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The compound interest effect: Why cultural evolution is not niche construction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2001

Eric Saidel
Eric Saidel
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, LA 70504-3770 saidel@usl.edu www.ucs.usl.edu/~ejs4839
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Abstract

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Laland et al. rightly observe that the pressures affecting the evolution of a trait include the previous effects the trait has had on the environment. Ignoring this would be like ignoring the effect of compound interest: a distortion, not a simplification. However, cultural evolution is not niche construction. In niche construction one mechanism has effects over multiple paths. Cultural evolution involves the effects of several mechanisms.

Information

Type
Brief Report
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , February 2000 , pp. 158 - 159
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press