Learning: An Evolutionary Perspective

From an evolutionary perspective, this article presents a synthesis of the work on learning and advocates conceptual changes. It distinguishes several levels of learning: genomic, sensorimotor and symbolic. It also suggests a re-examination of the concepts of artifact, algorithm and information, extending them to all living things and differentiating them according to the levels of learning. These modifications are justified by the numerous discoveries that have modified our representations during the last decades. Epigenetics has shaken the relationship between the innate and the acquired, neuroscience has made it possible to go beyond behaviorist dogmas, ethology has brought humans and animals closer together, social learning has emerged as a basic skill leading to languages and cultures, and psychology has shed more light on the roots of the symbolic in the sensorimotor. Each of these different advances in our knowledge has an impact on the conception of learning and invite us to adapt our conceptual tools. Such an adaptation should allow us to better apprehend the digital revolution and its learning modalities