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SUMMARY:“Cognition\, culture and social investment: computational and ev
 olutionary perspectives” - Joanna Bryson (Department of Computer Science
 \, University of Bath)
DTSTART:20120523T113000Z
DTEND:20120523T123000Z
UID:TALK37736@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Diane Pearce
DESCRIPTION:The striking characteristic of modern humanity is the extent o
 f our accumulated culture.  From cities to agriculture to pollution to IQ\
 , the rapid development of culture-borne capacities is apparently unpreced
 ented in evolution\, and to some seems inexplicable.   In the first part o
 f this talk\, I argue that taking a computational perspective can help us 
 understand the biological tradeoffs leading to the diversity of cognitive 
 and cultural approaches we see in nature\, including humanity.  In the sec
 ond part of the talk I focus on two extremes of this diversity\, bacteria 
 and humans\, in order to explain cultural variation (by global region) in 
 a strange human social behaviour – the costly punishment of those who co
 ntribute to the public good.  Both parts of the talk present computational
  models as well as reviewing cross-species empirical data.
LOCATION:Library\, Sub-Department of Animal Behaviour\, Madingley
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