Download or read book The Connected Species written by Mark A. Williams and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2023-08-15 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human beings have succeeded as the most dominant species on earth in large part due to our need to connect and cooperate. It was our ability to socialize and connect that catapulted our species to phenomenal heights of innovation, through collaboration and specialization. This drive has fine-tuned our unconscious perception of faces, facial expressions, body language, and touch. Our primitive drive to connect changes how we perceive the world and the people around us. We see, hear, empathize with, and understand others differently depending on whether they are a member of our in-group or not. This unconscious drive to connect can draw us together, but it also emphasizes the differences between groups. And it is getting worse, as overcrowding, technology, and the media often focus us on our differences. We become more and more divided into groups as a result. Here, Mark Williams shows us how to recapture the drive for connection in a way that will help us look past our differences and reconnect, even with those whom we perceive to be outside our groups. He starts by discussing the human brain’s specialization for connection and how it evolved, and the fascinating way we automatically process the thoughts and feelings of others. He focuses on how connection works in practice and why it is important for learning, innovating, health and wellbeing. He then explores the negative consequences of our drive for connection and explains how it contributes to racism, sexism, nationalism, and many other social issues of our day, as well as its impact on our individual health and wellbeing. He ends with a positive perspective by examining how we can use our drive for connection to expand our in-group and extend multicultural societies for the good of our planet.
Download or read book Social written by Matthew D. Lieberman and published by Crown. This book was released on 2013-10-08 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We are profoundly social creatures--more than we know. In Social, renowned psychologist Matthew Lieberman explores groundbreaking research in social neuroscience revealing that our need to connect with other people is even more fundamental, more basic, than our need for food or shelter. Because of this, our brain uses its spare time to learn about the social world--other people and our relation to them. It is believed that we must commit 10,000 hours to master a skill. According to Lieberman, each of us has spent 10,000 hours learning to make sense of people and groups by the time we are ten. Social argues that our need to reach out to and connect with others is a primary driver behind our behavior. We believe that pain and pleasure alone guide our actions. Yet, new research using fMRI--including a great deal of original research conducted by Lieberman and his UCLA lab--shows that our brains react to social pain and pleasure in much the same way as they do to physical pain and pleasure. Fortunately, the brain has evolved sophisticated mechanisms for securing our place in the social world. We have a unique ability to read other people’s minds, to figure out their hopes, fears, and motivations, allowing us to effectively coordinate our lives with one another. And our most private sense of who we are is intimately linked to the important people and groups in our lives. This wiring often leads us to restrain our selfish impulses for the greater good. These mechanisms lead to behavior that might seem irrational, but is really just the result of our deep social wiring and necessary for our success as a species. Based on the latest cutting edge research, the findings in Social have important real-world implications. Our schools and businesses, for example, attempt to minimalize social distractions. But this is exactly the wrong thing to do to encourage engagement and learning, and literally shuts down the social brain, leaving powerful neuro-cognitive resources untapped. The insights revealed in this pioneering book suggest ways to improve learning in schools, make the workplace more productive, and improve our overall well-being.
Download or read book The Connected Species written by Mark A. Williams and published by . This book was released on with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Human beings have succeeded as the most dominant species on earth in large part due to our need to connect and cooperate. It was our ability to socialize and connect that catapulted our species to phenomenal heights of innovation, through collaboration and specialization. This drive has fine-tuned our unconscious perception of faces, facial expressions, body language, and touch. Our primitive drive to connect changes how we perceive the world and the people around us. We see, hear, empathize with, and understand others differently depending on whether they are a member of our in-group or not. This unconscious drive to connect can draw us together, but it also emphasizes the differences between groups. And it is getting worse, as overcrowding, technology, and the media often focus us on our differences. We become more and more divided into groups as a result. Here, Mark Williams shows us how to recapture the drive for connection in a way that will help us look past our differences and reconnect, even with those whom we perceive to be outside our groups. He starts by discussing the human brains specialization for connection and how it evolved, and the fascinating way we automatically process the thoughts and feelings of others. He focuses on how connection works in practice and why it is important for learning, innovating, health and wellbeing. He then explores the negative consequences of our drive for connection and explains how it contributes to racism, sexism, nationalism, and many other social issues of our day, as well as its impact on our individual health and wellbeing. He ends with a positive perspective by examining how we can use our drive for connection to expand our in-group and extend multicultural societies for the good of our planet"--Publisher's description.
