Why We Have Grandmothers

Because Cultural Learning

Vanessa Torre recently wrote a piece called My Grandmother Was Made of Cast Iron that exemplifies what Harvard Professor Joseph Henrich calls “cultural learning” in his book The Secret of Our Success. Henrich says that the capacity of human beings to learn from elders and peers is the secret to our incredible proliferation as a species.

Despite the physical advantages of other apes like chimps or gorillas, human beings are smarter. Everybody knows that. But Henrich specifies how we’re smarter. According to him, we are…