Cultural evolution: norms and ideas as viruses
The question of how the ideas, beliefs, and norms that comprise culture propagate and evolve over time is a subject of contentious debate. I take a strict neo-Darwinian view that culture is not an extension of genetic expression (extended phenotype), but exists as a collection of independent entities that can best be thought of and modeled as obligate parasites. These ideas can "infect" a human mind, altering the host's behavior, and are subject to variation and selection much like genes. And like viruses, cultural ideas may thrive within a human population even if they tend to decrease biological fitness of their hosts.
RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS
2015 | Title: Altruism displays a harmonic
signature in structured societies Author(s): S.T. Shutters, D. Hales Journal: Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 18(3):2 |
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2013 | Title: Religion as a Superorganism Author(s): S.T. Shutters Conference: Conference on Emergent Approaches to Human Sociality and Religion Venue: Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. 06-Oct-2013 |
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2013 | Title:
Tag-mediated altruism is contingent on how cheaters are defined Author(s): S.T. Shutters, D. Hales Journal: Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 16(1):4 |
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2013 | Title: Cultural
polarization and
the role of extremist agents: a simple simulation model Author(s): S.T. Shutters Journal: Lecture Notes in Computer Science 7812:93-101 |
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2009 | Title:
Strong reciprocity, social structure, and the evolution of cooperative
behavior Author(s): S.T. Shutters Doctoral Thesis: Arizona State University, School of Life Sciences Advisor: Ann P. Kinzig |
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2008 | Title:
A simulation model of cultural consensus and persistent conflict Author(s): S.T. Shutters, B.B. Cutts Book: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Computational Cultural Dynamics, 71-78 Editor(s): V.S. Subrahamanian, A. Kruglanski Publisher: AAAI Press. Menlo Park, California |