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"When homo sapiens made their entrance 100,000 years ago they were confronted by a wide range of other early humans--homo erectus, who walked better and used fire; homo habilis who used tools; and of course the Neanderthals, who were brawny and strong. But shortly after their arrival, something happened that vaulted the species forward and made them the indisputable masters of the planet. This book is devoted to revealing just what that difference is. It explores how the physical traits and cognitive ability of homo sapiens distanced them from the rest of nature. Even more importantly, Masters of the Planet looks at how our early ancestors acquired these superior abilities; it shows that their strange and unprecedented mental facility is not, as most of us were taught, simply a basic competence that was refined over unimaginable eons by natural selection. Instead, it is an emergent capacity that was acquired quite recently and changed the world definitively"--

Masters of the planet : the search for our human origins / Ian Tattersall.

The robot's rebellion : finding meaning in the age of Darwin / Keith E. Stanovich.

The future of the mind : the new mind's eye / Jack Huber.

Grounding sociality : neurons, mind, and culture / edited by Gün R. Semin & Gerald Echterhoff.

Proceedings of the British Academy

xviii, 528 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Social brain, distributed mind / edited by Robin Dunbar, Clive Gamble, John Gowlett.

Foundational questions in science

Does altruism exist? : culture, genes, and the welfare of others / David Sloan Wilson.

278 pages, 2 unnumbered pages of plates : color illustrations ; 24 cm

The art instinct : beauty, pleasure, & human evolution / Denis Dutton.

"Beyond Biofatalism is a lively and penetrating response to the idea that evolutionary psychology reveals human beings to be incapable of building a more inclusive, cooperative, and egalitarian society. Considering the pressures of climate change, unsustainable population growth, increasing income inequality, and religious extremism, this attitude promises to stifle the creative action we require before we even try to meet these threats. Beyond Biofatalism provides the perspective we need to understand that better societies are not only possible but actively enabled by human nature. Gilliam Barker appreciates the methods and findings of evolutionary psychologists, but she considers their work against a broader background to show human nature is surprisingly open to social change. Like other organisms, we possess an active plasticity that allows us to respond dramatically to certain kinds of environmental variation, and we engage in niche construction, modifying our environment to affect others and ourselves. Barker uses related research in social psychology, developmental biology, ecology, and economics to reinforce this view of evolved human nature, and philosophical exploration to reveal its broader implications"--

Beyond biofatalism : human nature for an evolving world / Gillian Barker.

PRIMATE CHANGE is a wide-ranging, polemical look at how and why the human body has changed since humankind first got up on two feet. Spanning the entirety of human history - from primate to transhuman - Vybarr Cregan-Reid's book investigates where we came from, who we are today and how modern technology will change us beyond recognition. In the last two hundred years, humans have made such a tremendous impact on the world that our geological epoch is about to be declared the 'Anthropocene', or the Age of Man. But while we have been busy changing the shape of the world we inhabit, the ways of living that we have been building have, as if under the cover of darkness, been transforming our bodies and altering the expression of our DNA, too. PRIMATE CHANGE beautifully unscrambles the complex architecture of our modern human bodies, built over millions of years and only starting to give up on us now.

320 pages : blakc and white illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Primate change : how the world we made is remaking us / Vybarr Cregan-Reid.

"This book covers the psychological aspects of human evolution with a table of contents ranging from prehistoric times to modern days. Dunbar focuses on an aspect of evolution that has typically been overshadowed by the archaeological record: the biological, neurological, and genetic changes that occurred with each "transition" in the evolutionary narrative"--

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Masters of the planet : the search for our human origins / Ian Tattersall.

The robot's rebellion : finding meaning in the age of Darwin / Keith E. Stanovich.

The future of the mind : the new mind's eye / Jack Huber.

Grounding sociality : neurons, mind, and culture / edited by Gün R. Semin & Gerald Echterhoff.

Social brain, distributed mind / edited by Robin Dunbar, Clive Gamble, John Gowlett.

Does altruism exist? : culture, genes, and the welfare of others / David Sloan Wilson.

The art instinct : beauty, pleasure, & human evolution / Denis Dutton.

Beyond biofatalism : human nature for an evolving world / Gillian Barker.

Primate change : how the world we made is remaking us / Vybarr Cregan-Reid.

Human evolution : our brains and behavior / Robin Dunbar.

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Masters of the planet : the search for our human origins / Ian Tattersall.

The robot's rebellion : finding meaning in the age of Darwin / Keith E. Stanovich.

The future of the mind : the new mind's eye / Jack Huber.

Grounding sociality : neurons, mind, and culture / edited by Gün R. Semin & Gerald Echterhoff.

Social brain, distributed mind / edited by Robin Dunbar, Clive Gamble, John Gowlett.

Does altruism exist? : culture, genes, and the welfare of others / David Sloan Wilson.

The art instinct : beauty, pleasure, & human evolution / Denis Dutton.

Beyond biofatalism : human nature for an evolving world / Gillian Barker.

Primate change : how the world we made is remaking us / Vybarr Cregan-Reid.

Human evolution : our brains and behavior / Robin Dunbar.

Stay in the know

Wellcome collectionWellcome Collection

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