Chapter 15 Exaptive processes : an agent based model

This chapter introduces an agent-based model designed to investigate the dynamics of some aspects of exaptation (chapters 1, 9). It is strongly related to model introduced in the previous chapter. Indeed, in the model described here cognitive categories represent the main tools that the producers and users of artifacts employ in order to interpret their environment, like in the case discussed in chapter 14. The main addition provided by the current model, however, is the explicit introduction of artifacts.