The Tools We Choose to Use
Capuchin monkey smashing a nut by lifting a massive stone that outweighs the monkey. [Photo: Scientific Reports]
phys.org
I have often been curious about why, as home cigar rollers, we sometimes prefer to utilize some of the tools of the past, when other tools, sometimes newer, might be easier or more efficient. I usually ascribe these choices to "Uses of the Past." We feel that "traditional" is somehow more "authentic."
In the study linked above, capuchin monkeys, which are well documented to use tools for cracking hard nuts or seed pods, usually use tools that their particular group of capuchins use—depending on geographical distribution of the monkeys, rather than conspicuously more efficient tools used by other capuchin groups. This is interpreted as a "cultural" choice, despite the presence of more efficient tools used by other groups.
My mind immediately jumps to the use of a traditional chaveta (in the past, always cut from discarded saw blades), rather than sharper, lighter, more comfortable, more durable and more efficient, modern cutting blades.
I'm not suggesting that torcedors who use an old fashioned chaveta are like monkeys, but rather that our very human preference for using tools of the past is a tendency also shared by other social species.
Bob
Capuchin monkey smashing a nut by lifting a massive stone that outweighs the monkey. [Photo: Scientific Reports]
Cultural heritage may influence choice of tools by capuchin monkeys, study suggests
Capuchin monkeys (Sapajus spp.) are among only a few primates that use tools in day-to-day activities. In the Cerrado and Caatinga, they use stones as hammers and anvils to crack open cashew nuts, seed pods of Hymenaea courbaril (West Indian locust; jatobá in Brazil) and other hard foods.
I have often been curious about why, as home cigar rollers, we sometimes prefer to utilize some of the tools of the past, when other tools, sometimes newer, might be easier or more efficient. I usually ascribe these choices to "Uses of the Past." We feel that "traditional" is somehow more "authentic."
In the study linked above, capuchin monkeys, which are well documented to use tools for cracking hard nuts or seed pods, usually use tools that their particular group of capuchins use—depending on geographical distribution of the monkeys, rather than conspicuously more efficient tools used by other capuchin groups. This is interpreted as a "cultural" choice, despite the presence of more efficient tools used by other groups.
My mind immediately jumps to the use of a traditional chaveta (in the past, always cut from discarded saw blades), rather than sharper, lighter, more comfortable, more durable and more efficient, modern cutting blades.
I'm not suggesting that torcedors who use an old fashioned chaveta are like monkeys, but rather that our very human preference for using tools of the past is a tendency also shared by other social species.
Bob
