Cultural science is emerging as the result of dialogue and convergence between evolutionary/complexity theory (especially in evolutionary economics) and the study of change in human relationships and identities (especially in creative industries and cultural studies). The problem of dynamic change has proven to be disruptive and challenging in the study of both economic and human values.
A provisional mission statement for cultural science:
- Creative productivity has always emerged from human interactions, but it is increasingly mediated by technologies that promote subjective mental representations as networks, in which space and time are compressed through the continual dissemination and retrieval of stored events.
- The interaction of people within this “social network economy” creates a continual flux of ephemeral communities and novel entrepreneurial opportunities, with unforeseen consequences being the norm rather than the exception.
- This process of “creative destruction” is best addressed by the humanities allying with the dynamic science of evolution — the study of continual change through variation, interaction, selection and drift.
Cultural science therefore seeks an evolutionary understanding of a knowledge- based society past and present, in order to map the possibility space of future scenarios for creative productivity (both market-based and in community contexts) to which public policy and business strategies must adapt.