Tag Archives: innovation

Origins of Human Innovation and Creativity

Posted on April 26, 2019 by Giorgio Bertini

Innovation and creativity are two of the key characteristics that distinguish cultural transmission from biological transmission. This book explores a number of questions concerning the nature and timing of the origins of human creativity. What were the driving factors in … Continue reading →

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Why does culture sometimes evolve via sudden bursts of innovation?

Posted on November 5, 2018 by Giorgio Bertini

Human beings inherit many genetic traits directly from their parents. However, cultural traits – tools, beliefs and behaviors that are transmitted by learning – can be passed on not only by parents but also teachers and peers. Many animals have … Continue reading →

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Evidence of early human innovation, pushing back evolutionary timeline

Posted on May 21, 2018 by Giorgio Bertini

Anthropologists at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and an international team of collaborators have discovered that early humans in East Africa had–by about 320,000 years ago–begun trading with distant groups, using color pigments and manufacturing more sophisticated tools … Continue reading →

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The niche construction of cultural complexity

Posted on November 12, 2017 by Giorgio Bertini

Interactions between innovations, population size, and the environment. Niche construction is a process through which organisms alter their environments and, in doing so, influence or change the selective pressures to which they are subject. ‘Cultural niche construction’ refers specifically to … Continue reading →

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Intangible Cultural Heritage: Safeguarding for Creativity

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Giorgio Bertini

Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) concerns ‘‘the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and skills” that belong to communities and are held by specific members. It is not static, but it continually transforms and innovates. Elements of ICH are deeply rooted in territories … Continue reading →

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Human Cumulative Cultural Evolution as a Form of Distributed Computation

Posted on February 26, 2016 by Giorgio Bertini

Cumulative culture is the engine that drives the remarkable power of the global human computer. It enables societies to act as extremely powerful computers by ratcheting up technological and other cultural innovations. Once culture can accumulate, the ability of a … Continue reading →

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Innovation in Socio-Cultural Context

Posted on February 12, 2016 by Giorgio Bertini

Book – Innovation – the process of obtaining, understanding, applying, transforming, managing and transferring knowledge – is a result of human collaboration, but it has become an increasingly complex process, with a growing number of interacting parties involved. Lack of … Continue reading →

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