Daily Archives: August 4, 2017

Biology Professor Marcus Feldman, director of the Morrison Institute for Population and Resource Studies, is a pioneer in the field of cultural evolution. (Image credit: L.A. Cicero)

In 1973, Marcus Feldman, professor of biology, and L.L. Cavalli-Sforza, professor emeritus of genetics, published a paper that went on to inspire an entire subdiscipline of cultural anthropology, which applies models inspired by ideas from population genetics to cultural change. In it, the Stanford professors originated a quantitative theory of cultural evolution that described how cultural traits of parents can get passed on to kids.

We draw analogies with biological evolution where things that happen in one part of the genome can often influence whats happening in another part of the genome, said Feldman. In the same way, things that vary in one part of the culture-ome can influence or determine patterns of variation in other parts of the culture-ome.

Last fall Feldman and colleagues from the University of St. Andrews (Scotland) and the University of California, Irvine, led a colloquium on current research in cultural evolution, how cultural evolution and biological evolution overlap, and why this is an important field. That colloquium resulted in several papers, published in the July 25 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Feldman discussed these topics with Stanford News Service:

What is cultural evolution?

Its the change over time in characteristics of human behavior that can be learned and transmitted from person to person. They can be behavioral traits such as attitudes or norms or ethics or values or use of implements. As in biological evolution, the prevalence of these characteristics can change over time, but unlike most genetic evolution, the rate of change can be very fast, even within a generation.

For example, following the implementation of the fertility control program in China, there was a rapid decline in the number of children that people had, but in early surveys the desired number of children was still about three. Now, the cultural environment has changed so that, for the majority of people, the desired number of children is two or less. It took maybe one generation for that to happen. At the same time, attitudes toward the desirability of having a son did not change and thats why the sex ratio has been so extreme. There was a deeper cultural proclivity, related to carrying on the family name or who can perform rituals when youre buried, and those norms have been much slower to change.

How is cultural evolution different from biological evolution?

The main places where its different is in the transmission mechanism. When Cavalli-Sforza and I wrote our book on cultural evolution 36 years ago, we distinguished three main modes of transmission. One is learning from your parents, which would be very conservative in terms of rates of change. Examples are religious attitudes and political preferences.

The second mode of transmission is what you might learn from your peers. This might be literature or entertainment preferences, attitudes toward food or clothing preferences.

And then we differentiated a third, which refers to those beliefs or behaviors or attitudes that are transmitted by non-parents who are members of an older generation; teachers, for instance.

Is there a clear distinction between what we would consider cultural versus biological evolution?

There was quite a bit of discussion in the meeting about this question. After centuries of asking questions about what is genetic and what is learned and what is imposed, the question is not fully resolved.

For example, one of the things we know is passed on culturally and does not get transmitted through the genes is language. But, it may be that the rapidity with which we learn it or the fluency which we eventually achieve has to do with some parts of our biological makeup.

I think there is no such thing as determination by nurture or nature. The analogy that I like to use is this: A trait is like the area of a rectangle and only knowing one side only the genetics or only the culture doesnt tell you very much about the area.

What has your research focused on?

Right now, were working on figuring out what kinds of cultural advantage would have been necessary for the modern humans to replace Neanderthals. Oren Kolodny, a postdoctoral research fellow in my group, has been working on whether just the migration alone out of Africa would be enough. We also developed models that frame the competition like you would between two species only instead of the competition being based on some resource, like a food, its based on culture. That kind of mathematical model of the spread of modern humans has a lot of similarities with questions that come up in the physics of spatial diffusion, and William Gilpin, a graduate student in applied physics, is collaborating on this together with some wonderful Japanese colleagues.

Other research with Nicole Creanza, a former postdoctoral research fellow of mine now on the faculty of Vanderbilt University, compared genomic variation around the world with phonemic variation around the world the sounds that people make. We turned each language into a series of 1s and 0s based on whether or not they contained certain sounds; every language was a long string of 0s and 1s, and we looked for the patterns of similarities and differences between them. We came to the conclusion that you cant say one is the cause of the other but you could say the geography is the cause of both.

