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Journal of Social Computing 2022, 3(1): 18-37 https://doi.org/10.23919/JSC.2021.0019
Open Access | Issue | Published: 14 February 2022

Collective Computation, Information Flow, and the Emergence of Hunter-Gatherer Small-Worlds

Show Author's Information Marcus J. Hamilton1( )
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA
Keywords:
complex adaptive systems, hierarchically modular networks, collective brains, macroecology, allometry, mammals, primates
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Hamilton MJ. Collective Computation, Information Flow, and the Emergence of Hunter-Gatherer Small-Worlds. Journal of Social Computing, 2022, 3(1): 18-37. https://doi.org/10.23919/JSC.2021.0019
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Abstract Full text About this article

Two key features of human sociality are anatomically complex brains with neuron-dense cerebral cortices, and the propensity to form complex social networks with non-kin. Complex brains and complex social networks facilitate flows of fitness-enhancing energy and information at multiple scales of social organization. Here, we consider how these flows interact to shape the emergence of macroscopic regularities in hunter-gatherer macroecology relative to other mammals and non-human primates. Collective computation is the processing of information by complex adaptive systems to generate inferences in order to solve adaptive problems. In hunter-gatherer societies the adaptive problem is to resolve uncertainty in generative models used to predict complex environments in order to maximize inclusive fitness. The macroecological solution is to link complex brains in social networks to form collective brains that perform collective computations. By developing theory and analyzing data, the author shows hunter-gatherers bands of ~16 people, or ~4 co-residing families, form the largest collective brains of any social mammal. Moreover, because individuals, families, and bands interact at multiple time scales, these fission-fusion dynamics lead to the emergence of the macroscopic regularities in hunter-gatherer macroecology we observe in cross-cultural data. These results show how computation is distributed across spatially-extended social networks forming decentralized knowledge systems characteristic of hunter-gatherer societies. The flow of information at scales far beyond daily interactions leads to the emergence of small-worlds where highly clustered local interactions are embedded within much larger, but sparsely connected multilevel metapopulations.


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About this article

Collective Computation, Information Flow, and the Emergence of Hunter-Gatherer Small-Worlds

Show Author's information Marcus J. Hamilton1( )
Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA

Abstract

Two key features of human sociality are anatomically complex brains with neuron-dense cerebral cortices, and the propensity to form complex social networks with non-kin. Complex brains and complex social networks facilitate flows of fitness-enhancing energy and information at multiple scales of social organization. Here, we consider how these flows interact to shape the emergence of macroscopic regularities in hunter-gatherer macroecology relative to other mammals and non-human primates. Collective computation is the processing of information by complex adaptive systems to generate inferences in order to solve adaptive problems. In hunter-gatherer societies the adaptive problem is to resolve uncertainty in generative models used to predict complex environments in order to maximize inclusive fitness. The macroecological solution is to link complex brains in social networks to form collective brains that perform collective computations. By developing theory and analyzing data, the author shows hunter-gatherers bands of ~16 people, or ~4 co-residing families, form the largest collective brains of any social mammal. Moreover, because individuals, families, and bands interact at multiple time scales, these fission-fusion dynamics lead to the emergence of the macroscopic regularities in hunter-gatherer macroecology we observe in cross-cultural data. These results show how computation is distributed across spatially-extended social networks forming decentralized knowledge systems characteristic of hunter-gatherer societies. The flow of information at scales far beyond daily interactions leads to the emergence of small-worlds where highly clustered local interactions are embedded within much larger, but sparsely connected multilevel metapopulations.

Keywords: complex adaptive systems, hierarchically modular networks, collective brains, macroecology, allometry, mammals, primates

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements
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Publication history

Received: 05 August 2021
Revised: 25 October 2021
Accepted: 04 November 2021
Published: 14 February 2022
Issue date: March 2022

Copyright

© The author(s) 2021

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgment

I would like to thank Briggs Buchanan, Hyejin Youn, Chris Kempes, Geoffrey West, Jose Lobo, Eric Rupley, Giovanni Petri, Sam Scarpino, and Rob Walker for invaluable discussions of many of the topics raised in this paper, as well as two anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments. I would like to thank the Fondation IMéRA − Institut d'études avancées, Aix Marseille Université for funding a residential workshop over the summer of 2016 where many of these issues were first discussed. I also thank Tim A. Kohler, David H. Wolpert, Darcy Bird, and the Santa Fe Institute for organizing and funding this working group.

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