Technological Innovation as an Evolutionary Process

About this book

Technological artefacts and biological organisms `evolve' by very similar processes of blind variation and selective retention. This analogy is explored systematically, for the first time, by a team of international experts from evolutionary biology, history and sociology of science and technology, cognitive and computor science, economics, psychology, education, cultural anthropology and research management.

Contents

Preface; Part I. Evolutionary Thinking: 1. Evolutionary models for technological change John Ziman; 2. Biological evolution: processes and phenomena Eva Jablonka and John Ziman; 3. Lamarckian inheritance systems in biology: a source of metaphors and models in technological evolution Eva Jablonka; 4. Selectionism and complexity John Ziman; 5. Evolutionary phenomena in technological change Joel Mokyr; 6. Selection criteria and selection processes in cultural evolution theories Richard Nelson; Part II. Innovation as a Cultural Practice: 7. Technological evolution and involution; a preliminary comparison of Europe and Japan Alan Macfarlane and Sarah Harrison; 8. Stasis in complex artefacts Gerry Martin; 9. Gothic tales of spandrels, hooks, and monsters: complexity, multiplicity and association in the explanation of technological change David Turnbull; 10. Path dependence and varieties of learning in the evolution of technological practice Paul A. David; Part III. Invention as a Process: 11. Invention and evolution: the case of Edison's sketches of the telephone W. Bernard Carlson; 12. The evolution of adaptive form David Perkins; 13. Real-world variation-selection in the volution of technological form: historical examples Walter G. Vincenti; 14. Learning to be inventive: design, evaluation and selection in primary school technology Joan Solomon; 15. Technological evolution as self-fulfilling prophecy Geoffrey Miller; Part IV. Institutionalized Innovation: 16. Recursive practice and the evolution of technological knowledge Edward W. Constant II; 17. The concept of 'design space' Rikard Stankiewicz; 18. Artefact<->activity: the co-evolution of artefacts, knowledge and organization in technological innovation James Fleck; 19. The organization of innovative enterprises Gerard Fairclough; Part V. Technological Change in a Wider Perspective: 20. The evolution of war and technology Edward W. Constant II; 21. Learning about technology in society: developing liberating literacy Janet Davies Burns; 22. An end-word; contributors; Bibliography; Index.

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