In this volume, the authors present an original ethnographic study of five llama herding communities in Ayacucho, Peru. Data on herd dynamics are subjected to computer modeling in an effort to evaluate the roles of biology, symbolic and ritual behavior, ecological adaptation, and practical reason. The book contains the most detailed study of the waytakuy llama marking ceremony yet available. The role of this ceremony in preventing herds from going to extinction is evaluated against anthropological and sociobiological theory. This is an interdisciplinary book will appeal to professional archaeologists, prehistorians, cultural anthropologists, Andeanists, theoretical biologists, evolutionary biologists, and zoologists interested in animal domestication.

The author first introduces the basic framework for cultural algorithms and he then explains the social structure of a cultural system as a mechanism for the distribution of problem-solving information throughout a population. Three different models for social organizations are presented: the homogeneous (nuclear family), heterogeneous (expanded family), and subculture (descent groups) social models. The chapters that follow compare the learning capabilities of these social organizations relative to problems of varying complexity. The book concludes with a discussion of how the results can impact our understanding of social evolution.

A thorough look at how societies can use cultural algorithms to understand human social evolution For those working in computational intelligence, developing an understanding of how cultural algorithms and social intelligence form the essential framework for the evolution of human social interaction is essential. This book, Cultural Algorithms: Tools to Model Complex Dynamic Social Systems, is the foundation of that study. It showcases how we can use cultural algorithms to organize social structures and develop socio-political systems that work. For such a vast topic, the text covers everything from the history of the development of cultural algorithms and the basic framework with which it was organized. Readers will also learn how other nature-inspired algorithms can be expressed and how to use social metrics to assess the performance of various algorithms. In addition to these topics, the book covers topics including: The CAT system including the Repast Simphony System and CAT Sample Runs How to problem solve using social networks in cultural algorithms with auctions Understanding Common Value Action to enhance Social Knowledge Distribution Systems Case studies on team formations An exploration of virtual worlds using cultural algorithms For industry professionals or new students, Cultural Algorithms provides an impactful and thorough look at both social intelligence and how human social evolution translates into the modern world.

This is the first book that attempts to provide a framework in which to embed an automatic programming system based on evolutionary learning (genetic programming) into a traditional software engineering environment. As such, it looks at how traditional software engineering knowledge can be integrated with an evolutionary programming process in a symbiotic way.