Description
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Human communication is obviously different from that of any other species. We alone produce television shows, compose music and poetry, argue aesthetics and ethics, do stand-up comedy, write annual reports, applications, scientific treatises and love letters. Yet, as remarkably distinct as are these human communication processes, if we rule out divine intervention or extraterrestrial explanations, evolutionary theory tells us that this human uniqueness must be explained by the gradual, incremental accumulation of traits, building upon the long line of our evolutionary ancestors. This book explores the evolutionary legacy of human communication and the implications of that legacy for understanding our human world.
Table of Contents
Preface. 7
PROLOGUE: Understanding Biological Realism.. 12
Biological Realism Explained. 14
The Biological Failings of Subjectivist Human Communication Studies. 19
The Problems with Group Selection and Cultural Evolution. 23
Evolution, Human Sociality and the Modern World. 29
PART ONE: Not What We Think. 36
Chapter 1: HOW REASONABLE AN ANIMAL?. 38
Chapter 2: THE ILLUSION OF THE CONSCIOUS WILL. 56
Chapter 3: EVOLUTION OF THE MODULAR MIND.. 72
PART TWO: Against the Myth of the Robot Revolt. 83
Chapter 4: THE MECHANICS OF FITNESS. 86
Chapter 5: THE ALTRUISM OF ROBOTS. 103
Chapter 6: THE SOCIETY OF GENE MACHINES. 112
Excursus I: WHY CULTURE ISN’T. 121
Culture as Random, Self-Originating Cause. 125
Critical Reassessments of the Principle Presumption. 127
Some Thoughts on a Constructive Model 137
PART THREE: Uncrossing Our Signals. 143
Chapter 7: THE SEMIOTICS OF ANIMAL COMMUNICATION.. 145
Excursus II: THE SEMIOTICS OF BIOSEMIOTICS. 159
Chapter 8: INFORMATION, SIGNALING AND COMMUNICATION.. 165
Chapter 9: THE EVOLUTION OF HUMAN SOCIAL INFORMATION.. 176
Hominid Entry into the Cognitive Niche. 179
Evolution and Speech Acts. 188
Chapter 10: THE MACHIAVELLIAN MODULE. 191
Chapter 11: TALKING ILLUSIONS IN ACTION.. 210
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