Cultural evolution of military camouflage

Interactive Evolution of Camouflage

This article presents an abstract computation model of the evolution of camouflage in nature. The 2D model uses evolved textures for prey, a background texture representing the environment, and a visual predator. A human observer, acting as the predator, is shown a cohort of 10 evolved textures overlaid on the background texture. The observer clicks on the five most conspicuous prey to remove (...

Cognition and the evolution of camouflage.

Camouflage is one of the most widespread forms of anti-predator defence and prevents prey individuals from being detected or correctly recognized by would-be predators. Over the past decade, there has been a resurgence of interest in both the evolution of prey camouflage patterns, and in understanding animal cognition in a more ecological context. However, these fields rarely collide, and the r...

The Evolution of Cultural Evolution

In 1860, aiming to be the first Europeans to travel south to north across Australia, Robert Burke led an extremely well-equipped expedition of three men (King, Wills and Gray) from their base camp in Cooper’s Creek in central Australia with five fully loaded camels (specially imported) and one horse. Figuring a maximum round trip travel time of three months, they carried twelve weeks of food an...

Cultural commons and cultural evolution

Culture evolves following a process that is akin to biological evolution, although with some significant differences. At the same time culture has often a collective good value for human groups. This paper studies culture in an evolutionary perspective, with a focus on the implications of group definition for the coexistence of different cultures. A model of cultural evolution is presented wher...

Cultural Evolution