Intervening in evolution: Ethics and actions

Biologists should help to guide a process of cultural evolution in which society determines how much effort, if any, is ethically required to preserve options in biological evolution. Evolutionists, conservation biologists, and ecologists should be doing more research to determine actions that would best help to avoid foreclosing evolutionary options.

Piaci rend és társadalmi normák. Hayek elmélete a társadalmi evolúcióról (Market order and social norms Hayek's theory of social evolution)

A hayeki szociokulturális evolúció elmélete a piaci rend elemzésének általánosítása. Hayek mind a piaci rend, mind a piaci rend alapzatául szolgáló társadalmi intézmények kialakulását és működését azonos logika alapján magyarázza. Ez a logika az egyéni cselekvések nem szándékolt következményeként értelmezi a spontán rend és a csoportszintű magatartásszabályok kialakulását és fennmaradását. A társadalmi normák magyarázatában a módszertani individualizmus elveinek érvényesítéséért az evolucionista perspektíva feladásával kellene fizetni. Hayek azonban a társadalmi normák magyarázatára is az evolucionista megközelítést alkalmazza, ezért egészíti ki a módszertani individualista megközelítést funkcionalista-evolucionista érvekkel. A szociokulturális evolúció hayeki elmélete példa arra, hogy a módszertani individualizmusra épülő magyarázat és a funkcionalista érvelés nem kiszorítja, hanem kiegészíti egymást. _____ Hayek's theory of socio-cultural evolution is a generalization of his theory of market order. He explains in the same way the development and operation of market order and those of the social institutions on which market order is based. This logic interprets the development and persistence of spontaneous order and group-level behaviour rules as an unintentional consequence of individual actions. In his explanation of social norms, enforcement of the principles of methodological individualism has to be paid for by abandoning the evolutionist perspective. But Hayek also employs an evolutionist approach in his explanation of social norms, and so he augments his methodological individualist approach with some functionalist-cum-evolutionist arguments. Hayek's theory of sociocultural evolution, for instance, exemplifies how an explanation resting on methodological individualism and a functionalist argument can complement, not preclude each other.

Multilevel processes and cultural adaptation: examples from past and present small-scale societies

The last two decades have seen a proliferation of research frameworks that emphasise the importance of understanding adaptive processes that happen at different levels. We contribute to this growing body of literature by exploring how cultural (mal)adaptive dynamics relate to multilevel social-ecological processes occurring at different scales, where the lower levels combine into new units with new organizations, functions, and emergent properties or collective behaviors. After a brief review of the concept of “cultural adaptation” from the perspective of cultural evolutionary theory, the core of the paper is constructed around the exploration of multilevel processes occurring at the temporal, spatial, social, and political scales. We do so by using insights from cultural evolutionary theory and by examining small-scale societies as case studies. In each section, we discuss the importance of the selected scale for understanding cultural adaptation and then present an example that illustrates how multilevel processes in the selected scale help explain observed patterns in the cultural adaptive process. The last section of the paper discusses the potential of modeling and computer simulation for studying multilevel processes in cultural adaptation. We conclude by highlighting how elements from cultural evolutionary theory might enrich the multilevel process discussion in resilience theory.

Animal helminths in human archaeological remains: a review of zoonoses in the past

The authors present a review of records of intestinal parasitic helminths from animals in human archaeological remains, reported since the emergence of paleopathological studies. The objective was to relate paleoparasitological findings to geographic, biotic, and abiotic factors from the environment in which the prehistoric populations lived, and understand some aspects related to the process of human dispersion and biological and cultural evolution. Modification of eating habits and the incorporation of new cultural practices are analyzed from the perspective of zoonoses from prehistory to the present day, especially in Brazilian indigenous populations. Three tables identifying the helminths, their natural hosts, dates, and sites of archaeological findings complete this review. In conclusion, various zoonoses known today have occurred since antiquity, and these data, combined with studies on the emergence and reemergence of diseases, could make possible to compose scenarios for the future.

