Social Learning and Cultural Evolution in Artificial Life

Artif Life. 2018 Winter;24(1):5-9. doi: 10.1162/ARTL_a_00250. Epub 2018 Jan 25.

Abstract

We describe the questions and discussions raised at the First Workshop on Social Learning and Cultural Evolution held at theArtificial Life Conference 2016 in Cancún, Mexico in July 2016. The purpose of the workshop was to assemble artificial life researchers interested in social learning and cultural evolution into one group so that we could focus on recent work and interesting open questions. Our discussion related to both the mechanisms of social learning and cultural evolution and the consequences and influence of social learning and cultural evolution on living systems. We present the contributions of our workshop presenters and conclude with a discussion of the more important open questions in this area.

Keywords: Social learning; collective behavior; cultural evolution; life history evolution; mimicry.

MeSH terms

  • Cultural Evolution*
  • Life
  • Social Learning*
  • Synthetic Biology