On Oct 24, 2005, PED Seminar Series Presents

The dynamics of Machiavellian intelligence

by Sergey Gavrilets

The "Machiavellian intelligence" hypothesis posits that large brains and distinctive cognitive abilities of humans have evolved via spiraling arms race in which social competitors developed increasingly sophisticated "Machiavellian" strategies. I will describe a mathematical model aiming to explore this hypothesis. In the model, genes build brains which invent and copy "memes" which are used by individuals to get advantage in competition for mates. The model is used to identify important factors and parameters and evaluate the relevant timescales in the evolution of intelligence.


Prof. Sergey Gavrilets is a theoretical evolutionary biologist. He received his PhD in physics and mathematics from Moscow State University, Russia. He has worked on mathematical models describing fitness landscapes, phenotypic plasticity, maintenance of genetic variation, coevolution, sexual conflict, speciation, adaptive radiation, macroevolution, and cultural evolution. He is the author of "Fitness landscapes and the origin of species" (Princeton University Press, 2004). His web site is http://www.tiem.utk.edu/~gavrila.

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