How Creative Should Creators Be To Optimize the Evolution of Ideas? A Computational Model

There are both benefits and drawbacks to creativity. In a social group it is not necessary for all members to be creative to benefit from creativity; some merely imitate or enjoy the fruits of others’ creative efforts. What proportion should be creative? This paper outlines investigations of this question carried out using a computer model of cultural evolution referred to as EVOC (for EVOlution of Culture). EVOC is composed of neural network based agents that evolve fitter ideas for actions by (1) inventing new ideas through modification of existing ones, and (2) imitating neighbors’ ideas. The ideal proportion with respect to fitness of ideas occurs when thirty to forty percent of the individuals is creative; yet when creative agents innovate half of the time or less, this proportion grows to a hundred percent. For all levels or creativity, the diversity of ideas in a population is positively correlated with the ratio of creative agents.