Order Representations + a Rich Memetic Substrate
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Introduction ROBERT AUNGER a Number of Prominent Academics
CHAPTER 1: Introduction ROBERT AUNGER A number of prominent academics have recently argued that we are entering a period in which evolutionary theory is being applied to every conceivable domain of inquiry. Witness the development of fields such as evolutionary ecology (Krebs and Davies 1997), evolutionary economics (Nelson and Winter 1982), evolutionary psychology (Barkow et al. 1992), evolutionary linguistics (Pinker 1994) and literary theory (Carroll 1995), evolutionary epistemology (Callebaut and Pinxten 1987), evolutionary computational science (Koza 1992), evolutionary medicine (Nesse and Williams 1994) and psychiatry (McGuire and Troisi 1998) -- even evolutionary chemistry (Wilson and Czarnik 1997) and evolutionary physics (Smolin 1997). Such developments certainly suggest that Darwin’s legacy continues to grow. The new millennium can therefore be called the Age of Universal Darwinism (Dennett 1995; Cziko 1995). What unifies these approaches? Dan Dennett (1995) has argued that Darwin’s “dangerous idea” is an abstract algorithm, often called the “replicator dynamic.” This dynamic consists of repeated iterations of selection from among randomly mutating replicators. Replicators, in turn, are units of information with the ability to reproduce themselves using resources from some material substrate. Couched in these terms, the evolutionary process is obviously quite general. for example, the replicator dynamic, when played out on biological material such as DNA, is called natural selection. But Dennett suggests there are essentially no limits to the phenomena which can be treated using this algorithm, although there will be variation in the degree to which such treatment leads to productive insights. The primary hold-out from “evolutionarization,” it seems, is the social sciences. Twenty-five years have now passed since the biologist Richard Dawkins introduced the notion of a meme, or an idea that becomes commonly shared through social transmission, into the scholastic lexicon. -
1. a Dangerous Idea
About This Guide This guide is intended to assist in the use of the DVD Daniel Dennett, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea. The following pages provide an organizational schema for the DVD along with general notes for each section, key quotes from the DVD,and suggested discussion questions relevant to the section. The program is divided into seven parts, each clearly distinguished by a section title during the program. Contents Seven-Part DVD A Dangerous Idea. 3 Darwin’s Inversion . 4 Cranes: Getting Here from There . 8 Fruits of the Tree of Life . 11 Humans without Skyhooks . 13 Gradualism . 17 Memetic Revolution . 20 Articles by Daniel Dennett Could There Be a Darwinian Account of Human Creativity?. 25 From Typo to Thinko: When Evolution Graduated to Semantic Norms. 33 In Darwin’s Wake, Where Am I?. 41 2 Darwin's Dangerous Idea 1. A Dangerous Idea Dennett considers Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection the best single idea that anyone ever had.But it has also turned out to be a dangerous one. Science has accepted the theory as the most accurate explanation of the intricate design of living beings,but when it was first proposed,and again in recent times,the theory has met with a backlash from many people.What makes evolution so threatening,when theories in physics and chemistry seem so harmless? One problem with the introduction of Darwin’s great idea is that almost no one was prepared for such a revolutionary view of creation. Dennett gives an analogy between this inversion and Sweden’s change in driving direction: I’m going to imagine, would it be dangerous if tomorrow the people in Great Britain started driving on the right? It would be a really dangerous place to be because they’ve been driving on the left all these years…. -
The Evolution of Human Vocal Emotion
EMR0010.1177/1754073920930791Emotion ReviewBryant 930791research-article2020 SPECIAL SECTION: EMOTION IN THE VOICE Emotion Review Vol. 13, No. 1 (January 2021) 25 –33 © The Author(s) 2020 ISSN 1754-0739 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073920930791 10.1177/1754073920930791 The Evolution of Human Vocal Emotion https://journals.sagepub.com/home/emr Gregory A. Bryant Department of Communication, Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California, Los Angeles, USA Abstract Vocal affect is a subcomponent of emotion programs that coordinate a variety of physiological and psychological systems. Emotional vocalizations comprise a suite of vocal behaviors shaped by evolution to solve adaptive social communication problems. The acoustic forms of vocal emotions are often explicable with reference to the communicative functions they serve. An adaptationist approach to vocal emotions requires that we distinguish between evolved signals and byproduct cues, and understand vocal affect as a collection of multiple strategic communicative systems subject to the evolutionary dynamics described by signaling theory. We should expect variability across disparate societies in vocal emotion according to culturally evolved pragmatic rules, and universals in vocal production and perception to the extent that form–function relationships are present. Keywords emotion, evolution, signaling, vocal affect Emotional communication is central to social life for many ani- 2001; Pisanski, Cartei, McGettigan, Raine, & Reby, 2016; mals. Beginning with Darwin -