La convivencia con los cyborgs y los robots: Consideraciones filosóficas, ético-morales y sociopolíticas

In this work, we present the cultural evolution that has allowed to overcome many problems derived from the limitations of the human body. These limitations have been solved by a"cyborization" process that began since early anthropogenesis. Originally, it was envisioned to deal with some diseases, accidents or body malfunctions. Nowadays, augmentations improve common human capabilities; one of the most notable is the increase of brain efficiency by using connections with a computer. A basic social question also addressed is which people will and should have access to these augmentations. Advanced humanoid robots (with human external aspect, artificial intelligence and even emotions) already exist and consequently a number of questions arise. For instance, will robots be considered living organisms? Could they be considered as persons? Will we confer the human status to robots? These questions are discussed. Our conclusions are that the advanced humanoid robots display some actions that may be considered as life-like, yet different to the life associated with living organisms, also, to some extend they could be considered as persons-like, but not humans.

Reflexiones sobre los cyborgs y los robots: evolucion humana y aumentacion

The human being has changed in time due to both, biological and cultural evolution. In a first step, biological evolution was the cornerstone of the changes in our species. However, cultural evolution was also a key element producing adaptations that allowed the evolution of modern human being. These adaptations include aspects as different as clothing, tools, reading and writing, calculation and some forms of rudimentary prosthesis. Technoscience has enhanced these adaptations that conduce to the concept of broad-sense cyborg. Present human society includes a huge proportion of these latter individuals. In this article we discuss this reality and the future of our society based on the interconnections between humans, cyborgs and robots.

Conflits politiques et réseaux sociaux au XVIIIe siècle

Abstract: On Sunday 1745-8-29 a small upheaval occurred in Bagnes, a rather marginal mountain valley in the Swiss Alps, against the abbot of St-Maurice, the local feudal lord. In our perspective, this movement was nothing but one element in a long-term struggle, carried out by a stable and quite well organized political faction. The detailed analysis of the conflicts, of their protagonists as well as an analysis of the mobilization networks allows to highlight crucial aspects of local political life and reveals the active role of working classes. The micro-historical approach leads to some conclusions which challenge classical interpretation of pre-modern rural revolts. The case of Bagnes sheds light on the active and innovative character of popular politics, still underestimated in studies about pre-modern rural societies. The participants in the struggle against the abbot had a political program which was not limited to the quest for local autonomy. They fought for an opening of local corporations and a weakening of the control mechanism, for economic, political and cultural evolution of their valley. Bagnes rebels were decidedly "innovative rebels" Résumé: Le dimanche 29 août 1745, une petite émeute éclate à Bagnes, une vallée marginale des Alpes suisses, contre le seigneur, l'abbé de St-Maurice. Dans notre perspective, cette révolte n'est qu'un élément d'une lutte de longue haleine, pendant laquelle l'opposition au seigneur représente une partie active et bien organisée du conflit. L'analyse détaillée des protagonistes des luttes politiques, ainsi que des réseaux sociaux qui influencent la mobilisation, permet de mieux comprendre les dynamiques d'organisation de la vie politique locale et le rôle actif des couches populaires. Cette perspective autorise quelques conclusions, qui remettent en question les interprétations classiques des révoltes rurales d'Ancien Régime. Dans le cas de Bagnes, le caractère actif et novateur de la « politique populaire » encore négligé dans les études sur la période moderne, apparaît évident. Les protagonistes de la lutte contre l'abbé soutiennent un projet politique qui ne se réduit pas à une autonomie maximale de la région. Au contraire, ils prônent une ouverture des corporations locales, une transformation des structures économiques, politiques et culturelles de la vallée. Les émeutiers du Châble étaient décidément des « rebelles-novateurs ».

The handaxe and the microscope: individual and social learning in a multidimensional model of adaptation

When individuals learn by trial-and-error, they perform randomly chosen actions and then reinforce those actions that led to a high payoff. However, individuals do not always have to physically perform an action in order to evaluate its consequences. Rather, they may be able to mentally simulate actions and their consequences without actually performing them. Such fictitious learners can select actions with high payoffs without making long chains of trial-and-error learning. Here, we analyze the evolution of an n-dimensional cultural trait (or artifact) by learning, in a payoff landscape with a single optimum. We derive the stochastic learning dynamics of the distance to the optimum in trait space when choice between alternative artifacts follows the standard logit choice rule. We show that for both trial-and-error and fictitious learners, the learning dynamics stabilize at an approximate distance of root n/(2 lambda(e)) away from the optimum, where lambda(e) is an effective learning performance parameter depending on the learning rule under scrutiny. Individual learners are thus unlikely to reach the optimum when traits are complex (n large), and so face a barrier to further improvement of the artifact. We show, however, that this barrier can be significantly reduced in a large population of learners performing payoff-biased social learning, in which case lambda(e) becomes proportional to population size. Overall, our results illustrate the effects of errors in learning, levels of cognition, and population size for the evolution of complex cultural traits. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Enabling Change in Universities: Enhancing Education for Sustainable Development with Tools for Quality Assurance

