Culture on the Edge of Chaos: Cultural Algorithms and the Foundations of Social Intelligence (SpringerBriefs in Computer Science)

The author first introduces the basic framework for cultural algorithms and he then explains the social structure of a cultural system as a mechanism for the distribution of problem-solving information throughout a population. Three different models for social organizations are presented: the homogeneous (nuclear family), heterogeneous (expanded family), and subculture (descent groups) social models. The chapters that follow compare the learning capabilities of these social organizations relative to problems of varying complexity. The book concludes with a discussion of how the results can impact our understanding of social evolution. Contents 7 Chapter 1: The Cultural Algorithm: Culture on the Edge of Chaos 9 1.1 Cultural Algorithms: Data-Driven Problem Solving in Complex Systems 9 1.2 Culture as a Problem-Solving Process 10 1.3 The Cultural Engine 14 1.4 Culture on the Edge of Chaos 15 1.5 The Social Organization Models 16 1.6 Organization of the Book 19 Chapter 2: Cultural Algorithm Framework 20 2.1 Introduction 20 2.2 The Cultural Algorithm 21 2.3 The Cultural Algorithm Knowledge Sources 22 2.3.1 Situational Knowledge 22 2.3.2 Normative Knowledge 24 2.3.3 Topographical Knowledge 24 2.3.4 Domain Knowledge 25 2.3.5 History/Temporal Knowledge 26 2.4 The Communication Protocol 27 2.4.1 The Update Function 27 2.4.2 The Acceptance Function 28 2.4.3 The Influence Function 28 2.5 The Population Space 29 2.6 Conclusions 32 Chapter 3: Modeling the Social Fabric 33 3.1 Introduction 33 3.2 Homogeneous Topologies 35 3.3 Heterogeneous Topologies 37 3.4 Subcultured Heterogeneous Topologies 41 3.5 Conclusions 46 Chapter 4: Generating Chaos 47 4.1 Introduction 47 4.2 The Cones World Generator 47 4.3 Conclusions 50 Chapter 5: Social Metrics 51 5.1 Introduction 51 5.2 The Dispersion Metric: Social Tension 52 5.3 The Majority Win Scores and the Innovation Costs 53 5.4 Tracking Problem-Solving Behavior in Terms of the Social Fabric Metrics 54 5.5 Conclusions 57 Chapter 6: The Cultural Engine: Putting Individuals to Work 58 6.1 Knowledge Swarms and Maxwell ́s Demon 58 6.2 The Basic Laws of Thermodynamics 58 6.3 Maxwell ́s Demon 59 6.4 The Cultural Engine 60 6.5 Conclusions 62 Chapter 7: Comparing Nuclear Family and Extended Family Social Organizations 63 7.1 Introduction 63 7.2 Overall Performance Comparison 64 7.3 Learning Curves 68 7.4 t-Tests for Performance Differences 72 7.5 Using Social Metrics to Assess Engine Performance 73 7.6 Conclusions 79 Chapter 8: The Power of Subcultures 81 8.1 Introduction 81 8.2 Overall Performance Comparison 82 8.3 Subcultural Support of Problem Solving Predictability 87 8.4 Statistical Comparison of Subcultures and Homogeneous Using t-Tests 87 8.5 The Statistical Comparison of Subcultures and Heterogeneous Using t-Tests 90 8.6 The Ability of Subcultures to Support Increased Population Size 92 8.7 How Subcultures Impact Cultural Engine Performance in Terms of the Social Metrics 95 8.8 Conclusions 103 Chapter 9: Conclusions and Future Work 105 References 109 Front Matter ....Pages i-viii The Cultural Algorithm: Culture on the Edge of Chaos (Robert G. Reynolds)....Pages 1-11 Cultural Algorithm Framework (Robert G. Reynolds)....Pages 13-25 Modeling the Social Fabric (Robert G. Reynolds)....Pages 27-40 Generating Chaos (Robert G. Reynolds)....Pages 41-44 Social Metrics (Robert G. Reynolds)....Pages 45-51 The Cultural Engine: Putting Individuals to Work (Robert G. Reynolds)....Pages 53-57 Comparing Nuclear Family and Extended Family Social Organizations (Robert G. Reynolds)....Pages 59-76 The Power of Subcultures (Robert G. Reynolds)....Pages 77-100 Conclusions and Future Work (Robert G. Reynolds)....Pages 101-104 Back Matter ....Pages 105-108