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Cultural Evolution as Distributed Computation

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Handbook of Human Computation

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Abstract

The speed and transformative power of human cultural evolution is evident from the change it has wrought on our planet. This chapter proposes a human computation program aimed at (1) distinguishing algorithmic from non-algorithmic components of cultural evolution, (2) computationally modeling the algorithmic components, and amassing human solutions to the non-algorithmic (generally, creative) components, and (3) combining the two to develop human-machine hybrids with previously unforeseen computational power that can be used to solve real problems. Drawing on recent insights into the origins of evolutionary processes from biology and complexity theory, human minds are modeled as self-organizing, interacting, autopoietic networks that evolve through a Lamarckian (non-Darwinian) process of communal exchange. Existing computational models as well as directions for future research are discussed.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Cultural algorithm is abbreviated CAL because CA customarily refers to cellular automaton.

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Acknowledgements

This research was conducted with the assistance of grants from the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Fund for Scientific Research of Flanders, Belgium.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus, Kelowna, BC, V1V 1V7, Canada

    Liane Gabora

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  1. Liane Gabora
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Correspondence to Liane Gabora .

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  1. ThinkSplash, LLC, Fairfax, Virginia, USA

    Pietro Michelucci

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Gabora, L. (2013). Cultural Evolution as Distributed Computation. In: Michelucci, P. (eds) Handbook of Human Computation. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8806-4_34

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8806-4_34

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