Oxytocin Is a Nonapeptide Involved in a Wide Range of Physiologic OXT Activity Depends on Adequate Interaction with Its Unique and Behavioral Functions
Evolutionary pattern in the OXT-OXTR system in primates: Coevolution and positive selection footprints Pedro Vargas-Pinillaa,1, Vanessa Rodrigues Paixão-Côrtesa,1, Pamela Paréa, Luciana Tovo-Rodriguesa, Carlos Meton de Alencar Gadelha Vieiraa, Agatha Xaviera, David Comasb, Alcides Pissinattic, Marialva Sinigagliaa, Maurício Menegatti Rigoa, Gustavo Fioravanti Vieiraa, Aldo B. Luciond, Francisco Mauro Salzanoa,2, and Maria Cátira Bortolinia,2 aDepartamento de Genética, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, 91501-970 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; bInstitut de Biologia Evolutiva, Departament de Ciències Experimentals i de la Salut, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 08003 Barcelona, Spain; cCentro de Primatologia do Rio de Janeiro, 20940-200 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; and dDepartamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Ciências Básicas da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, 90050-170 Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil Contributed by Francisco Mauro Salzano, November 26, 2014 (sent for review July 11, 2014; reviewed by Guido Barbujani and Rafal Slusarz) Oxytocin is a nonapeptide involved in a wide range of physiologic OXT activity depends on adequate interaction with its unique and behavioral functions. Until recently, it was believed that an receptor, OXTR, although it can also bind to the vasopressin unmodified oxytocin sequence was present in all placental mam- receptors (AVPR1a, AVPR1b, and AVPR2) with lower affinity mals. This study analyzed oxytocin (OXT) in 29 primate species and (11–13). Similar to other receptors that use G proteins as OXTR the oxytocin receptor ( ) in 21 of these species. We report transducer signals across the cell membranes, OXTR is com- here three novel OXT forms in the New World monkeys, as well posed of seven transmembrane (TM1–TM7), four extracellular as a more extensive distribution of a previously described variant (N-terminal tail-ECL3), and four intracellular (ICL1-C-terminal (Leu8Pro). -
Psychological Meme Science by Ian Dennis Miller a Thesis Submitted In
Psychological Meme Science by Ian Dennis Miller A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Psychology University of Toronto c Copyright 2019 by Ian Dennis Miller Abstract Psychological Meme Science Ian Dennis Miller Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Psychology University of Toronto 2019 Memes are ideas, often represented using media, with the special characteristics of being repeatable and adaptable. Memes impact our lives in material ways, influencing political systems and propagating the stories our shared culture is built from. When propagated via online social networks, the massive scale at which memes operate is without precedent. However, the meme does not act on its own; it is only by human activity that memes are created and proliferated. This dissertation will tackle a series of research questions surrounding the scientific study of humans and memes from a psychological perspective. This work begins with the observation that science is a social enterprise and scientific ideas spread as memes. The first chapter of this dissertation applies social network methods to the global scientific collaboration network in order to build a map of beliefs about systems of humans and memes. The next chapter examines a hierarchical democratic phenomenon - the online campaign preceding an election - in order to determine the appropriate analytical scope for investigating complex systems of political memes. The final chapter presents a method for translating regression models from the psychological literature into computational social simulations using agent-based models. A computational social simulation of urban legends is then built, replicating a study from the literature and then extending it to examine the effect of social network topology upon the propagation of urban legends. -
An Extra-Memetic Empirical Methodology to Accompany
An extra-memetic empirical methodology to accompany theoretical memetics GILL, Jameson Available from Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA) at: http://shura.shu.ac.uk/5222/ This document is the author deposited version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it. Published version GILL, Jameson (2012). An extra-memetic empirical methodology to accompany theoretical memetics. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 20 (3), 323- 336. Copyright and re-use policy See http://shura.shu.ac.uk/information.html Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive http://shura.shu.ac.uk Title: An extra-memetic empirical methodology to accompany theoretical memetics Abstract Purpose: The paper describes the difficulties encountered by researchers who are looking to operationalise theoretical memetics and provides a methodological avenue for studies that can test meme theory. Design/Methodology/Approach: The application of evolutionary theory to organisations is reviewed by critically reflecting on the validity of its truth claims. To focus the discussion a number of applications of meme theory are reviewed to raise specific issues which ought to be the subject of empirical investigation. Subsequently, the empirical studies conducted to date are assessed in terms of the progress made and conclusions for further work are drawn. Findings: The paper finds that the key questions posed by memetic theory have yet to be addressed empirically and that a recurring weakness is the practice of assuming the existence of a replicating unit of culture which has, however, yet to be demonstrated as a valid concept. Therefore, an 'extra- memetic' methodology is deemed to be necessary for the development of memetics as a scientific endeavour. -
