The Recursive Mind challenges the commonly held
notion that language is what makes us uniquely human. In
this compelling book, Michael Corballis argues that what
distinguishes us in the animal kingdom is our capacity
for recursion: the ability to embed our thoughts within
other thoughts. ''I think, therefore I am,'' is an
example of recursive thought, because the thinker has
inserted himself into his thought. Recursion enables us
to conceive of our own minds and the minds of others. It
also gives us the power of mental ''time travel'' - the
ability to insert past experiences, or imagined future
ones, into present consciousness. Drawing on
neuroscience, psychology, animal behavior, anthropology,
and archaeology, Corballis demonstrates how these
recursive structures led to the emergence of language
and speech, which ultimately enabled us to share our
thoughts, plan with others, and reshape our environment
to better reflect our creative imaginations. He shows
how the recursive mind was critical to survival in the
harsh conditions of the Pleistocene epoch, and how it
evolved to foster social cohesion. He traces how
language itself adapted to recursive thinking, first
through manual gestures, then later, with the emergence
of Homo sapiens, vocally. Toolmaking and manufacture
arose, and the application of recursive principles to
these activities in turn led to the complexities of
human civilization, the extinction of fellow
large-brained hominins like the Neandertals, and our
species' supremacy over the physical world. |
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