Download or read book Species written by Robert Andrew Wilson and published by Bradford Books. This book was released on 1999 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on the perspectives of prominent researchers from anthropology, botany, develop- mental psychology, the philosophy of biology and science, protoevolutionary biology and the philosophy of biology and science, protozoology, and zoology, provides some focus on general claims about and views of species. DLC: Species--Philosophy.
Download or read book Species written by John S. Wilkins and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this comprehensive work, John S. Wilkins traces the history of the idea of "species" from antiquity to today, providing a new perspective on the relationship between philosophical and biological approaches.--[book cover].
Download or read book The Symbolic Species The Co evolution of Language and the Brain written by Terrence W. Deacon and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 1998-04-17 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A work of enormous breadth, likely to pleasantly surprise both general readers and experts."—New York Times Book Review This revolutionary book provides fresh answers to long-standing questions of human origins and consciousness. Drawing on his breakthrough research in comparative neuroscience, Terrence Deacon offers a wealth of insights into the significance of symbolic thinking: from the co-evolutionary exchange between language and brains over two million years of hominid evolution to the ethical repercussions that followed man's newfound access to other people's thoughts and emotions. Informing these insights is a new understanding of how Darwinian processes underlie the brain's development and function as well as its evolution. In contrast to much contemporary neuroscience that treats the brain as no more or less than a computer, Deacon provides a new clarity of vision into the mechanism of mind. It injects a renewed sense of adventure into the experience of being human.
Download or read book The Runaway Species written by David Eagleman and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2017-10-10 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This enlightening examination of creativity looks “at art and science together to examine how innovations . . . build on what already exists and rely on three brain operations: bending, breaking and blending” (The Wall Street Journal) The Runaway Species is a deep dive into the creative mind, a celebration of the human spirit, and a vision of how we can improve our future by understanding and embracing our ability to innovate. David Eagleman and Anthony Brandt seek to answer the question: what lies at the heart of humanity’s ability—and drive—to create? Our ability to remake our world is unique among all living things. But where does our creativity come from, how does it work, and how can we harness it to improve our lives, schools, businesses, and institutions? Eagleman and Brandt examine hundreds of examples of human creativity through dramatic storytelling and stunning images in this beautiful, full–color volume. By drawing out what creative acts have in common and viewing them through the lens of cutting–edge neuroscience, they uncover the essential elements of this critical human ability, and encourage a more creative future for all of us. “The Runaway Species approach[es] creativity scientifically but sensitively, feeling its roots without pulling them out.” —The Economist
Download or read book Language in Our Brain written by Angela D. Friederici and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2017-11-16 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive account of the neurobiological basis of language, arguing that species-specific brain differences may be at the root of the human capacity for language. Language makes us human. It is an intrinsic part of us, although we seldom think about it. Language is also an extremely complex entity with subcomponents responsible for its phonological, syntactic, and semantic aspects. In this landmark work, Angela Friederici offers a comprehensive account of these subcomponents and how they are integrated. Tracing the neurobiological basis of language across brain regions in humans and other primate species, she argues that species-specific brain differences may be at the root of the human capacity for language. Friederici shows which brain regions support the different language processes and, more important, how these brain regions are connected structurally and functionally to make language processes that take place in milliseconds possible. She finds that one particular brain structure (a white matter dorsal tract), connecting syntax-relevant brain regions, is present only in the mature human brain and only weakly present in other primate brains. Is this the “missing link” that explains humans' capacity for language? Friederici describes the basic language functions and their brain basis; the language networks connecting different language-related brain regions; the brain basis of language acquisition during early childhood and when learning a second language, proposing a neurocognitive model of the ontogeny of language; and the evolution of language and underlying neural constraints. She finds that it is the information exchange between the relevant brain regions, supported by the white matter tract, that is the crucial factor in both language development and evolution.