Ive also worked with anthropologist Melissa Brown to study marriage preferences in Taiwan and how they changed due to the prohibition by the Japanese in 1915 of foot binding. Before the ban, the Han Chinese did not want to marry into the aboriginal community because the aboriginesdidnt bind the feet of their women. We showed that there was a very rapid change in marriage customs following the ban on foot binding. One cultural change had a dramatic effect on another, apparently unrelated, aspect of culture.

Why is understanding cultural evolution important?

Worldwide, one of the important things that we can say is that making a cultural change in one area can have important cultural effects on other attitudes and behaviors. For example, prioritizing education for women in Kerala, India, led to them desiring fewer children and investing more effort in those children. Advertising the dangers of cigarettes led to a cultural shift in how people regard smoking.

I think one of the major reasons why China recently changed the fertility policy in the last couple years was that economic and sociocultural changes had reduced the desired number of children. It was also recognized that a pronounced shortage of women would affect the birth rate and population aging, thereby decreasing the available labor in 20 or 30 years. Those kinds of mathematical and statistical projections, if theyre taken seriously by policymakers, can affect and potentially improve the human condition. I think thats one of the significant things we do.

In PNAS, there are several papers about whether animals have cultural transmission. What are people discussing on this topic?

Naturally, if youre an evolutionist, you would want to know: Is there some kind of continuity between animal culture through to what we think of as human culture?

It appears there is cultural transmission of some animal behaviors. Some traits, such as whale songs and certain feeding styles, are correlated between relatives and over geography. In the chimpanzee, there may be up to about 40 different traits that have been identified as potentially being called cultural, but the thing about them is that they dont appear to accumulate. Doubt also seems to exist as to whether theyre actively being taught, whether young individuals are actually learning from their mothers and are then able to teach others.

The PNAS collection has an excellent review of anatomical and potentially cognitive evolution of cumulative culture from a neuroscience perspective. Another paper in the collection focuses on transmission of foraging techniques in songbirds. Even insects may have cultural transmission: Some bees are apparently able to learn to do totally uncharacteristic tasks by watching other bees that can do these unnatural things.

Overall, there appears to be a marked gap between what the scholars believe is animal culture and what we know about human culture. The papers in this collection discuss this problem of accumulation and how one would recognize it.

Feldman is director of the Morrison Institute for Population and Resource Studies; co-director of the Stanford Center for Computational, Evolutionary and Human Genomics; a member of Stanford Bio-X, the Stanford Cancer Institute and the Stanford Neurosciences Institute; and an affiliate of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.

The Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium Extension of Biology Through Culture was held in November 2016. It was funded by the John Templeton Foundation and the Stanford Center for Computational, Evolutionary and Human Genomics.

See the original post here:

Q&A with Stanford's Marcus Feldman on the extension of biology through culture - Stanford University News

Pro Evolution Soccer creators Konami aim to incentivise theircustomers who pre-order by allowing them to play as the Jamaican sprinter.

The eight-time Olympic gold medallist Boltcan be used in-game if you buy it ahead of its release in September, Konami have now confirmed.

The keen Manchester United fan, who is due to retire after the World Athletic Championships in London this weekend,hasregularly spoken of his desireto transition to football, with Borussia Dortmund CEOHans-Joachim Watzke confirming last year that the Bundesliga club would allow the 30-year-old to train with them.

But for now, you can play with him virtually when PES 2018 launches next month.

Bolt said: "I love football and have played PES for as long as I can remember;it's the best football game there is,and it's a great honour to be a part of it and its success.

"When the opportunity arose to be a player in PES 2018, it was too good to be true.

"Having my face and movements scanned for use in the game was a fascinating process and I hope those who pre-order the game make full use of my pace and skill."

We're confident his pace stats will more than do the job.

In Other News... on FourFourTwo.com

See the article here:

Usain Bolt is going to be in Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 - FourFourTwo

PERTH (miningweekly.com) Gold miner Evolution Mining will subscribe for A$2.5-million in the upcoming initial public offering (IPO) of gold explorer Riversgold.

