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Next: Neural Darwinism and Physics Up: The Experiment Previous: Results and interpretation

What we have demonstrated

With this experiment we have demonstrated that the framework of physics is useful in building a theory for the evolution of language. We have shown that the simplest model that demonstrates a first-order phase transition - the Ising model - is viable and relevant to the exploration of interactions in language evolution. However, we think that our heuristic approach to the Ising model has conveyed as much as it could offer. We also think it important to pursue more sophisticated models to explore such phenomena as phase transition. Moreover, we also think that beyond the capacity to confirm what we already know about language we can learn new facts about its workings by using modeling techniques.



Thalie Prevost
2003-12-24