Analyzing the Intention of Consumer Purchasing Behaviors in Relation to Internet Memes Using VAB Model
sustainability Article Analyzing the Intention of Consumer Purchasing Behaviors in Relation to Internet Memes Using VAB Model Hsin-Hui Lee 1, Chia-Hsing Liang 2 , Shu-Yi Liao 2 and Han-Shen Chen 1,3,* 1 Department of Health Diet and Industry Management, Chung Shan Medical University, No. 110, Sec. 1, Jianguo N. Rd., Taichung City 40201, Taiwan; [email protected] 2 Department of Applied Economics, National Chung Hsing University, No. 250, Kuo Kuang Rd., Taichung 40227, Taiwan; [email protected] (C.-H.L.); [email protected] (S.-Y.L.) 3 Department of Medical Management, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, No. 110, Sec. 1, Jianguo N. Rd., Taichung City 40201, Taiwan * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +886-4-2473-0022 (ext. 12225) Received: 29 August 2019; Accepted: 7 October 2019; Published: 9 October 2019 Abstract: The proliferation of Internet has accelerated the dissemination of information, which has given birth to the term “Internet meme”. Social network is one of the pivotal media in spreading an Internet meme. Marketers utilize Internet memes to carry out marketing activities to significantly improve their Internet exposure. We thus verify whether consumers generate purchase intention after being attracted to an Internet meme, as no such research prevails. We employ the value–attitude–behavior model as its theoretical core and discuss how the values formed by consumers under the impact of an Internet meme influence their purchasing behaviors through their attitudes. The participants of the study are Internet users who are habitual to checking Facebook. We adopted convenience sampling and developed 380 valid questionnaires. -
Social Contagion Theory and Information Literacy Dissemination: a Theoretical Model
Social Contagion Theory and Information Literacy Dissemination: A Theoretical Model Daisy Benson and Keith Gresham Academic librarians are constantly working to find dergraduate students prefer to learn not from librarians the most effective ways to reach out to students and or other authority figures on campus, but from one an- teach them how to locate, evaluate, and assimilate in- other, their peers. If academic librarians could employ formation in support of their curricular research needs. a model of transmitting information literacy concepts First- and second-year students, in particular, tend to and skills to lower-division undergraduates using pre- be major targets of these efforts on college and univer- existing peer-networks, perhaps both students and li- sity campuses around the country. As a consequence, brarians alike would benefit. Students would learn the numerous content delivery models have been employed basic information literacy skills they need to succeed in by academic libraries in order to increase the likelihood their early college careers, and librarians would be able that these beginning students develop the basic infor- to devote more time to working with those students who mation literacy competencies required for academic and have more complex, discipline specific research needs. personal success. Some of these delivery models focus How might such a model work? Building upon the on direct librarian-to-student contact, others rely on ideas popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in his bestsell- technology-based delivery -
The Histories and Origins of Memetics
Betwixt the Popular and Academic: The Histories and Origins of Memetics Brent K. Jesiek Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Science and Technology Studies Gary L. Downey (Chair) Megan Boler Barbara Reeves May 20, 2003 Blacksburg, Virginia Keywords: discipline formation, history, meme, memetics, origin stories, popularization Copyright 2003, Brent K. Jesiek Betwixt the Popular and Academic: The Histories and Origins of Memetics Brent K. Jesiek Abstract In this thesis I develop a contemporary history of memetics, or the field dedicated to the study of memes. Those working in the realm of meme theory have been generally concerned with developing either evolutionary or epidemiological approaches to the study of human culture, with memes viewed as discrete units of cultural transmission. At the center of my account is the argument that memetics has been characterized by an atypical pattern of growth, with the meme concept only moving toward greater academic legitimacy after significant development and diffusion in the popular realm. As revealed by my analysis, the history of memetics upends conventional understandings of discipline formation and the popularization of scientific ideas, making it a novel and informative case study in the realm of science and technology studies. Furthermore, this project underscores how the development of fields and disciplines is thoroughly intertwined with a larger social, cultural, and historical milieu. Acknowledgments I would like to take this opportunity to thank my family, friends, and colleagues for their invaluable encouragement and assistance as I worked on this project. -
