Baby technology —a part of human culture

Human growth and development are always biocultural, in that any definition of «being human» must seamlessly meld together all of the relationships between human biology and human culture. Anthropologists have many definitions of human culture. Older proposals viewed culture as the sum of human technology, sociology, and ideology. It was believed that these three domains were unique to the human species. Observations by Jane Goodall on wild chimpanzees, and by many researchers inspired by Goodall on other primate species, changed that older view. The technology and sociology of many non-human animals differs by degree, not kind, from human capacities. Contemporary theorists tend to focus their definitions of culture on ideology, that is, the justification of behavior. To justify behavior, we humans give meaning and purpose to our existence. Human purpose seems unique to our species. Ideology and purpose encompass the beliefs, norms, and values of a social group, which are transmitted across generations by means of informal and formal teaching and learning. Human purpose spurred the technological change from chimpanzee hammer stones to crack open seed casings to the laptop I am using to write this sentence. Purpose took people to a moon landing, but also to the Nazi extermination of 11 million Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, Catholic priests, people with mental or physical disabilities, communists, trade unionists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, anarchists, Poles, and others. Human purpose underlies the social change from chimpanzee hunting parties, which are composed of genetically related males to the socially and ideologically defined groups of human gatherer-hunters, farmers, and industrialists. Human purpose and ideology may be seen in the technology illustrated here for the care, feeding, and entertainment of infants and children. [Barry Bogin]