Deliberate design generates new cultural variation faster and more constructively than random mutation

Evidence

A few things do truly distinguish biological and cultural evolution, however. In biological systems the ultimate source of new variation is mutation, copy errors incorporated into the genetic code when DNA replicates itself during cell division. Mutations don’t happen very often, and when they do, they strike at random. Novelty in the design of manufactured weapons can arise through random events, too, such as mistakes that crop up during production. But manufactured weapons are usually modified on purpose, as engineers and designers seek to improve them. Brilliant minds like those of Archimedes, Leonardo da Vinci, and J. Robert Oppenheimer, all strived to develop new and better weapons, and the varieties they experimented with were deliberate. This means that new variation can arise faster in cultural traits than in biological ones, and this variation is more likely to be constructive. Once in place, however, variation is variation, and selection drives evolution just the same. — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 499

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Adaptation is original creation, not a compromised second-hand process — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 898; Artificial selection directly tests whether populations evolve in response — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 288; Musical taste and harmonic conventions evolve as innovations become tradition (+3 more)

Related

• Musical taste and harmonic conventions evolve as innovations become tradition (similarity 0.84)
• Mutation is random but the resulting evolutionary change is not. (similarity 0.82)
• Artificial selection directly tests whether populations evolve in response (similarity 0.81)
• Evolution is nonrandom even though mutation is random (similarity 0.81)
• Cultural evolution can create selection pressures stronger than natural ones (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Adaptation is original creation, not a compromised second-hand process #corroborates (0.60) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 898
• Artificial selection directly tests whether populations evolve in response #corroborates (0.55) — Emlen, Douglas J, Animal Weapons_ The Evolution of Battle, 288