Being human
Lucy Odling-Smee
Friday, 17 October 2008 14:46 UTC
What can science tell us about why we behave in the way that we do? And what are the consequences of that knowledge for society?
A series of Essays in Nature asks exactly these questions. Experts explore the potential impact on society, now and in the future, of discoveries in psychology, anthropology, genetics, neuroscience, game theory and network engineering.
All eight essays in this series have now been published. Take a look at the collection and tell us what you think.
Updated 12 February 2009 18:04 UTC
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An excellent topic. It is time that scientists address religion in a scientific way. Old divisions between science and religion became outdated. Religion, or at least the religious feelings of sublime, which are the foundations of all religions, can be understood scientifically, and this understanding is non-reductive (a religion is not “just this or that”). The emotions-feelings of sublime are related to the satisfaction of the knowledge instinct at the highest level of the mind hierarchy. In several recent papers of mine and my co-authors, we explain that (1) humans have an inborn need to improve their understanding of the world, (2) human mind is organized into an approximate hierarchy, and at the top of the hierarchy representations-emotions are non-differentiated and mostly unconscious; (3) we feel them as the meaning and purpose of our life; improvement of our understanding-believing that they exist we feel as emotions of beautiful; improvement of our understanding-believing of what we should do to make our life meaningful we feel as emotions of religio usly sublime. This explanation is non-redictive, because of a complex interaction among mechanisms of concepts, emotions, conscious, and unconscious. Of course this short explanation left many important details out, more details are on my website and in several papers referenced on this site (published in journals “Physics of Life Reviews,” “Zygon,” and others.
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The second essay in the series is
Language: a social history of words
Language evolved as part of a uniquely human group of traits, the interdependence of which calls for an integrated approach to the study of brain function, argue Eörs Szathmáry and Szabolcs Számadó.
See Nature 456, 40; 6 November 2008. -
Two more essays in this series are now out:
Conflict: Altruism’s midwife
Generosity and solidarity towards one’s own may have emerged only in combination with hostility towards outsiders, says Samuel Bowles.Nature 456, 326 (20 November 2008) doi:10.1038/456326a
Generosity: A winner’s advice
Mathematical models can reveal how prosocial human behaviour – and even social intelligence and language – have evolved, argues Martin A. Nowak.Nature 456, 579 (4 December 2008)doi:10.1038/456579a
All the contributions to this essay series are being collected into a Nature web focus.
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Maxine, from the list of associated sciences, you left a new and rather important one out: neuroeconomics.
Of the many types of work neuroeconomists do, I happen to work with hormones (neuropeptides) on humans and I have an article out on generosity and how and what activates it in humans. My article is “Zak PJ, Stanton AA, Ahmadi S. Oxytocin Increases Generosity in Humans PLOS ONE 2(11), e1128 (2007)” and a link to it is posted at my network page at http://network.nature.com/people/angela/profile for easy download.
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Thanks, Angela. Lucy is the editor of this series, not me, and she mentions in her post here that the neurosciences are covered in the series. I think it would be more conducive to this conversation if you would like to comment on what you think of the essay, rather than simply drawing attention to a publication of your own on a similar topic!
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The next essay is now published.
Migration: An engine for social change
The movement of people into societies that offer a better way of life is a more powerful driver of cultural evolution than conflict and conquest, say Peter J. Richerson and Robert Boyd. -
Here is the next Essay in the series, published in Nature on 8 January 2009, Love: Neuroscience reveals all; 457, p 148.
“Poetry it is not. Nor is it particularly romantic. But reducing love to its component parts helps us to understand human sexuality, and may lead to drugs that enhance or diminish our love for another”, says Larry J. Young of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. -
This particular essay has been picked up quite a bit in the popular press, including the UK’s Daily Mirror, not usually a newspaper known for its science coverage. It devotes four whole sentences to this Essay, though.
More interestingly, there is a nice piece here from the San Fancisco Chronicle, and the BBC’s take is here. -
Kinship: Race relations is the next essay in the series (Nature 457, 380-381; 2009), in which Aravinda Chakravarti argues that our notions of family, population and race may need revising in the age of personal genomics.
The whole series of essays is being collected into a web focus, from which all can be accessed.
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Last week Nature marked the end of this series of Essays that reveal how the latest research is altering our understanding of what it is to be human. Each Essay looks at a particular human characteristic or issue that’s central to human life such as language, conflict and love. In the last Essay, Melanie Moses gets to grips with humanity’s greatest challenge: how to reduce the demand for energy in increasingly complex, networked and energy-dependent societies. (Nature 457, 660-661;2009).
Web focus — Being Human (collection of all the Essays in this series).
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