Integrating evolutionary theory into decision theory.

摘要

Evolutionary Decision Theory (EDT) is an interdisciplinary topic in which selecting among options---a process fundamental to all living systems---is analyzed through a combination of evolutionary theory and decision theory, providing insights for both descriptive and normative applied decision-making. The overarching research task in EDT is to draw accurate parallels and contrasts between the ways that human and non-human living systems select among options. Non-human living systems include other organisms as well as evolution itself.;The biological adaptive process of blind variation with selective retention (BVSR) has selectively retained traits that exploit the adaptive process in other arenas such as the immune system and neural networking. Evolutionary epistemology and memetics suggest that the process of BVSR is fundamental to certain key influences upon human decision-making. In the tradition of Donald Campbell and Karl Popper the author hypothesizes that the BVSR process is fundamental to the entire array of forces that drive human decision-making, including those of emotion, cognition and culture.;To test this hypothesis, the author attempts to sketch a theoretical natural history of decision-making in the lineage that results in modern humans whose decision-making is then depicted as the product of variation with selective retention playing out in multiple arenas concurrently. To suggest the viability of the model, the multiple forces that influence decision-making must all be well represented within the theoretical framework.;In the tradition of Herbert Simon, the author balances descriptive, explanatory and normative analysis of decision-making. In the tradition of Robert Trivers, the author brings to his analysis a fundamental focus on trade-offs and cost-benefit operating over a variety of dimensions. In the tradition of Stephen Jay Gould, the author writes to convey his ideas for a non-specialist audience, while still meeting a high standard of academic rigor.