The reason the chimpanzees don't do that is that they lack what psychologists and anthropologists call social learning.

黑猩猩不这样做的原因是它们不能进行心理学家和人类学家所称的社会学习。

That is, they seem to lack the ability to learn from others by copying or imitating or simply watching.

也就是说，他们似乎缺乏通过复制、模仿或仅仅是观看来向别人学习的能力。

As a result, they can't improve on others' ideas, learn from others' mistakes, or even benefit from others' wisdom.

因此，他们不能就别人的想法加以改进，不能从别人的错误中学习，甚至不能从别人的智慧中获益。

And so they just do the same thing over and over and over again.

所以他们只是一遍又一遍地做同样的事情。

In fact, we could go away for a million years and come back and these chimpanzees would be doing the same thing with the same rocks to crack open the nuts.

事实上，我们可以过100万年再来看，这些黑猩猩会用同样的石头来敲开坚果。

Okay, so what this tells us is that, contrary to the old saying, "monkey see, monkey do," the surprise really is that all of the other animals really cannot do that -- at least not very much.

好的，这告诉我们，与“猴子看，猴子做（有样学样）”这句老话相反，所有其他动物都不能做到这一点——至少学到的不是很多。

But by comparison, we humans can learn.

但相比之下，我们人类可以学习。

We can learn by watching other people and copying or imitating what they can do.

我们可以通过观察其他人，复制或模仿他们的行为来学习。

We can then choose, from among a range of options available, the best one.

然后，我们可以从一系列可供选择的选项中选择最好的一个。

We can benefit from others' ideas. We can build on their wisdom.

我们可以从别人的想法中获益。我们可以依靠他们的智慧。

And as a result, our ideas do accumulate, and our technology progresses.

因此，我们的想法不断积累，我们的技术不断进步。

And this cumulative cultural adaptation, as anthropologists call this accumulation of ideas, is responsible for everything around you in your bustling and teeming everyday life.

这种累积的文化适应，正如人类学家所称的，是思想的积累，与熙熙攘攘的日常生活中你周围的一切都有关。

I mean the world has changed out of all proportion to what we would recognize even 1,000 or 2,000 years ago.

我的意思是，世界在飞速变化，与我们在1000年或2000年前所认识到的世界已经完全不一样了。

And all of this is because of cumulative cultural adaptation.

所有这些都是由于累积的文化适应。

For instance, the chairs you're sitting in today, the lights in this lecture hall, my microphone, the iPads and the smart phones that you carry around with you -- all are a result of cumulative cultural adaptation.

例如，你们今天坐的椅子，这个演讲厅的灯，我的麦克风，ipad和你们随身携带的智能手机——所有这些都是累积文化适应的结果。

But, our acquisition of social learning would create an evolutionary dilemma, and the solution to the dilemma, it's fair to say, would determine not only the future course of our psychology, but the future course of the entire world.

但是，我们对社会学习能力的习得会造成一个进化困境，而这个困境的解决方案，公平地说，不仅会决定我们心理的未来走向，也会决定整个世界的未来走向。

And most importantly for this, it'll tell us why we have language.

最重要的是，它会告诉我们为什么我们有语言。

And the reason that dilemma arose is, it turns out, that social learning is visual theft.

之所以会出现这种困境，是因为，社会学习是视觉盗窃。

What I mean is, if I can learn by watching you, I can steal your best ideas, and I can benefit from your efforts, without having to put in the same time and energy that you did into developing them.

我的意思是，如果我能通过观察你来学习，我就能窃取你最好的想法，我就能从你的努力中获益，而不用像你那样投入时间和精力去获得它们。

Social learning really is visual theft.

社交学习真的是视觉盗窃。