Riversgold, which is led by Doray Minerals founder Allan Kelly and former Sirius Resources executive director Jeff Foster, is looking to build a portfolio of mineral projects through exploration and acquisition.

Initial projects in the portfolio include properties in Western Australia, South Australia and Alaska, as well as mineral licence applications in Cambodia.

Evolution VP for discovery Glen Masterman said on Friday that forming a partnership with exploration companies that had a strong technical team and strategy, aligned with Evolution in an important part of the companys discovery programme.

Evolutions investment in Riversgold is consistent with this objective, he said.

Riversgold is hoping to raise a minimum of A$5-million and up to A$8-million through its IPO, and was expected to list on the ASX in the December quarter.

Depending on the actual amount raised, Evolution will hold between 13.6% and 16.2% of the companys total issued share capital following the IPO.

Read more here:

Evolution takes stake in Riversgold IPO - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly

The "where were you when you heard JFK had been shot?"moment in recent Scottish politics came on September 6, 2014. It was then, 12 days before the nation made its decision on independence, that YouGov produced a poll putting the Yes campaign ahead for the first time.

The lead was slender, just 51-49, but its hard to overstate the trauma it caused Unionists. Until then, few of us had taken seriously the idea that the nation might actually vote the UK out of existence. The Yessers had spent months dancing and chanting and painting saltires on their cheeks in Glasgows George Square which they renamed "Freedom Square" and Alex Salmond had belligerently insisted it was going to happen in that dead-eyed Kray Twin way of his, but it all seemed rooted in wishful thinking, a confidence trick they would say that, wouldnt they?

The science and the facts were on our side. We hadnt felt the need to make a psychological accommodation with the possibility.

That poll changed everything. We had, in effect, been given a week and a halfs notice that our country could be taken away from us. Despite the empty platitudes and dodgy statistics that had poured from the mouths of SNP politicians throughout the campaign, the very obvious economic, cultural and diplomatic shocks that would follow, the lack of a credible plan for the aftermath, it might be on. Many English readers will have found the decision to leave the EU and its aftermath tough going - for Scottish Unionists, a Yes vote would have been like a hurricane to Brexits stiff breeze.

By the time September 18 rolled around we had all calmed down a bit. The polls showed the the Union would almost certainly prevail. But that stout certainty had gone, and in truth it has never returned. I suspect it never will. The existence of the UK feels contingent, its ties transactional rather than emotional, our identity an ongoing negotiation. The independence debate refuses to die, while the separatists continue to dominate civic life and gnaw away at the bonds. Who knows how this ends, but many No voters will admit privately that theyve made the necessary psychological accommodation. I know I certainly have: the world wouldnt end, the sun would still come up, wed manage.

As the newly published British Election Study (BES) shows, those two big referendums on the UKs future arrangements, those big calls on who we are and whether we should stay or go, have remade the electoral weather. In Scotland, their outcomes have interacted with one another, as if in some constitutional petri dish, rewiring the electorates thought patterns, rerouting their voting habits and upsetting traditional allegiances.

In an article, BES team members Chris Prosser and Ed Fieldhouse say: "In the space of three general elections [between 2010 and 2017], the Scottish party system has been completely transformed. The SNP moved from third place to first Labour has fallen from first to third, and the Conservatives have risen from fourth to second. The last few years of Scottish politics have a clear tale to tell: referendums that cut across party lines can lead to major disturbances in the party system."

The study finds that among those who voted Yes to independence and to Remain in the EU, nine out of 10 backed the SNP in Junes general election. But among those who voted Yes and then Leave, four in 10 who had voted SNP in the 2015 election switched to another party in 2017.

No/Remain voters had predominantly backed Labour in 2015 but in June around one in five of them switched to the Tories. Ruth Davidsons more liberal Conservatism and her staunch support for the Union also attracted around a third of 2015 Liberal Democrat voters. Among No/Leave voters, Davidsons party scooped up around half of Labours 2015 support, 60% of Liberal Democrats and most Ukip supporters.

As Prosser and Fieldhouse write: It is not hard to see how the referendums on Scottish independence and the UKs membership of the EU have been the catalyst for these changes.

