From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds"A supremely enjoyable, intoxicating work." —Nature How did we come to have minds? For centuries, poets, philosophers, psychologists, and physicists have wondered how the human mind developed its unrivaled abilities. Disciples of Darwin have explained how natural selection produced plants, but what about the human mind? In From Bacteria to Bach and Back, Daniel C. Dennett builds on recent discoveries from biology and computer science to show, step by step, how a comprehending mind could in fact have arisen from a mindless process of natural selection. A crucial shift occurred when humans developed the ability to share memes, or ways of doing things not based in genetic instinct. Competition among memes produced thinking tools powerful enough that our minds don’t just perceive and react, they create and comprehend. An agenda-setting book for a new generation of philosophers and scientists, From Bacteria to Bach and Back will delight and entertain all those curious about how the mind works. |
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... ideas for the last four years. Others who wrestled with my drafts, changed my mind, noted my errors, and urged me to try for greater clarity include Sue Stafford, Murray Smith, Paul Oppenheim, Dale Peterson, Felipe de Brigard, Bryce ...
... ideas that are dear to many. There are distinguished thinkers who have disagreed with my proposals over the years, and I expect some will continue to find my new forays as outrageous as my earlier efforts, but now I'm beginning to find ...
... ideas or dismiss them without a hearing when first encountered because I have often done so myself. They remind me of those puzzles that have a ... idea and then circle back once you've seen it in action, to drive home the point.
... idea that mind isn't matter and matter can't be mind was not invented by Descartes. It had seemed obvious to ... ideas and want to exit swiftly). But even if, as I noted years ago, dualism tends to be regarded as a cliff over which you ...
... idea provokes. Crick was an excellent explainer of science to nonscientists, but the pedagogical problems in this arena are not the usual ones of attracting and holding the attention of semi-bewildered and intimidated laypeople and ...
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From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds Daniel Clement Dennett,Daniel C. Dennett No preview available - 2017 |