A Mind So Rare: The Evolution of Human ConsciousnessIn this polemical work, Merlin Donald refutes the recent arguments of scientists and philosophers who have dismissed consciousness as a superficial by-product of evolution, or even an entirely irrelevant factor in human cognition. His thesis presents the forces, both cultural and neuronal, that power our distinctly human modes of awareness. Donald proposes that the human mind is a hybrid product of interweaving a super-complex form of matter (the brain) with an invisible symbolic web (culture) to form a distributed cognitive network. This hybrid mind allowed humanity as a species to break free of the limitations of the mammalian brain. Marshalling evidence from brain and behavioural studies of humans and animals, Donald explains how an expression of conscious capacity was the key to this revolutionary development and insightfully projects how the human mind might adapt in the future, as we fall increasingly under the spell of symbolic technology. |
Contents
II | 1 |
III | 3 |
IV | 4 |
V | 7 |
VI | 8 |
VII | 13 |
VIII | 14 |
IX | 16 |
XLIV | 178 |
XLV | 184 |
XLVI | 195 |
XLVII | 200 |
XLVIII | 202 |
XLIX | 205 |
L | 206 |
LI | 208 |
X | 19 |
XI | 21 |
XII | 25 |
XIII | 28 |
XIV | 31 |
XV | 35 |
XVI | 39 |
XVII | 44 |
XVIII | 46 |
XIX | 47 |
XX | 57 |
XXI | 59 |
XXII | 70 |
XXIII | 76 |
XXIV | 78 |
XXV | 83 |
XXVI | 87 |
XXVII | 88 |
XXVIII | 92 |
XXIX | 96 |
XXX | 99 |
XXXI | 106 |
XXXII | 113 |
XXXIII | 117 |
XXXIV | 122 |
XXXV | 130 |
XXXVI | 134 |
XXXVII | 137 |
XXXVIII | 149 |
XL | 153 |
XLI | 157 |
XLII | 164 |
XLIII | 168 |
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Common terms and phrases
ability abstract achieve acquire action activity algorithms Annie Sullivan apes attention automatic awareness basic become behavior binding bonobos Cambridge cerebellum chimpanzees cognitive complex Condillac conscious capacity conscious mind conscious processing consciousness cortex cortical columns demons distributed cognitive domain domain-general emerged emotional enculturation environment episodic evolution evolutionary evolved executive brain existence external memory field external symbols feel function gesture Hardliners Helen Helen Keller hierarchy hominid homunculus human brain human consciousness human culture ideas images imagination intermediate-term invention Kanzi kind knowledge language learning linguistic mammals meaning mental metacognitive metaphor mimesis mimetic mindreading modules nature nervous system networks neural neural nets neurons normal operations patterns perception play powerful prefrontal cortex primate psychology regions representation role sciousness sensation sense sensory sequence simple skills social species structure symbolic technology theory things thought tion uncon unconscious University Press visual words York Zasetsky