The Acceleration of Cultural Change: From Ancestors to Algorithms

by Michael J. O'Brien and R. Alexander Bentley

Book Overview

How culture evolves through algorithms rather than knowledge inherited from ancestors.

From our hunter-gatherer days, we humans evolved to be excellent throwers, chewers, and long-distance runners. We are highly social, crave Paleolithic snacks, and display some gendered difference resulting from mate selection. But we now find ourselves binge-viewing, texting while driving, and playing Minecraft. Only the collective acceleration of...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262036959
• ISBN13: 9780262036955
• Release Date: August 2017
• Publisher: MIT Press
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.7" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher