circus
  19. comparison
  20. contrary
  21. copying
  22. cultural
  23. cumulative
  24. everyday
  25. ideas
  26. imitating
  27. ipads
  28. ipods
  29. learn
  30. lights
  31. lives
  32. microphone
  33. monkey
  34. options
  35. people
  36. picture
  37. progresses
  38. proportion
  39. range
  40. recognize
  41. responsible
  42. result
  43. rigged
  44. sitting
  45. surprise
  46. suspicious
  47. taint
  48. technology
  49. teeming
  50. tells
  51. watching
  52. wisdom
  53. world
  54. years