Cultural life: Theory and empirical testing

Baciu, Dan Costa

doi:10.1016/j.biosystems.2020.104208

Cited by 9 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…During this time, science has gone through three periods of growth during which the diversity of scientific fields has decreased. As expected, each period of growth was followed by a period of reform, during which the diversity of scientific fields has rebounded to its initial values (Baciu 2020a).…”

Section: Diversity Index and Scale Of The Analysissupporting

confidence: 65%

“…In previous work, we studied diversification in a different context. We studied cultural diversification, and we demonstrated that it can be modeled with standard life science equations (Baciu 2020a(Baciu , b, 2019(Baciu , 2018. We are now proposing that urban diversification can be modeled with the same equations.…”

Section: Diversity Index and Scale Of The Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mapping diversity: from ecology and human geography to urbanism and culture

Baciu

Birchall

et al. 2022

SN Soc Sci

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A large body of research across science and humanities has come to deal with diversity, which, as a scientific concept, has proved immensely relevant in helping researchers understand anything from ecosystems and natural habitats to cities and culture. Here, we develop a first method to quantify and map urban diversity. Our article begins with a concrete example through which we demonstrate how to apply a basic version of our method to create a diversity map for a given urban area. This map is easy to interpret and can be used to accurately locate the most diverse centers of urban activity. We then go on to show how our basic method can be expanded to quantify many different types of urban diversity, and how it can be used to create regional and global diversity maps. Such diversity maps are relevant in both studying diversity and modeling the dynamics of diversification in urban environments. We conclude the article by making a bridge to other scientific disciplines, and by proposing six key steps that may serve as a foundation for a general framework for the evaluation and mapping of diversity across all fields of science.

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Section: Diversity Index and Scale Of The Analysissupporting

confidence: 65%

Section: Diversity Index and Scale Of The Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping diversity: from ecology and human geography to urbanism and culture

Baciu

Birchall

et al. 2022

SN Soc Sci

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“…Fisher 1943, Yule 1944, Simpson 1949, Hirschmann 1945, Nowak et al 1990, Baciu 2020, Baciu & Birchall 2021. 6 Nowak & May 2000.…”

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confidence: 99%

Causal models, creativity, and diversity

Baciu¹

2021

Preprint

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Causality applies everywhere, and it is hard even to imagine a world in which it does not. Yet, one must acknowledge that life also is creative and diverse. Un-der these circumstances, the question emerges whether causal models can ex-plain life's creativity and diversity. Some life scientists say yes, yet many hu-manities scholars cast doubts or have posited that they have reached the end of theory. Here, I build on common empirical observations as well as long-accumulated modeling experience, and I review and further develop a unified framework for causal modeling that applies to all sciences including physics, biology, the sciences of the city, and the humanities.

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“…The theory of cultural life that I proposed in my recent article in the journal BioSystems explains just this process of diversification. 20 With this theory in mind, historians need no longer to imagine Giedion and Zevi as antipodes. Historians need no longer stage animosities between them and illustrate their fights with excruciating close-ups.…”

Section: Diversificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Questions and a myriad answers: Coming together and drifting apart in the historical sciences

Baciu¹

2020

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There is no end to the questions you can ask, and no end to the answers you can give. Where then, in this space of endless possibilities, can research begin; and how can researchers be expected to reach any consensus on what are useful question-answer-pairs? This present article recounts the story of Sigfried Giedion and Bruno Zevi. Space, Time and Architecture, a book printed at Harvard University ties the fates of the two Europeans. Giedion is the author, Zevi is a reader surrounded by a transatlantic group of followers. Initially a strong promoter of Giedion's book, Zevi later changed his mind and went on to propose his own, divergent theory of space and architecture. Zevi and Giedion's story of coming together and drifting apart is not unique. We all live in a world in which ideas spread and diversify as people search for questions and a myriad answers.

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Cultural life: Theory and empirical testing

Cited by 9 publications

References 22 publications

Mapping diversity: from ecology and human geography to urbanism and culture

Mapping diversity: from ecology and human geography to urbanism and culture

Causal models, creativity, and diversity

Questions and a myriad answers: Coming together and drifting apart in the historical sciences

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