Culture, Computation, Morality

TL;DR

This paper explores the deep connection between culture and computation by interpreting child development theories through computer science, linking cultural tendencies to computational processes like overaccommodation and overassimilation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel interpretation of Piaget's and Vygotsky's theories using computational concepts, explaining cultural differences through the lens of disequilibrium mechanisms.

Findings

Overaccommodation aligns with collectivist tendencies.

Overassimilation aligns with individualist tendencies.

Provides a mathematical framework for understanding cultural differences.

Abstract

I point to a deep and unjustly ignored relation between culture and computation. I first establish interpretations of Piaget's and Vygotsky's theories of child development with the language of theoretical computer science. Using these interpretations, I argue that the two different possible routes to Piagetian disequilibrium -- a tendency to overaccommodate, and a tendency to overassimilate -- are equivalent to the two distinct cultural tendencies, collectivistism and individualism. I argue that this simple characterization of overaccommodation versus overassimilation provides a satisfying explanation as to why the two cultural tendencies differ in the way they empirically do. All such notions are grounded on a firm mathematical framework for those who prefer the computable, and grounded on my personal history for those who prefer the uncomputable.