ENGLISH

Human: The Science Behind What Makes Us Unique

By Michael S. Gazzaniga

Book information

Year
2008
ISBN
0060892889, 9780060892883, 9780061691836
Open Library ID
OL24262769M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
5 MB (5597141 bytes)
Edition
1
Pages
464\460
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

One of the world's leading neuroscientists explores how best to understand the human condition by examining the biological, psychological, and highly social nature of our species within the social context of our lives. What happened along the evolutionary trail that made humans so unique? In his widely accessible style, Michael Gazzaniga looks to a broad range of studies to pinpoint the change that made us thinking, sentient humans, different from our predecessors. Neuroscience has been fixated on the life of the psychological self for the past fifty years, focusing on the brain systems underlying language, memory, emotion, and perception. What it has not done is consider the stark reality that most of the time we humans are thinking about social processes, comparing ourselves to and estimating the intentions of others. In Human, Gazzaniga explores a number of related issues, including what makes human brains unique, the importance of language and art in defining the human condition, the nature of human consciousness, and even artificial intelligence.

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