The Caplan-Khan Culture Convo

Razeeb Khan’s story illustrates a classic immigrant odyssey. Born in Dhaka in 1977, he moved with his PhD‑student parents to upstate New York, spent a year in Amish‑country Pennsylvania, then grew up in Oregon before a decade in California and a decade in Austin, Texas. Throughout, his household blended Bengali and English, leaving him with only elementary Bengali. The geographic circuit—Bangladesh, the Northeast, the West Coast, the South—shapes his self‑identification, prompting him to wear a cowboy hat as a visual cue of his Texan decade.

The conversation then pivots to cultural evolution, contrasting it with biological evolution. While genetic change follows Mendelian inheritance and vertical transmission, culture spreads horizontally—through language, media, and peer influence—allowing rapid selection on ideas. This explains why accents or religious shibboleths can delineate groups instantly, whereas genetic differences accumulate slowly. Models treat cultural traits as quantitative variables subject to drift and selection, but they must account for both vertical and horizontal pathways. Consequently, cultural complexity can surge as interconnected societies exchange more ideas, even as certain macro‑domains like major world religions show relative stability.

Finally, the hosts examine assimilation patterns among immigrants. Empirical observations suggest most cultural integration occurs in the children of first‑generation adults, with language shift acting as a primary marker. Subsequent generations exhibit diminishing changes, though endogamy rates—such as historic Irish or Italian intermarriage—highlight lingering ethnic boundaries. High endogamy among groups like the Amish preserves distinct subcultures, while widespread intermarriage among Italian‑Americans dilutes original identities. Understanding these dynamics informs policymakers about the pace of cultural blending and the importance of language and marriage patterns in shaping America’s evolving multicultural landscape.