Exaptive Processes: An Agent Based Model

This chapter introduces an agent-based model designed to investigate the dynamics of some aspects of exaptation that have been discussed previously in this volume. It is strongly related to the model introduced in the previous chapter. Indeed, in the model described here, cognitive categories represent the main tools that the producers and users of artifacts employ in order to interpret their environment, as in the case discussed in Chapter 14. The main addition provided by the current model, however, is the explicit introduction of artifacts. As stressed in Chapter 1, artifacts are a key component of human organizations and activities. Artifacts are entities constructed by an organization to enhance its or other organizations’ functionalities functionality. One of their main properties of interest to us is their capability to convey information, although they may not be explicitly designed for this purpose. In addition, there are artifacts specifically designed to store and carry information, like e.g. books, radios, televisions, including the very special kind of artifact represented by computers, which are able to process information at a very high level of abstraction. Since artifacts convey information, their explicit representation eases the understanding of the exaptation phenomenon, seen in this context as a shift in terms of “leading attributions.” Actually, their introduction is important in order to characterize the ontology necessary to identify exaptation events. Here we focus on phenomena occurring at the micro-level (how individuals collect information about the external world, categorize it, and combine existing categories in order to create new ones) and meso-level (the exchange of information among individuals). However, we do not explicitly include the details concerning the macro-level events (the shared system of beliefs and the common physical and technological resources); which are left for further research.