The Robot's Rebellion: Finding Meaning in the Age of Darwin

Description

The idea that we might be robots is no longer the stuff of science fiction; decades of research in evolutionary biology and cognitive science have led many esteemed scientists to the conclusion that, according to the precepts of universal Darwinism, humans are merely the hosts for two replicators (genes and memes) that have no interest in us except as conduits for replication. Richard Dawkins, for example, jolted us into realizing that we are just survival mechanisms for our own genes, sophisticated robots in service of huge colonies of replicators to whom concepts of rationality, intelligence.;Contents; Preface; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1: Staring into the Darwinian Abyss; Chapter 2: A Brain at War with Itself; Chapter 3: The Robot's Secret Weapon; Chapter 4: The Biases of the Autonomous Brain: Characteristics of the Short-Leash Mind that Sometimes Cause Us Grief; Chapter 5: How Evolutionary Psychology Goes Wrong; Chapter 6: Dysrationalia: Why So Many Smart People Do So Many Dumb Things; Chapter 7: From the Clutches of the Genes into the Clutches of the Memes; Chapter 8: A Soul without Mystery: Finding Meaning in the Age of Darwin; Notes; References; Author Index; Subject Index.