Download or read book The Unpredictable Species written by Philip Lieberman and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-21 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How our brains have evolved so that we control how we think and behave The Unpredictable Species argues that the human brain evolved in a way that enhances our cognitive flexibility and capacity for innovation and imitation. In doing so, the book challenges the central claim of evolutionary psychology that we are locked into predictable patterns of behavior that were fixed by genes, and refutes the claim that language is innate. Philip Lieberman builds his case with evidence from neuroscience, genetics, and physical anthropology, showing how our basal ganglia—structures deep within the brain whose origins predate the dinosaurs—came to play a key role in human creativity. He demonstrates how the transfer of information in these structures was enhanced by genetic mutation and evolution, giving rise to supercharged neural circuits linking activity in different parts of the brain. Human invention, expressed in different epochs and locales in the form of stone tools, digital computers, new art forms, complex civilizations—even the latest fashions—stems from these supercharged circuits. The Unpredictable Species boldly upends scientifically controversial yet popular beliefs about how our brains actually work. Along the way, this compelling book provides insights into a host of topics related to human cognition, including associative learning, epigenetics, the skills required to be a samurai, and the causes of cognitive confusion on Mount Everest and of Parkinson's disease.
Download or read book When Species Meet written by Donna J. Haraway and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2013-11-30 with total page 439 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2006, about 69 million U.S. households had pets, giving homes to around 73.9 million dogs, 90.5 million cats, and 16.6 million birds, and spending more than 38 billion dollars on companion animals. As never before in history, our pets are truly members of the family. But the notion of “companion species”—knotted from human beings, animals and other organisms, landscapes, and technologies—includes much more than “companion animals.” In When Species Meet, Donna J. Haraway digs into this larger phenomenon to contemplate the interactions of humans with many kinds of critters, especially with those called domestic. At the heart of the book are her experiences in agility training with her dogs Cayenne and Roland, but Haraway’s vision here also encompasses wolves, chickens, cats, baboons, sheep, microorganisms, and whales wearing video cameras. From designer pets to lab animals to trained therapy dogs, she deftly explores philosophical, cultural, and biological aspects of animal–human encounters. In this deeply personal yet intellectually groundbreaking work, Haraway develops the idea of companion species, those who meet and break bread together but not without some indigestion. “A great deal is at stake in such meetings,” she writes, “and outcomes are not guaranteed. There is no assured happy or unhappy ending-socially, ecologically, or scientifically. There is only the chance for getting on together with some grace.” Ultimately, she finds that respect, curiosity, and knowledge spring from animal–human associations and work powerfully against ideas about human exceptionalism.
Download or read book How and Why Species Multiply written by Peter R. Grant and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles Darwin's experiences in the Galápagos Islands in 1835 helped to guide his thoughts toward a revolutionary theory: that species were not fixed but diversified from their ancestors over many generations, and that the driving mechanism of evolutionary change was natural selection. In this concise, accessible book, Peter and Rosemary Grant explain what we have learned about the origin and evolution of new species through the study of the finches made famous by that great scientist: Darwin's finches. Drawing upon their unique observations of finch evolution over a thirty-four-year period, the Grants trace the evolutionary history of fourteen different species from a shared ancestor three million years ago. They show how repeated cycles of speciation involved adaptive change through natural selection on beak size and shape, and divergence in songs. They explain other factors that drive finch evolution, including geographical isolation, which has kept the Galápagos relatively free of competitors and predators; climate change and an increase in the number of islands over the last three million years, which enhanced opportunities for speciation; and flexibility in the early learning of feeding skills, which helped species to exploit new food resources. Throughout, the Grants show how the laboratory tools of developmental biology and molecular genetics can be combined with observations and experiments on birds in the field to gain deeper insights into why the world is so biologically rich and diverse. Written by two preeminent evolutionary biologists, How and Why Species Multiply helps to answer fundamental questions about evolution--in the Galápagos and throughout the world.
