Modeling Discontinuous Cultural Evolution: The Impact of Cross-Domain Transfer.

Kirthana Ganesh,Liane Gabora

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.786072

Abstract

This paper uses autocatalytic networks to model discontinuous cultural transitions involving cross-domain transfer, using as an illustrative example, artworks inspired by the oldest-known uncontested example of figurative art: the carving of the Hohlenstein-Stadel Löwenmensch, or lion-human. Autocatalytic networks provide a general modeling setting in which nodes are not just passive transmitters of activation; they actively galvanize, or “catalyze” the synthesis of novel (“foodset-derived”) nodes from existing ones (the “foodset.”) This makes them uniquely suited to model how new structure grows out of earlier structure, i.e., cumulative, generative network growth. They have been used to model the origin and early evolution of biological life, and the emergence of cognitive structures capable of undergoing cultural evolution. We conducted a study in which six individual creators and one group generated music, prose, poetry, and visual art inspired by the Hohlenstein-Stadel Löwenmensch, and answered questions about the process. The data revealed four through-lines by which they expressed the Löwenmensch in an alternative art form: (1) lion-human hybrid, (2) subtracting from the whole to reveal the form within, (3) deterioration, and (4) waiting to be found with a story to tell. Autocatalytic networks were used to model how these four spontaneously derived through-lines form a cultural lineage from Löwenmensch to artist to audience. We used the resulting data from three creators to model the cross-domain transfer from inspirational source (sculpted figurine) to creative product (music, poetry, prose, visual art). These four spontaneously-generated threads of cultural continuity formed the backbone of this Löwenmensch-inspired cultural lineage, enabling culture to evolve even in the face of discontinuity at the level conventional categories or domains. We know of no other theory of cultural evolution that accommodates cross-domain transfer or other forms of discontinuity. The approach paves the way for a broad scientific framework for the origins of evolutionary processes.

Highlights

This paper provides an existence proof1 that a formal model of cultural evolution can accommodate a widespread form of cultural discontinuity: cross-domain transfer
This research set out to test the hypothesis that there are identifiable threads of continuity that connect the inspirational source with any cultural outputs it inspires, which serve as the basis for their proximity in a cultural lineage, enabling us to formally model even seemingly discontinuous lines of cultural descent
To describe and explain cultural lineages—including their discontinuities—with as much rigor as has been carried out for biological lineages, we need a theory that incorporates individual and group differences in the structuring of knowledge and experience that give rise to patterns of cultural descent that stray from established classifications

Summary

Introduction

This paper provides an existence proof that a formal model of cultural evolution can accommodate a widespread form of cultural discontinuity: cross-domain transfer. George Mestral’s invention of Velcro was inspired by analogy to burdock root seeds (Freeman and Golden, 1997) which, in turn, inspired “shoelace-less runners” (or “shoelace-less sneakers.”) This example illustrates a central feature of cross-domain transfer: with respect to the most obvious techniques for classifying them—e.g., as sculptures, pieces of music, or technological inventions—there is a discontinuity from one cultural output to the next. This research set out to test the hypothesis that there are identifiable threads of continuity that connect the inspirational source with any cultural outputs it inspires, which serve as the basis for their proximity in a cultural lineage, enabling us to formally model even seemingly discontinuous lines of cultural descent. We mean change that is cumulative (later innovations build on earlier ones), adaptive (new innovations yield some benefit for their bearers), and open-ended (the space of possible innovations is unbounded, since each innovation can give rise to spin-offs).

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Conclusion