Enabling Change in Universities: Enhancing Education for Sustainable Development with Tools for Quality Assurance This thesis deals with enabling change in universities, more explicitly enhancing education for sustainable development with tools for quality assurance. Change management is a discipline within management that was developed in the 1980s because business changed from being predictable to unpredictable. The PEST mnemonic is a method to categorize factors enabling change; such as political, economic, socio-cultural and technological factors, which all affect higher education. A classification of a change, in either hard or soft, can help understanding the type of change that an organization is facing. Hard changes are more applied to problems that have clear objectives and indicators, with a known cause of the problem. Soft changes are applied to larger problems that affect the entire organization or beyond it. The basic definition for sustainable development is: the future generations should have similar opportunities as the previous. The UN has set as a global goal an integration of education for sustainable development (ESD) at all levels of education during 2005- 2014. The goal is set also in universities, the graduates of which are future leaders for all labor markets. The objective for ESD in higher education is that graduates obtain the competence to take economic, social and environmental costs and benefits into account when making decisions. Knowledge outcomes should aim for systematic and holistic thinking, which requires cross disciplinary education. So far, the development of ESD has not achieved its goals. The UN has identified a need for more transdisclipnary research in ESD. A joint global requirement for universities is quality assurance, the aim of which is to secure and improve teaching and learning. Quality, environmental and integrated management systems are used by some universities for filling the quality assurance requirements. The goal of this thesis is to open up new ways for enhancing ESD in universities, beyond the forerunners; by exploring how management systems could be used as tools for promoting ESD. The thesis is based on five studies. In the first study, I focus on if and how tools for quality assurance could be benefitted for promoting ESD. It is written from a new perspective, the memetic, for reaching a diversity of faculty. A meme is an idea that diffuses from brain to brain. It can be applied for cultural evolution. It is a theory that is based on the evolutionary theory by Darwin, applied for social sciences. In the second Paper, I present the results from the development of the pilot process model for enhancing ESD with management systems. The development of the model is based on a study that includes earlier studies, a survey in academia and an analysis of the practice in 11 universities in the Nordic countries. In the third study, I explore if the change depends on national culture or if it is global. It is a comparative study on both policy and implementation level, between the Nordic countries and China. The fourth study is a single case study based on change management. In this study, I identify what to consider in order to enable the change: enhancing ESD with tools for quality assurance in universities. In the fifth Paper, I present the results of the process model for enhancing ESD with management systems. The model was compared with identified drivers and barriers for enhancing ESD and for implementing management systems. Finally, the process model was piloted and applied for identifying sustainability aspects in curricula. Action research was chosen as methodology because there are not already implemented approaches using quality management for promoting ESD, why the only way to study this is to make it happen. Another reason for choosing action research is since it is essential to involve students and faculty for enhancing ESD. Action based research consists of the following phases: a) diagnosing, b) planning action, c) taking action and d) evaluating action. This research was made possible by a project called Education for Sustainable Development in Academia in the Nordic countries, ESDAN, in which activities were divided into these four phases. Each phase ended with an open seminar, where the results of the study were presented. The objective for the research project was to develop a process for including knowledge in sustainable development in curricula, which could be used in the quality assurance work. Eleven universities from the Nordic countries cooperated in the project. The aim was, by applying the process, to identify and publish examples of relevant sustainability aspects in different degree programs in universities in the Nordic countries. The project was partly financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers and partly by the participating pilot universities. Based on the results of my studies, I consider that quality, environmental and integrated management systems can be used for promoting ESD in universities. Relevant sustainability aspects have been identified in different fields of studies by applying the final process model. The final process model was compared with drivers and barriers for enhancing ESD and for implementing management systems in universities and with succeeding with management systems in industry. It corresponds with these, meaning that drivers are taken into account and barriers tackled. Both ESD and management systems in universities could be considered successful memes, which can reflect an effective way of communication among individuals. I have identified that management systems could be used as tools for hard changes and to support the soft change of enhancing ESD in universities with management system. Based on the change management study I have summarized recommendations on what to consider in order to enable the studied change. The main practical implications of the results are that the process model could be applied for assessment, benchmarking and communication of ESD, connected to quality assurance, when applied. This is possible because the information can be assembled in one picture, which facilitates comparison. The memetic approach can be applied for structuring. It is viable to make comparative studies between cultures, for getting insight in special characteristics of the own culture. Action based research is suitable for involving faculty. Change management can be applied for planning a change, which both enhancing ESD and developing management systems are identified to be.

