From Apes to Cyborgs: New Perspectives on Human Evolution

ISBN-13: 9783030365219 / Angielski / Miękka / 2020 / 174 str.

Claudio Tuniz; Patrizia Tiberi Vipraio

Recenzje

"'This great little book deserves to be read by all people concerned to understand where we, as a species, came from and how the challenges we now face reflect that long historical evolution'." (Giorgio Benedek, Italian Physical Society, sif.it, February, 2021)

Spis treści

CONTENTS

Introduction

1 Our deep history: a short overview

The human past

Descended from the apes?

2 Human biodiversity and close encounters

Sapiens: the African origins

Sapiens the conqueror

The Neanderthals

The Denisovans

The Hobbits

Homo naledi

Races and racism

3 The march for hegemony

The first “hybridization with domestication”: tools, fire and the environment

Once a player, always a player

Disappearance of the Neanderthals

Man's best friend

Self-domestication of Homo sapiens

Last act

4 The naked ape dresses up

The naked ape

Coats, shoes and sheds

Dress, shame and symbols

5 The evolution of woman

Giving birth: a risky business

Monogamy or polygamy?

Taming the female

Sexual selection: the role of women

6 Work, leisure and learning

Growing up too fast?

Art and entertainment

Teaching and learning

Trust, gossip and shared beliefs

Work leisure and learning today

7 Food for body and mind

Ritual food

Vegetarian or carnivorous? Omnivorous

Farmers and breeders

Us and them

Turning our genes on and off

8 Diseases and grief

Diseases and therapies from the past

Diseases of the present: a possible mismatch

Funerary rites

The first hierarchical societies

Bones, tombs and relics

9 Brain and mind

Inside the grey box

Brain and mind in deep time

Thinking of thinking

Modelling and imagining

10 Imaginary worlds

New realities

Overcoming perceptual barriers

Excess of representation: the economic sphere

Symmetric and asymmetric warfare

11 Homo economicus

When it all began

What is money?

Goods and services

The private accumulation of wealth

The destruction of collective wealth

12 Humans of the future

Digital networks

Social networks, digital games and search engines

Market driven digital gurus

Socio-economic networks

Social networks of knowledge

Global networks and territorial networks

Shrinking the brain

Power and pleasure

Truth and post-truth

Intelligent weapons and preventive war

Transhumanism and immortal networks

Post-humanism

Deep neural networks

Tamed by the machines?

Bibliography

O autorze

Claudio Tuniz is a Scientific Fellow of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Coordinator of the project SAPIENS (Physics Methods in Human Origin Studies) at the Fermi Centre in Rome, and Honorary Professor at the Centre for Archaeological Science in Australia. He is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (Springer Nature) and has authored The Bone Readers (with R. Gillespie and C. Jones; Routledge, 2009; Springer Nature, 2010), Radioactivity (Oxford University Press, UK, 2012; Carocci, 2013), The Science of Human Origins (with G. Manzi and D. Caramelli; Laterza, 2013; Routledge, 2014), and Humans (with P. Tiberi Vipraio; Carocci, 2015; Springer Nature, 2016).

Patrizia Tiberi Vipraio was Full Professor of Economic Policy and Associate Professor of International Economics at the University of Udine, Italy, where she also lectured on Monetary Policy and Industrial Economics. She has been associated with various universities in Europe and Australia. She has authored a number of academic papers and books, including Dal mercantilismo alla globalizzazione (From Mercantilism to Globalization) (Il Mulino, Bologna, 1999) and Humans (with Claudio Tuniz; Carocci, 2015; Springer Nature, 2016).

Blurb

This book offers fascinating insights into the lives of our ancestors and investigates the dynamic processes that led to the establishment of complex human societies. It provides a holistic view of human history and social evolution by drawing on the latest evidence from a wide range of disciplines and proposes new hypotheses on the origins of human behaviour. After exploration of the encounters of Homo sapiens with other human species, diverse aspects of life in emerging societies are examined, including clothing, work, leisure, learning, diet, disease, and the role of women. Attention is drawn to the key role of self-domestication – the process of reducing natural aggression and increasing playfulness – in enabling survival. Another focus is Homo oeconomicus. The significance of symbolic thought for the emergence of surpluses in goods and services is highlighted, with analysis of how this led to private accumulation of wealth and development of the first hierarchical societies. Finally, the discussion turns to humans of the future and the potential risks posed by artificial intelligence. The aim is to unveil the deep roots of our social behaviour and how it is going to intertwine with the development of digital technologies and social networks.