The Science of Consciousness

About this event

Our purpose in this group is to explore the science of consciousness, drawing from sources that range from neuroscience to cognitive psychology to philosophy of mind. Although we will occasionally draw from the insights of spiritual introspective traditions, our focus here will be on what can be supported by the best current science regarding how the mind supervenes on the brain. For the next few weeks, we'll be discussing Masters of the Planet by Ian Tattersall. We left off the discussion last time at page 56. Please read ahead through Chapter 6. 50,000 years ago – merely a blip in evolutionary time – our Homo sapiens ancestors were competing for existence with several other human species, just as their own precursors had been doing for millions of years. Yet something about our species separated it from the pack, and led to its survival while the rest became extinct. So just what was it that allowed Homo sapiens to become Masters of the Planet? Curator Emeritus at the American Museum of Natural History, Ian Tattersall takes us deep into the fossil record to uncover what made humans so special. Surveying a vast field from initial bipedality to language and intelligence, Tattersall argues that Homo sapiens acquired a winning combination of traits that was not the result of long term evolutionary refinement. Instead it emerged quickly, shocking their world and changing it forever. https://www.amazon.com/Masters-Planet-Search-Origins-MacSci-ebook/dp/B0065SSA94/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1K3X8N9O67JHK&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.T0hiRL6KL_eJwDmgGlPD1RVB4yc8U-nll6CnIS-HPNcDMzcrLac3aIQr3UK2bxBTrSOqcfHUrfUp8HWpHKj4-b_c-Y5GcPRwNQr1ry6LPm0J5LJSgVJw0qps3sHqlAQpFSUBS8D7HwBwUulkpBc1BLxTfspjmCsznVvcoFqaljB20aXMRwUX_eGDbaxfSrZVq0ntF-8HMnxEMvV_u7M-o6ajTSWEYJ68KO9MhNiuX2M.qKstfbxTilYmHr6aiHxq-1jAmHUhLvVRH1IR2pCP8gQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=masters+of+the+planet&qid=1789091607&s=books&sprefix=masters+of+the+planet%2Cstripbooks%2C193&sr=1-1