“Holland's [1975] GeneticAlgorithm is a minimal computer model of natural selection that made it possible to investigate the effect of manipulating specific parameters on the evolutionary process. If culture is, like biology, a form of evolution, it should be possible to similarly abstract the underlying skeleton of the process and develop a minimal model of it. Meme and Variations, or MAV, is a computational model, inspired by the genetic algorithm, of how ideas evolve in a society of interacting individuals [Gabora 1995]. The name is a pun on the classical music form 'theme and variations', because it is based on the premise that novel ideas are variations of old ones; they result from tweaking or combining existing ideas in new ways [Holland et al. 1981]. MAV explores the impact of several phenomena that are unique to culture.” – Liane Gabora

http://www.vub.ac.be/CLEA/liane/MAV/mav.htm

Cultural Evolution

memetic replicators and ZoaCode(s)