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Title: Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect by Paul R. Ehrlich ISBN: 0-14-200053-1 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 15 January, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.53 (17 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A "must read"
Comment: "Human Natures" is far and away the clearest, most comprehensive, and most compelling synthesis of what is known about the co-evolution of humans, their cultures, and the rest of nature currently available. The title subtly reflects the important distinction between human "nature" and human "natures" - the plural implying that our species has many and varied natures - not a single unitary nature. This pluralism is in stark contrast to the stilted and unrealistic assumptions about a singular human nature embodied in both the reductionist biological model and the conventional economic model. The biological reductionist idea that all human behavior can be reduced to a genetic basis is clearly insufficient in light of the massive importance of cultural evolution in shaping human behavior. Likewise, the all-knowing, perfectly rational economic utility or profit maximizer of the conventional economic model may be convenient for mathematical tractability, but it is so far from the reality of human natures that it is laughable. The only mystery is why, given what we know about human natures, more economists are not laughing. The case of Phineas Gage, described by Ehrlich in the book, serves to illustrate the size of the chasm between the conventional economic model and reality. Gage was a railroad worker who had a large portion of his frontal lobe removed when a 1.25 inch-thick tamping rod shot through his head in a freak railroad accident in 1848. Amazingly, Gage survived and was not even knocked unconscious by the accident. But he was a changed man. He had lost the part of the brain that we now know is dedicated to emotional responses. A surprising result was that while he could think, talk, and calculate perfectly well - he was completely "rational" - he simply could not make a decision. It turns out that rationality without emotions leads to swamping with details and the inability to make any decisions at all, even ones so trivial as what to eat for dinner. That emotions are necessary for decision making is an interesting part of real human natures, but is in direct contradiction to the conventional economic assumptions about decision-making, which considers emotions to be a hinderence to "rational" decision-making. But as Ehrlich points out: "Human emotional capacities evolved along with our cognitive capacities. Without the ability to respond to stimuli with appropriate emotions, critical decision making becomes impossible" (pp. 121-122). The challenge is to build economic models that incorporate the realities of human natures, rather than to assume them away. The weakest aspect of the book is the imbalance between its treatment of genetic and cultural evolution. While Ehrlich takes pains to acknowledge the large and growing importance of cultural evolution in shaping human natures, he gives very little space in the book to the details of how cultural evolution works and does not attempt to synthesize the research in this area in anything like the completeness with which he treats human genetic evolution. For example, he notes that cultural evolution has several unique characteristics relative to genetic evolution. Most importantly, learned behavior can be passed on through the culture to genetically unrelated individuals and changes in culture can occur with light speed relative to genetic evolution. But how does this work and what does this mean for human natures and for the future of our society? This and several other key questions about the details of the relationship between genetic and cultural evolution are hinted at in passing, but left largely unaddressed in the current volume. For example, conventional biological evolution theory is largely circular and descriptive, not predictive. It is one thing to describe how alligators evolved, but quite another to be able to predict the emergence of alligators. To do this one would need to know the underlying criteria for success in evolution that can be specified before the fact. From a predictive point of view, it doesn't help much to say that those individuals that reproduce best will survive, unless one can say why particular individuals will be able to reproduce better than others in particular situations. Most human evolutionary ecologists work on time scales that make this question moot, but it is essential for understanding cultural evolution, the results of which are observable in units of years rather than thousands of years. To use the evolutionary paradigm in predictive modeling, we require a quantitative measure of fitness (or more generally performance) that can be specified before the fact, in order to drive the selection process. Another important question has to do with the "reflexive" nature of cultural evolution - because we are capable of at least some degree of conceptualization and foresight, we can exert at least partial control over our own selection environment. The process then becomes one of conscious design and tinkering with the cultural evolutionary process rather than passive response to externally determined criteria. How does this process work and what are it's limits? Devising policy instruments and identifying incentives that can translate foresight into effective modifications of the short-run cultural evolutionary dynamics is the key research challenge. In cultural evolution, we have the unique potential to first envision our goals and then modify the selection criteria in order to achieve them. Ehrlich's book provides a solid basis for addressing these and countless other questions that are critical to understanding our human natures and how we can actively participate in changing them. Adequately understanding and controlling our complex human natures is essential to the continued survival of our so far exceptionally successful species.
