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A long view of cumulative technological culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2020

Michael J. O'Brien Open the ORCID record for Michael J. O'Brien [Opens in a new window]  and
R. Alexander Bentley
Michael J. O'Brien
Affiliation:
Department of Communication, History, and Philosophy, Texas A&M University–San Antonio, San Antonio, TX78224mike.obrien@tamusa.edu
R. Alexander Bentley
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN37996. rabentley@utk.edu
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Abstract

We agree that the emergence of cumulative technological culture was tied to nonsocial cognitive skills, namely, technical-reasoning skills, which allowed humans to constantly acquire and improve information. Our concern is with a reading of the history of cumulative technological culture that is based largely on modern experiments in simulated settings and less on phenomena crucial to the long-term dynamics of cultural evolution.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 43 , 2020 , e174
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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