Is the cultural evolution of technology cumulative or combinatorial?

Abstract

Explanations of human technology often point to both its cumulative and combinatorial character. Using a novel computational framework, where individual agents attempt to solve problems by modifying, combining and transmitting technologies in an open-ended search space, this paper re-evaluates two prominent explanations for the cultural evolution of technology: that humans are equipped with (i) social learning mechanisms for minimizing information loss during transmission, and (ii) creative mechanisms for generating novel technologies via combinatorial innovation. Here, both information loss and combinatorial innovation are introduced as parameters in the model, and then manipulated to approximate situations where technological evolution is either more cumulative or combinatorial. Compared to existing models, which tend to marginalize the role of purposeful problem-solving, this approach allows for indefinite growth in complexity while directly simulating constraints from history and computation. The findings show that minimizing information loss is only required when the dynamics are strongly cumulative and characterised by incremental innovation. Contrary to previous findings, when agents are equipped with a capacity for combinatorial innovation, low levels of information loss are neither necessary nor sufficient for populations to solve increasingly complex problems. Instead, higher levels of information loss are advantageous for unmasking the potential for combinatorial innovation. This points to a parsimonious explanation for the cultural evolution of technology without invoking separate mechanisms of stability and creativity.

Cognitive prerequisites for cumulative culture are context-dependent: Children’s potential for ratcheting depends on cue longevity

“…However, based on further modelling work, some authors have proposed that combining information from multiple different models is likely to constitute the main method by which improved trait variants arise (Lewis & Laland, 2012) and that a cultural trait is more likely to become established if it is learnt from multiple models (Enquist et al, 2010). Relatedly, innovation through combination has been proposed to be an important mechanism underlying the evolution of technology (see Winters, 2020, for examination of the importance of this mechanism versus minimisation of information loss through the use of social learning mechanisms).…”

Human cumulative culture and the exploitation of natural phenomena

“…The extended criteria are not essential for the gradual improvement of cultural traits but are often found in paradigmatic cases of human CCE cited in the literature. They include: (i) functional dependence [21,50], (ii) diversification [22,92], and (iii) recombination [32][33][34]36]. A key unresolved question Mesoudi & Thornton discuss is what underlies the distinction between their core and extended criteria?…”

“…Another way by which the exploitation of natural phenomena can promote cultural diversity is by creating combinatorial opportunities. Combination has often been put forward as a mechanism promoting CCE [32][33][34][35][36]. Yet, this notion has been used inconsistently in the literature.…”

Evolved Open-Endedness in Cultural Evolution: A New Dimension in Open-Ended Evolution Research

“…In fact, complexity is more likely to result from the intersection of both. Both formal models (Enquist et al, 2010;Kolodny et al, 2015;Winters, 2020) and cultural evolutionary theory (Buskell et al, 2019;Charbonneau, 2016;Richerson & Boyd, 2005) emphasize the role of cultural recombination as a potent force in generating new innovations: this occurs when distinct cultural traditions (or their constituent elements) are combined, and potentially exapted Figure 1: This figure illustrates our conception of tall and wide evolution. In step 1 (the first row) all possibilities are equiprobable, as they were generated by asking each patch in the field to turn from black to white with equal probability.…”