The Unpredictable Species
What Makes Humans Unique
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- $27.99
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- $27.99
Publisher Description
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lieberman (Eve Spoke: Human Language and Human Evolution) pulls no punches in attacking what he perceives to be the flaws of evolutionary psychology in this imbalanced scientific treatise. He argues somewhat hyperbolically that under "a high-tech veneer... phrenology lives on today in studies that purport to identify the brain's center of religious belief, pornography, and everything in between," and he is equally forceful in debunking Chomsky's notions that language is innate and that a hypothetical "language organ" might exist. His ability to marshal contemporary neuroscience to support his assertions is impressive, and his efforts to guide the field away from biological determinism (a "stew of invented genes") are well-founded and important. He contends that we should instead focus on "understanding the interplay of culture and biology in shaping human behavior." Unfortunately, Lieberman loses some credibility when he takes too literally Richard Dawkins's concept of a "selfish gene"; equally troubling is the straw man Lieberman sets up to discredit Dawkins. Despite these missteps, his conclusion what sets us apart from other primates is that our genes allow for cognitive flexibility and human creativity is well worth considering. 12 line illus.
