This is a "virtual world" type experiment.
Bart is presenting this on a visit to our campus in May.
Here.
Bickerton (2009, 2014) hypothesizes that language emerged as the solution to a scavenging problem faced by proto‐humans. We design a virtual world to explore how people use words to persuade others to work together for a common end. By gradually reducing the vocabularies that the participants can use, we trace the process of solving the hominin scavenging problem. Our experiment changes the way we think about social dilemmas. Instead of asking how does a group overcome the self‐ interest of its constituents, the question becomes, how do constituents persuade one another to work together for a common end that yields a common benefit?
Bart J. Wilson
Samuel R. Harris
Chapman University
Bart is presenting this on a visit to our campus in May.
Here.
Bickerton (2009, 2014) hypothesizes that language emerged as the solution to a scavenging problem faced by proto‐humans. We design a virtual world to explore how people use words to persuade others to work together for a common end. By gradually reducing the vocabularies that the participants can use, we trace the process of solving the hominin scavenging problem. Our experiment changes the way we think about social dilemmas. Instead of asking how does a group overcome the self‐ interest of its constituents, the question becomes, how do constituents persuade one another to work together for a common end that yields a common benefit?
Bart J. Wilson
Samuel R. Harris
Chapman University