Table 1 General characteristics of genetic and cultural evolution (adapted from [9, 12])
From: Evolutionary ethnobiology and cultural evolution: opportunities for research and dialog
Evolution type/characteristics | Human genetic evolution (neo-Darwinian) | Human cultural evolution (Darwinian) |
|---|---|---|
Evolutionary time | Usually thousands of years | Short time intervals, may occur within a few years |
Variation | Random but some regions of DNA are more susceptible to mutation than others | Can be random or voluntarily guided by learning rules |
Competition | Differential fitness of different alleles | Differential fitness of different cultural traits |
Heredity | Parental Information storage structure (genotype) is transmitted | Parental or non-parental Information expression (equivalent to a phenotype) is transmitted |