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SUMMARY:The acceleration of cultural evolution: computational approaches -
  Prof. R. Alexander Bentley\, University of Tennessee Knoxville
DTSTART:20240311T160000Z
DTEND:20240311T170000Z
UID:TALK212575@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:115768
DESCRIPTION:For millennia\, sociocultural complexity increased (and occasi
 onally decreased) gradually over many human generations\, as people inheri
 ted traditional knowledge within kin-based local communities. In these set
 tings\, where knowledge was shared within populations and across generatio
 ns\, selection was probably the key driver in norms of human adaptive beha
 vior. In the 21st century\, however\, knowledge is transmitted across popu
 lations and within generations — and evolutionary patterns may resemble 
 random drift more than selection in increasingly many settings. To span th
 ese different scales and modes of cultural evolution\, computational appro
 aches are useful\, including a new parameterization for the transparency o
 f payoffs in social learning. Using examples from computational social sci
 ence\, I will discuss how cultural evolution may have profoundly changed f
 rom the ancient past to present-day\, and offers new way to consider the f
 uture effect of AI.
LOCATION:McDonald Institute Seminar Room\, Department of Archaeology\, Dow
 ning Site
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