Download or read book Sister Species written by Lisa Kemmerer and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2011-06-08 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "There is a very strong association between women, animals, and activism. In Women, Social Justice, and Animal Advocacy, activist Lisa A. Kemmerer presents the narratives of fourteen ecofeminist activists who describe their own experiences in the field, often from the perspective of discovering the extent of a particular kind of animal oppression and resolving to do something about it. The narratives are bold and gripping, sometimes horrifying, and cover a range of topics relating to animal rights and liberation. The writers discuss contemporary cockfighting, factory farming, orphaned primates in Africa, the wild bird trade, scientific experimentation on animals, laws against "dangerous" dogs, and violence against baby seals. Sister Species provides a wide survey of what women are doing in the animal activism movement. The writers ask readers to rethink how we view animals in our daily lives--and how we can take action to protect them. Kemmerer's introduction explains why she collected these particular stories and how she views the relationship between feminism and animal suffering. The foreword is by Carol J. Adams, author of The Sexual Politics of Meat (1990), Neither Man nor Beast: Feminism and the Defense of Animals.(1994), The Feminist Care Tradition in Animal Ethics: A Reader (2007), and many other books. None of these essays has been previously published"--
Download or read book Beyond the Creative Species written by Oliver Bown and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2021-02-23 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A multidisciplinary introduction to the field of computational creativity, analyzing the impact of advanced generative technologies on art and music. As algorithms get smarter, what role will computers play in the creation of music, art, and other cultural artifacts? Will they be able to create such things from the ground up, and will such creations be meaningful? In Beyond the Creative Species, Oliver Bown offers a multidisciplinary examination of computational creativity, analyzing the impact of advanced generative technologies on art and music. Drawing on a wide range of disciplines, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, design, social theory, the psychology of creativity, and creative practice research, Bown argues that to understand computational creativity, we must not only consider what computationally creative algorithms actually do, but also examine creative artistic activity itself.
Download or read book A Cooperative Species written by Samuel Bowles and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-07-21 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do humans, uniquely among animals, cooperate in large numbers to advance projects for the common good? Contrary to the conventional wisdom in biology and economics, this generous and civic-minded behavior is widespread and cannot be explained simply by far-sighted self-interest or a desire to help close genealogical kin. In A Cooperative Species, Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis--pioneers in the new experimental and evolutionary science of human behavior--show that the central issue is not why selfish people act generously, but instead how genetic and cultural evolution has produced a species in which substantial numbers make sacrifices to uphold ethical norms and to help even total strangers. The authors describe how, for thousands of generations, cooperation with fellow group members has been essential to survival. Groups that created institutions to protect the civic-minded from exploitation by the selfish flourished and prevailed in conflicts with less cooperative groups. Key to this process was the evolution of social emotions such as shame and guilt, and our capacity to internalize social norms so that acting ethically became a personal goal rather than simply a prudent way to avoid punishment. Using experimental, archaeological, genetic, and ethnographic data to calibrate models of the coevolution of genes and culture as well as prehistoric warfare and other forms of group competition, A Cooperative Species provides a compelling and novel account of how humans came to be moral and cooperative.
Download or read book The Species Area Relationship written by Thomas J. Matthews and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-03-18 with total page 503 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a comprehensive synthesis of a fundamental phenomenon, the species-area relationship, addressing theory, evidence and application.
Download or read book Fragile Species written by Lewis Thomas and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 1996-11 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author's insights about a variety of natural phenomena contribute to our understanding of some of the great medical puzzles of the era. -- Back cover.
Download or read book The Secret of Our Success written by Joseph Henrich and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-10-17 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How our collective intelligence has helped us to evolve and prosper Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters, or avoiding predators. On the other hand, human groups have produced ingenious technologies, sophisticated languages, and complex institutions that have permitted us to successfully expand into a vast range of diverse environments. What has enabled us to dominate the globe, more than any other species, while remaining virtually helpless as lone individuals? This book shows that the secret of our success lies not in our innate intelligence, but in our collective brains—on the ability of human groups to socially interconnect and learn from one another over generations. Drawing insights from lost European explorers, clever chimpanzees, mobile hunter-gatherers, neuroscientific findings, ancient bones, and the human genome, Joseph Henrich demonstrates how our collective brains have propelled our species' genetic evolution and shaped our biology. Our early capacities for learning from others produced many cultural innovations, such as fire, cooking, water containers, plant knowledge, and projectile weapons, which in turn drove the expansion of our brains and altered our physiology, anatomy, and psychology in crucial ways. Later on, some collective brains generated and recombined powerful concepts, such as the lever, wheel, screw, and writing, while also creating the institutions that continue to alter our motivations and perceptions. Henrich shows how our genetics and biology are inextricably interwoven with cultural evolution, and how culture-gene interactions launched our species on an extraordinary evolutionary trajectory. Tracking clues from our ancient past to the present, The Secret of Our Success explores how the evolution of both our cultural and social natures produce a collective intelligence that explains both our species' immense success and the origins of human uniqueness.
