[论文解读] Distilling the Essence of an Evolutionary Process and Implications for a Formal Description of Culture

Liane Gabora, Diederik Aerts|arXiv (Cornell University)|Sep 18, 2013

Language and cultural evolution参考文献 62被引用 10

一句话总结

本文提出，文化通过一种独特且非达尔文式的进化过程而演化，其驱动力是人类认知在创造性综合与概念融合方面的能力，而非随机变异与自然选择。文章认为，这种认知架构的出现——使直觉性、战略性创新成为可能——解释了人类文化复杂性的独特性，并为将文化本身视为一种独立的进化过程提供了形式化框架。

ABSTRACT

It has been proposed that, since the origin of life and the ensuing evolution of biological species, a second evolutionary process has appeared on our planet. It is the evolution of culture-e.g., ideas, beliefs, and artifacts. Does culture evolve in the same genuine sense as biological life? And if so, does it evolve through natural selection, or by some other means? Why does no other species remotely approach the degree of cultural complexity of humans? These questions lie at the foundation of who we are and what makes our lives meaningful. Although much research has been done on how selective pressures operating at the biological level affect cognition and culture, little research has focused on culture as an evolutionary process in its own right. Like biological forms, cultural forms-ideas, attitudes, artifacts, mannerisms, etc.-incrementally adapt to the constraints and affordances of their environment through descent with modification. In some respects culture appears to be Darwinian, i.e., a process of differential replication and selection amongst randomly generated variants. This suggests that knowledge of biological evolution can be put to use to gain insight into culture. However, attempts to apply Darwinian theory to culture have not yielded the kind of unifying framework for the social sciences that it provided for the biological sciences, largely because of the nonrandom manner in which the mind-the hub of cultural change-generates and assimilates novelty. This paper investigates how and when humans became capable of supporting culture, and what previously held it back, focusing on how we attained the creative powers we now possess. To invent in the strategic, intuitive manner characteristic of humans requires a cognitive architecture that supports the capacity to spontaneously adapt concepts to new circumstances and merge them together to conceptualize new situations.

研究动机与目标

• 探究使人类文化成为一种独特进化过程的认知机制。
• 解释为何文化不像生物进化那样依赖随机变异与自然选择，而是依赖有意图的创造性认知。
• 识别支持概念自发适应与融合以生成新颖性的特定认知架构。
• 建立文化作为独立于生物自然选择的进化过程的形式化描述。
• 解释为何其他物种无法达到人类所展现的文化复杂程度。

提出的方法

• 通过聚焦于实现概念创新的认知机制，分析从生物进化到文化进化的转变过程。
• 考察心智作为文化变革枢纽的作用，强调通过概念融合实现非随机的新颖性生成。
• 运用认知科学与进化理论的洞见，对比达尔文式进化与文化进化的非随机、创造性过程。
• 基于认知适应与概念整合，提出一种通过传承与修改实现文化进化的形式化模型。
• 借助神经科学、心理学与进化生物学的跨学科证据，支持认知架构假说。
• 通过识别促成战略性和直觉性发明的关键认知转变，重建文化能力的历史演化过程。

实验结果

研究问题

• RQ1 在机制与过程上，文化进化与生物进化有何区别？
• RQ2 为何文化不像生物性状那样通过随机变异与自然选择而演化？
• RQ3 何种认知架构使人类能够通过直觉性、战略性综合生成新颖思想与人工制品？
• RQ4 人类心智如何获得以推动文化创新的方式融合概念的能力？
• RQ5 文化作为独立进化过程出现，需要哪些必要条件？

主要发现

• 文化通过一种非达尔文式的过程演化，其驱动力是心智在创造性、非随机的概念融合方面的能力，而非随机变异与自然选择。
• 文化复杂性的出现与一种特定认知架构密切相关，该架构使概念的自发适应与整合成为可能。
• 人类文化进化无法还原为生物自然选择，因为它依赖于有意图的、情境敏感的创新。
• 本文将促成概念融合的认知转变识别为使文化成为独立进化过程的关键转折点。
• 这一认知机制解释了为何其他物种无法达到人类所展现的文化复杂程度。
• 研究结果支持一种形式化框架，用于将文化建模为具有自身原则的进化过程，与生物进化截然不同。