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Kaplan, F. (2000) Semiotic schemata: Selection units for linguistic cultural evolution. In Bedau, M and McCaskill, J. and Packard, N. and Rasmussen, S., editors, Artificial Life VII. The MIT Press.
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Semiotic schemata:
Selection units for linguistic cultural evolution
Fr’ed’eric Kaplan
Sony CSL ­ Paris ­ 6 Rue Amyot, 75005 Paris
LIP6 ­ UPMC ­ 4, Place Jussieu F­75252 Paris
E­mail: kaplan@csl.sony.fr
Abstract Words, like genes, are replicators in competition to colonize our brains. Some, by luck or thanks to their intrinsic qualities, manage to spread in entire popula­ tions. In this paper we take the approach of cultural selectionism to study the emergence of communica­ tion systems in a population of agents. By studying simple models of word competition in noisy environ­ ments, we define the basic dynamics of such systems. We then argue for their generality and introduce the notion of semiotic schemata, generic replicators that account for the di#erent competitions that are going on during lexicon formation. Eventually, we present a synthesis of the dynamics using this new formalism.
Introduction Genetic and cultural systems can both be seen as complex evolving dynamic architecture. In this paper we will discuss a particular paradigm for understand­ ing the dynamics of cultural systems: selectionism. The comparison between genetic evolution and cul­ tural evolution , popularized by Dawkins's memes, has proved to be fruitful (Dawkins, 1976; Dennett, 1995; Blackmore, 1999). By analogy with genes, Dawkins defines memes, as cultural replicators. Dawkins defines a replicator as ''any entity in the universe which inter­ acts with its world, including other replicators, in such way that copies of itself are made'' (Dawkins, 1984). In genetics, replicators are single genes or fragments of genetic material. Evolutionary genetics study the com­ petition between genetic replicators, how some of them are selected, how some of them disappear. Metaphori­ cally, we can talk about the survival of some replicators and the death of others. From a similar perspective we could say that cultural replicators are in competition to colonize our brains. Like for genetic replicators, ...
BibTex
@inproceedings{kaplan00semioticSchemata,
  author={F. Kaplan},
  title={Semiotic schemata: Selection units for linguistic cultural evolution},
  year={2000},
  editor={Bedau, M and McCaskill, J. and Packard, N. and Rasmussen, S.},
  publisher={The MIT Press},
  booktitle={Artificial Life VII},
  url={http://www.isrl.uiuc.edu/~amag/langev/paper/kaplan00semioticSchemata.html}
}

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