Its also not hard to see the fragility of these new voter coalitions. Davidsons charisma and nous might hold the resurgent Tory vote together for a while, but can she really please Yes and No and Leave and Remain supporters for long? As the prospect of a second indyref seems to recede, will Yes voters who abandoned the Nats in June give up on their dream of a separate Scottish state? If Jeremy Corbyns Labour continues its momentum, why wouldnt Kezia Dugdale benefit from the shift in the public mood?If the consequences of Brexit bite, can the Scottish Tories hope to escape public ire?

In short, nothing has been resolved and those "major disturbances"will play out for a long time to come. The summer break has been a useful pause for the party leaders and their teams, allowing them to gain some perspective, gather their thoughts and plan their tactics for when recess ends in September. But the complexity of the times means they will be playing multi-dimensional chess. It would be nice to think that we will spend the autumn having a serious debate about reforms to Scotlands struggling schools and how to inject greater dynamism into our economy. Sadly, its more likely that, like a migraine, independence and Brexit will continue to dominate.

More:

The evolution of "cuck" shows that different far-right groups are learning the same language - New Statesman

To continue the theme of innovation versus truth and beauty, I present to you, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs. This new opera by Mason Bates had its world premiere at Santa Fe Opera on Saturday, July 22.

With Anne Aikiko Meyers

Yes, an opera about Steve Jobs. However, the title couldnt just be Steve Jobs they had to give us that artistic play on words (R)evolution. I hate it already. How good can it possibly be with a title such as that?

On Night of Too Many Stars, 2012

There are no clips of the music available but having listened to several other pieces by Mason Bates I have an idea of what to expect. If you like sound effects then you will like what Mason Bates does.

"Check out this cool sound. Now check out this cool sound. Here's another one. Have I blown your mind or what?"

I can say that his violin concerto shows promise but is in a constant state of distraction. Can someone please write something that is "on the beat" half the time? It's all monotonously off the beat. After a while one can only scream, "What's the point?"

This constant rhythmic masturbation is my main hang-up with modern music. There is no flow. Perhaps that is an accurate reflection of our current age of distraction which has been brought about primarily by the iPhone.

In one way, Bates is doing what Jobs did. Bates combines an orchestra with electronica and uses this to fuel his invention. Jobs took existing idioms and had them combined in order to create invention.

While were on the topic, lets be clear that Jobs is in the same vein as Thomas Edison not Nikola Tesla. Edison did not invent the lightbulb, the movie projector, or several other technologies such as the battery.

This quote from Inventions Edison did not make sums it up perfectly. Thomas Edison himself did not invent major breakthroughs. He often took credit for the ideas and inventions of others and most of his patents were little more than improvements on already existing products. He was an astute businessman, and as such, had greater impact on innovating existing products than inventing new ones.

The same can be said of Steve Jobs. If we take away his perceived creative genius, is Jobs worthy of an opera? He was incredible at executing ideas or rather keeping an entire company focused on the central idea but his leadership style was less than inspiring.

From what I've read of the reviews from Santa Fe, the story is non-linear and takes place over the course of 18 vignettes in the space of 85 minutes. The show reportedly gives us no further insights into the man or the milieu in which he existed.

The 85 minutes is the perfect length for an iPhone toting audience but feels short given the scope of the narrative which covers the entirety of Jobs' life. If we look to operas which have remained in play over the years, there are no biographies.

An opera completely dedicated to the struggle between the ideologies of Jobs and Wozniak in their early years could have been quite compelling. Woz is the Tesla to Jobs' Edison.

My response here is strangely negative for a show I've never seen. Ive been long-winded about my disappointment in most contemporary musical efforts and it feels as though Im looking for faults. I am looking for something of true stature.

San Francisco Opera will be producing it during their 2019-2020 season. The Santa Fe shows have been sold out and additional performances are being considered. Given the religious stature of Jobs in the Bay Area, tickets to the San Francisco Opera will be hard to come by.

I'm guessing by that point there will be an iPhone-augmented reality app to go with the production.

Follow this link:

The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs - San Diego Reader