Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 19, 2026

19:44
A Tactile Automated Passive-Finger Stimulator (TAPS)
Published on: June 3, 2009
Now we see the violence inherent in the tinkering
Paul E Smaldino1,2,3
1Department of Cognitive & Information Sciences, University of California Merced, Merced, USA paul.smaldino@gmail.com.
The Behavioral and Brain Sciences
|September 18, 2026
Abstract:
The concept of social tinkering is useful, but insufficient to explain the evolution of human cultural complexity due to its overemphasis on cooperative interactions. The importance of conflict, violence, and inequality in the evolution of complex cultures complicates the social tinkering hypothesis. Who gets to tinker, and what determines which products of that tinkering are selected?
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