Dual inheritance theory: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 01:12, 29 January 2006

Revision as of 03:24, 29 January 2006

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==Evolution and Culture==

Beginning with the pioneering work of [[Lucca Cavalli-Sforza]] and [[MarcMarcus Feldman]] (1981) in the early 1970s, these methods were adapted to study cultural evolution. The problem is somewhat the same as organic evolution. People acquire information from others by learning and teaching. [[Cultural]] transmission is imperfect, so the transmission is not always exact. People invent new cultural variants, making culture a system for the inheritance of acquired variation. People also pick and choose the cultural variants they adopt and use, processes that are not possible in the genetic system (although in the case of [[sexual selection]] individuals may choose mates with the objective of getting good genes for their offspring). [[Social scientists]] know a fair amount about such things, enough to build reasonable mathematical representations of the micro-level processes of cultural evolution. The theory is of the form

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At the same time, firms with a high frequency of slackers will tend to fail while those with many earnest workers may prosper. Prosperous firms will have the opportunity to socialize many more new workers than those that fail prematurely. The overall quality of the economy’s work force in the long run will be determined by the balance of forces favoring slacking versus those favoring earnestness.

Theorists are interested in the abstract properties of such evolutionary models. [[Empiricists]] are interested in finding the models that best describe actual evolving systems. Real world practitioners are interested in predicting the outcomes of policies that might improve or harm the quality of a firm’s or an economy’s work force.

==Topics of interset in dual inheritance theory==

Substantive questions that have interested dual inheritance theorists include