Primatology & Human Evolution
Anthropology 350 syllabus p. 1 Primatology & Human Evolution S. Cachel Anthropology 350 (070:350:01) Spring, 2018 This sylabus can be downloaded from the from the class Sakai site, accessible via the Rutgers Sakai portal (http://sakai.rutgers.edu/portal). Course Venue: Monday, Wednesday, 2:15-3:35 P.M. Hickmann 130, Douglass Campus Instructor: Susan Cachel Office: Room 203C, Biological Sciences Building, Douglass Campus. Use the left staircase to the second floor; my office is in the complex of offices immediately to the right of the stairwell. Office phone: 848-932-9270 848-932-9886 (departmental office) email: [email protected] Office Hours (Spring Semester): Monday, 12-2 P.M., or by appointment Required Texts: Shea, J.J. 2017. Stone Tools in Human Evolution. New York: Cambridge University Press. Tuttle, R.H. 2014. Apes and Human Evolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. The textbooks are on order from the University Bookstore, Somerset Street and College Avenue, in downtown New Brunswick. Pdf files of other class readings will be posted on the class Sakai site under “Resources.” Course Description: This is a course in physical anthropology that deals with the history of primatology and paleoanthropology. It integrates knowledge of the anatomy and behavior of non-human primates with knowledge of human anatomy and behavior. It also uses comparative animal behavior to deal with general questions about how behavior evolves, as well as specific questions about the origins of intelligence and technology. The course also uses archaeological evidence and mammal and primate models to examine the origins of complex sociality. -
An Objection to the Memetic Approach to Culture (In Robert Aunger Ed
Dan Sperber An objection to the memetic approach to culture (in Robert Aunger ed. Darwinizing Culture: The Status of Memetics as a Science. Oxford University Press, 2000, pp 163-173) Memetics is one possible evolutionary approach to the study of culture. Boyd and Richerson’s models (1985, Boyd this volume), or my epidemiology of representations (1985, 1996), are among other possible evolutionary approaches inspired in various ways by Darwin. Memetics however, is, by its very simplicity, particularly attractive. The memetic approach is based on the claim that culture is made of memes. If one takes the notion of a meme in the strong sense intended by Richard Dawkins (1976, 1982), this is indeed an interesting and challenging claim. On the other hand, if one were to define "meme", as does the Oxford English Dictionary, as "an element of culture that may be considered to be passed on by non-genetic means," then the claim that culture is made of memes would be a mere rewording of a most common idea: anthropologists have always considered culture as that which is transmitted in a human group by non-genetic means. Richard Dawkins defines "memes" as cultural replicators propagated through imitation, undergoing a process of selection, and standing to be selected not because they benefit their human carriers, but because of they benefit themselves. Are non-biological replicators such as memes theoretically possible? Yes, surely. The very idea of non-biological replicators, and the argument that the Darwinian model of selection is not limited to the strictly biological are already, by themselves, of theoretical interest. -
MARGARET A. H. BRYER Curriculum Vitae
MARGARET A. H. BRYER Curriculum Vitae Postdoctoral Fellow Department of Psychology Carnegie Mellon University Email: [email protected] or [email protected] EDUCATION 2020 Ph.D. The Graduate Center of the City University of New York Anthropology Program Dissertation: Nutritional strategy and social environment in redtail monkeys (Cercopithecus ascanius) Committee: Jessica Rothman (advisor), Larissa Swedell, Andrea Baden, Marina Cords, David Raubenheimer 2016 M.Phil. The Graduate Center of the City University of New York Anthropology Program 2012 M.A. Hunter College of the City University of New York Department of Anthropology Thesis: Redtail monkey (Cercopithecus ascanius) spatial patterns and insectivory in Uganda Thesis advisor: Jessica Rothman 2007 B.A. Columbia University, New York, NY Department of History Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology PUBLICATIONS Rothman JM and Bryer MAH. (2019) The effects of humans on primate nutritional landscapes: A review. In: Behie A, Teichroeb J, Malone N, eds. Primate Research and Conservation in the Anthropocene. Cambridge Studies in Biological and Evolutionary Anthropology, 82, 199. Bryer MAH, Chapman CA, Raubenheimer D, Lambert JE, and JM Rothman. (2015) Macronutrient and energy contributions of insects to the diet of a frugivorous monkey (Cercopithecus ascanius). International Journal of Primatology, 36:839-854. Rothman JM, Raubenheimer D, Bryer MAH, Takahashi M and CC Gilbert. (2014) Nutritional contributions of insects to primate diets: implications for primate evolution. Journal of Human Evolution, 71: 59-69. Rothman JM, Nkurunungi JB, Shannon B and MAH Bryer. (2014) High altitude diets: implications for the feeding and nutritional ecology of mountain gorillas. In: Gursky S, Grow, N, eds.