L’analogie de l’hérédité culturelle : fondements conceptuels de la théorie de la double hérédité

Selon la théorie de la double hérédité, les processus de transmission sociale des connaissances permettraient aux cultures humaines d'évoluer de manière darwinienne. On parvient à cette conclusion en inférant que, étant donné qu'une analogie profonde peut être établie entre les mécanismes de transmission génétique et ceux de transmission sociale, on devrait non seulement concevoir que les processus cognitifs d'apprentissage social constituent bel et bien un système d'hérédité distinct du système d'hérédité génétique, mais qu’il est aussi légitime, sur la base de cette même analogie, de transférer les concepts explicatifs et outils formels issus de la biologie évolutionnaire et de les adapter à l'étude des cultures humaines en vue de constituer une théorie darwinienne de l'évolution culturelle. Cette analogie de l’hérédité culturelle fait depuis longtemps l'objet de controverses tant au sein de la littérature scientifique que dans les discussions philosophiques. On ne semble pas s'entendre sur la nature même de cette analogie ni non plus sur la force de justification épistémique qu'une telle analogie donnerait à la mise en place d'une théorie darwinienne de l'évolution culturelle. Néanmoins, à travers plus de quarante années de débats, la structure de cette analogie n'a jamais été examinée en détail et on a rarement examiné l'épistémologie des inférences par analogie dans un tel contexte. L'objectif principal de la présente thèse consistera à offrir une première analyse systématique de la nature, de la structure, de la fonction et de la justification épistémique de l'analogie de l'hérédité culturelle, fondement conceptuel de la théorie de la double hérédité. En portant ici une attention particulière à la structure logique de cette analogie, on pourra constater l'ampleur de sa complexité, complexité passant souvent inaperçue dans les critiques de la théorie de la double hérédité. On défendra ici la thèse selon laquelle l'analogie de l'hérédité culturelle est en fait composée de deux analogies constitutives qui, conjointement, ouvrent la voie à la mise en place et à l’organisation d’un programme de recherche visant à mettre au point une théorie darwinienne de l’évolution culturelle.

Évolution et transmission des savoir-faire céramiques au cours du Sylvicole (-1000 à 1550 de notre ère) : la station 3-avant de Pointe-du-Buisson (BhFl-1d), Haut-Saint-Laurent, Québec.

La station 3-avant de Pointe-du-Buisson (Beauharnois, Haut-Saint-Laurent, Québec) représente la plus importante collection de récipients de terre cuite datant du Sylvicole moyen ancien (-400 à 500 de notre ère) dans le Nord-Est américain. De plus, on trouve sur ce site une série continue d’occupations couvrant l’ensemble de la période Sylvicole. En dépit de complications d’ordre stratigraphique (terreau homogène et pédoturbations), des concepts et des méthodes évolutionnaires tirés de la théorie de l’hérédité duelle sont appliqués à l’étude de cet assemblage. D’un point de vue anthropologique, que nous apprend l’étude de l’évolution et de la transmission des savoir-faire d’une technologie que nous assumons exclusivement féminine au cours de la période Sylvicole? L’auteur défend que l’archéologie évolutionnaire permet de détecter le contexte de la transmission, c’est-à-dire l’organisation socioéconomique des populations du passé. L’examen des traits stylistiques suggère que la sédentarisation estivale des bandes amérindiennes à partir du Sylvicole moyen tardif favorise une homogénéisation des productions céramiques dans un contexte virilocal qui est la conséquence d’une transmission de type conformiste opérant sur un axe horizontal (entre pairs). Cependant, le passage probable des tribus iroquoiennes à l’uxorilocalité et à la matrilinéarité à la fin du Sylvicole se traduit par une saisissante hétérogénéisation des pots, qui s’explique possiblement par une sélection de marqueurs identitaire d’ordre clanique (transmission verticale entre parents et descendants). L’étude des traits techno-fonctionnels indique une diversification de la vaisselle de terre cuite à mesure que les populations intensifient leurs expériences sur les cultigènes. Dans l’ensemble, cette évolution trahit une attention accrue conférée à la performance des pots en tant que récipients culinaires. Par ailleurs, le concours de la sériation et de datations AMS permet la reconnaisance d’un taxon « Sylvicole moyen moyen » caractérisé par une modification morphologique et décorative des vases. Une enquête comparative portant sur un échantillon de 27 sites archéologiques de l’horizon Pseudo-scallop-shell démontre que la variation populationnelle est structurée en fonction de la localisation des communautés dans un bassin hydrographique spécifique. Par conséquent, l’auteur soumet des pistes en vue de l’élaboration d’une taxonomie robuste et propre au Sylvicole moyen ancien et au Sylvicole moyen moyen. Enfin, des indices de natures diverses (archéologiques, paléoethnobotaniques, ethnolinguistiques, paléoanthropologiques, et d’autres issus de la génétique des populations) suggèrent une identité proto-algonquienne des bandes des deux sous-périodes susmentionnées.

