If You're Curious About These Questions...
You should listen to this audiobook
- How do non-genetic ideas known as 'memes' act selfishly to drive not only human culture, but our physical evolution as well?
- What is 'theory of mind,' and how does a human's ability to reach 'fifth-order intentionality' completely separate us from our primate cousins?
- In what surprising ways did the uniquely human act of cooking food permanently alter our evolutionary biology and physical anatomy?
Listen to What Makes Us Human? — Free Audiobook
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Key Takeaways from What Makes Us Human?
- Genetics might explain the roots of our unique cognitive powers, but they’re not the whole story.
- Memes resemble genes in being innately selfish, and this helps them – and us – endure.
- Memory lets humans “step outside” time to revisit the past and imagine the future.
- The human gift for imagination separates us from every other animal.
- Long before we spoke our thoughts, we used our hands to share needs and ideas.
Learning Tools
Reinforce what you learned from What Makes Us Human?
Mind Map
What Makes Us Human?
Genetics & Biology
DNA Differences
Brain Evolution
Cognition & Consciousness
Mental Time Travel
Imagination & Intentionality
Neuroplasticity
Culture & Memetics
Meme Machines
Communication & Language
From Gesture to Speech
Symbolic Thought
Social & Behavioral Traits
Intense Curiosity
Deep Sociability
Practical Intelligence
Cause and Effect
The Cooking Animal
Spirituality & Morality
The Half-Angel Mind
Quiz — Test Your Understanding
Question 1 of 11
According to geneticist Walter Bodmer and biostatistician K.S. Pollard, what genetic pattern is linked to human cognitive abilities?
What Makes Us Human? — Full Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: Recommendation
Chapter 2: Genetics might explain the roots of our unique cognitive powers, but they’re not the whole story.
Chapter 3: Memes resemble genes in being innately selfish, and this helps them – and us – endure.
Chapter 4: Memory lets humans “step outside” time to revisit the past and imagine the future.
Chapter 5: The human gift for imagination separates us from every other animal.
Chapter 6: Long before we spoke our thoughts, we used our hands to share needs and ideas.
Chapter 7: The human mind goes beyond the brain, and our spiritual side reflects our “half-angel” nature.
Chapter 8: Our ability to understand and consciously reshape ourselves is what makes us fully human.
Chapter 9: Bigger brains evolved in our primate forebears to weather a series of ice ages.
Chapter 10: A fierce, uniquely human curiosity drives us to explore the world around us.
Chapter 11: Through language, humans came to express abstract ideas like “love.”
Chapter 12: Humans are intensely social beings, a trait our ancestors adopted early to outwit predators.
Chapter 13: Grasping cause and effect is a uniquely human talent that enabled technology.
Chapter 14: Food lovers, take heart! You’re human because you cook.
What Makes Us Human? Summary & Overview
In What Makes Us Human (2007), a group of experts shares ideas on this centuries-long question. These blinks plumb the depths of the mystery of our species, to discover why humans alone cook food to eat, think creatively and understand cause and effect.
Who Should Listen to What Makes Us Human??
- Scientists, philosophers and theologists
- People who want to explore questions about human life
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