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First, I'll start by saying I was reading some of the posts before me and was very interested by the Julie's point about the idea of being able to say "Chinese people think..."- what a good point, Julie, about the fact that this is said considering the size of the population though I, like you, doubt similar statements could be said about Americans. I'm unsure if this is true because of the "melting pot" that the USA is or for another reason. Hmmm.

As far as answering the presented question concerning the link between cultural and biological evolution, I do believe that the two are closely linked. However, I think of it from a biological standpoint- allow me to explain. For example, a certain waist-to-hip ratio is a desired trait in a female partner. Women with a ratio close to the perfect ratio (.7, I believe) are more likely to find a partner and thus will make children with better ratios as well, assuming there is a genetic factor that plays in to the WHR. However, the question arises… is this male preference for a certain WHR biologically programmed or does it tie into a cultural/ society-based idea? I would like to lean towards the former but I’m not entirely sure.

Next, I’d like to review my thoughts on this week’s class discussion. As much as I enjoyed the review of biological evolution that we had last week, I find we will be having equally (if not more- gasp!) stimulating conversations based on cultural evolution. I am very excited to hear more stories about my classmates’ (and professor’s) experiences with their culture and traditions of their heritage. When I think about some of the weird stuff we do in “my part of the world” (Western Europe), such as clinking the top of a beer glass for light beer and bottom of the beer glass for dark beer in Germany or eating a cake with a porcelain figurine baked into it in January in France or not being able to pay for anything (not a bottle of water!) if you’re a female and out with a male in Italy, it makes me curious to hear about the things done in other parts of the world- those that, unlike Europe, are less like America. Can’t wait for this week!