Holocene settlement shifts and paleoenvironments on the Central Iranian Plateau: investigating linked systems

For thousands of years, humans have inhabited locations that are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, earthquakes, and floods. In order to investigate the extent to which Holocene environmental changes may have impacted on cultural evolution, we present new geologic, geomorphic, and chronologic data from the Qazvin Plain in northwest Iran that provides a backdrop of natural environmental changes for the simultaneous cultural dynamics observed on the Central Iranian Plateau. Well-resolved archaeological data from the neighbouring settlements of Zagheh (7170—6300 yr BP), Ghabristan (6215—4950 yr BP) and Sagzabad (4050—2350 yr BP) indicate that Holocene occupation of the Hajiarab alluvial fan was interrupted by a 900 year settlement hiatus. Multiproxy climate data from nearby lakes in northwest Iran suggest a transition from arid early-Holocene conditions to more humid middle-Holocene conditions from c. 7550 to 6750 yr BP, coinciding with the settlement of Zagheh, and a peak in aridity at c. 4550 yr BP during the settlement hiatus. Palaeoseismic investigations indicate that large active fault systems in close proximity to the tell sites incurred a series of large (MW ~7.1) earthquakes with return periods of ~500—1000 years during human occupation of the tells. Mapping and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) chronology of the alluvial sequences reveals changes in depositional style from coarse-grained unconfined sheet flow deposits to proximal channel flow and distally prograding alluvial deposits sometime after c. 8830 yr BP, possibly reflecting an increase in moisture following the early-Holocene arid phase. The coincidence of major climate changes, earthquake activity, and varying sedimentation styles with changing patterns of human occupation on the Hajiarab fan indicate links between environmental and anthropogenic systems. However, temporal coincidence does not necessitate a fundamental causative dependency.

Paradigms in health care and its relationship to the nursing theories: an analytical test

DANTAS, Rodrigo Assis Neves; NÓBREGA, Walkíria Gomes da; MORAIS FILHO, Luiz Alves; MACÊDO, Eurides Araújo Bezerra de ; FONSECA , Patrícia de Cássia Bezerra; ENDERS, Bertha Cruz; MENEZES, Rejane Maria Paiva de; TORRES , Gilson de Vasconcelos. Paradigms in health care and its relationship to the nursing theories: an analytical test . Revista de Enfermagem UFPE on line. v.4,n.2, p.16-24.abr/jun. 2010. Disponível em < http://www.ufpe.br/revistaenfermagem/index.php/revista>.

Cenário e perspectivas para a melhoria do ensino público no Brasil: mídia, cultura e educação

Thinking about improving public education in Brazil means thinking not only on what we wish to develop, skills and abilities in individuals, but understand and clearly identify the type of citizens we are devoloping and what kind of society we want for the future. In this context it is important to note that the practice in the classroom today can not be considered without regard to education steeped in culture and, therefore, in the forms of modern communication. So if there is a crisis in education, it can not be solved only within the classroom. The challenge for school education is to show students within the classroom how they will be out of school. Quality education is a blueprint for the future, to the unknown, to a world we do not know now. In this sense, to direct the education only for the labor market is a mistake, because the market is so today, but may be another in ten or fifteen years. Precisely because we do not know what are the requirements for citizens of the future, we must focus on what is essential in the formation of our youth. Is essential then to understand the ideas, learn to discuss them, argue and learn to recognize the role of technology in social and cultural evolution of mankind.