Rating: 5
Summary: genetic and cultural coevolution
Comment: This scholarly opus written in a conversational style by Paul R. Ehrlich, Professor of Biological Sciences at Stanford University, sets forth the thesis that human nature is the product of genetic and cultural coevolution. He states that while genes predispose and constrain human behavior, its cultural expression is undetermined and highly variable. This view leads him to advocate the use of the expression, "human natures," which denotes cultural pluralism. In effect, he also argues against the position that genetic determinism fully explains human behavior.
One example he gives concerns the nature of language. Human beings may have inherited the genetic capacity for language, but they do not develop languages according to predetermined forms. Development of languages in human populations thus illustrates the undetermined quality of evolution in human behavior.
The book is roughly divided into two parts, so that the first makes a gradual transition into the second. In the first part, the author offers a detailed and complete account of human biological evolution. In the second part, he explores the evolution of human behavior, from its primitive counterparts in the behavior of other primates to its complex modern manifestations.
All throughout, his approach, according to his own description, is to summarize the latest scientific research and then to offer his own opinion on issues that are largely inconclusive. As an in-depth compendium, the book makes a good reference.
In the second part, Ehrlich tackles intriguing topics in evolutionary psychology--the evolution of language, sex, war, religion, art, ethics, to name a few. I believe any careful reader will come away, as I did, with insights. For example, I was enlightened by his observation that while our hundreds of thousands of years of genetic evolution as small-group hunter-gatherers allow us the capacity for meaningful personal interaction with perhaps 90-220 individuals, we live in modern societies organized around millions or even billions of citizens. This fact explains the impersonality and alienation in modern states besides the incredible inhumanity of wars waged on a modern scale.
However, I came away somewhat dissatisfied with the second part for two reasons. First, Ehrlich does not offer any unified theory upon which to interpret cultural evolution. On this question, he says that human culture is indeed vast and it awaits the next crop of geniuses to construct such a theory a la Darwin. Second, it became apparent, at least to me, that while the author is in his element when he draws upon disciplines cognate to his own, such as cultural anthropology, he is limited in covering the contributions of less related disciplines like economics or art history to understanding cultural evolution. But I would not expect anyone, Ehrlich included, to be so complete in scope.
I might suggest that the most rewarding way of reading the second part is to treat it as little essays, from as long as a chapter to as short as a section, in which the author is guided throughout by the interpretative framework of genetic and cultural coevolution.
This book is worth reading--and keeping--for anyone interested in human evolution.
Rating: 1
Summary: For the true believers only
Comment: Professor Paul Ehrlich strikes back! Long recognized as the West's response to Lysenko, his list of scientific publications includes "The Population Bomb" and "Betrayal of Science and Reason". This time, Ehrlich ventures into the fields of genetics, evolution, and human nature. The book is recommended to the true believers only. Everybody else should consult Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins, Steven Pinker, and the likes.
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Title: New World New Mind: Moving Toward Conscious Evolution by Robert E. Ornstein, Paul R. Ehrlich ISBN: 1883536243 Publisher: Malor Books Pub. Date: September, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: Thundering Silence: Sutra on Knowing the Better Way to Catch a Snake by Thich Nhat Hanh, Annabel Laity, Thich Nhatthanh ISBN: 0938077643 Publisher: Parallax Pr Pub. Date: September, 1993 List Price(USD): $8.00 |
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Title: Science As a Way of Knowing: The Foundations of Modern Biology by John A. Moore ISBN: 0674794826 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: September, 1999 List Price(USD): $21.50 |
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Title: Nature Via Nurture : Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human by Matt Ridley ISBN: 0060006781 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 29 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: The Freud Reader by Sigmund Freud, Peter Gay ISBN: 0393314030 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: September, 1995 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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