#369 Alberto Acerbi: Cultural Evolution in the Digital Age
RECORDED ON AUGUST 3rd, 2020.
Dr. Alberto Acerbi is a Lecturer in Psychology in the Centre for Culture and Evolution at Brunel University London. He is a cognitive/evolutionary anthropologist with a particular interest in computational science. The main question that drives his research is: is it possible to find some general factors determining why some cultural traits succeed and others do not? He is interested in particular in contemporary cultural phenomena, and he uses a naturalistic, quantitative, and evolutionary approach with different methodologies, especially individual-based models and quantitative analysis of large-scale data. He published a book recently, Cultural Evolution in the Digital Age.
In this episode, we focus on Dr. Acerbi’s book, and go through some of its main topics, like the impact of new technologies on cultural evolution; the similarities and differences between online activity and real life; the impact of celebrities and online influencers; echo chambers and political polarization; post-truth; and the opacity of online algorithms. Toward the end, we also discuss theories in cultural evolution.
Time Links:
How can we better understand the impact of modern technology through cultural evolution?
The main differences between new and older communication technologies
Dunbar’s number, and the number of friends we have on social media
Can we also learn about how cultural evolution works in real life by studying online phenomena?
Can these technologies impact the evolution of our cognition?
People are not gullible
The real impact of celebrities and online influencers
People are not that mean on the internet
About echo chambers and political polarization
Are we really living in a post-truth era?
Do we have to worry about the opacity of online algorithms?
About theories in cultural evolution
Follow Dr. Acerbi’s work!
Follow Dr. Acerbi’s work:
Faculty page: https://bit.ly/30kFwIC
Website: https://bit.ly/2Xoj4MR
Articles of Researchgate: https://bit.ly/2Dxp5zD
Cultural Evolution in the Digital Age: https://amzn.to/39QN0Gn
Twitter handle: @acerbialberto