Human language is one of the most distinctive behavioural adaptations on the planet. Languages evolved in only one species, in only one way, without precedent, and without parallel. Hundreds of millions of years of evolution have produced hundreds of thousands of species with brains, and tens of thousands with complex learning abilities. Only one of these has ever wondered about its place in the whole scheme, because only one - through its language - evolved with the ability to do so. This book aims to alter the understanding of what it means to be human: the universe isn't a soulless, blindly spinning clockwork, but instead nascent hear and mind.
Terrence Deacon Books
August 24, 1950
Terrence W. Deacon is an author who delves into the profound questions surrounding the origins of the human mind and language. His work explores the fascinating interplay between biology, neuroscience, and the evolution of symbolic thought that defines the human experience. With scientific rigor and literary flair, he uncovers the intricate mechanisms that have allowed us to become the unique species we are. His writing offers readers a compelling journey into what it means to be human.
Incomplete nature : how mind emerged from matter
- 604 pages
- 22 hours of reading
A radical new explanation of how life and consciousness emerge from physics and chemistry.
Incomplete Nature
- 602 pages
- 22 hours of reading
Examines the emergent processes that bridge the gap between organisms that think and have consciousness and those that do not and discusses the origins of life, information, and free will.