Masters of the Planet: The Search for Our Human Origins

Endocranial volumes and human evolution

“…Evidence from the Omo Basin in Ethiopia indicates that the new species Homo sapiens, and by extension its new biology, was already in existence by around 230 Ka (Vidal et al, 2022). But current archaeological evidence suggests that the switch to symbolic information processing, along with its behavioral consequences, were not expressed until rather later, at some time around (Tattersall, 2012), or somewhat before (Marean, 2015), about 100 Ka. If so, whereas the enabling biology was acquired exaptively at the origin of Homo sapiens, modern cognition itself is a slightly later acquisition: an emergent potential based on anatomical innovation that had to be "discovered" behaviorally, much as ancestral birds only very belatedly discovered they could use their feathers to fly.…”

“…Modern Homo sapiens processes information in what is almost certainly an entirely unique fashion that is qualitatively distinct from even its most direct precursors. We modern humans deconstruct our surroundings and experiences into a vocabulary of discrete mental symbols that we can shuffle around, according to rules, to make statements about the world not only as it is, but as it might be (see Tattersall, 2012). Unlike other organisms, which live more or less directly in the worlds with which nature presents them, we live for most of the time in the worlds that we reconstruct in our heads.…”

“…Unlike other organisms, which live more or less directly in the worlds with which nature presents them, we live for most of the time in the worlds that we reconstruct in our heads. This cognitive innovation is the basis of the formidable planning ability that has enabled us so rapidly and unprecedentedly to eliminate all of our hominin competition, and that also accounts both for the explicit nature of human knowledge and the unprecedented impact (intended or otherwise) that our species has had on the planet that (so far) supports it (see discussion in Tattersall, 2012). Counterintuitively, though, the adoption of the symbolic algorithm was followed by a significant reduction in human endocranial volume (Table 1).…”

Biological anthropology's critical engagement with genomics, evolution, race/racism, and ourselves: Opportunities and challenges to making a difference in the academy and the world

“…But we are quite distinctive in contemporary and recent history-and by recent history, I mean last couple million years (The Pleistocene forward)-in regard to the patterns and processes of cognitive and behavioral ecological developments relative to other organisms (Fuentes, 2017a, Laland, 2017, Marks, 2015. Read, 2012, Tattersall, 2012, Tomasello, 2014. 1 Biological anthropology is a constant dialectic between the cultural and the biological (Fuentes, 2010;Goodman, 2013;Hoke & Schell, 2020;Marks, 2015).…”

Neurônios espelho e seus reflexos sobre a neurociência da linguagem

“…Ao assumir que um módulo linguístico dentro do cérebro foi pré-determinado geneticamente Chomsky supõe "[...] que uma mutação tenha ocorrido nas instruções genéticas para o cérebro que foi então reorganizado de acordo com as leis da física e da química para instalar a faculdade da linguagem" 422 (Chomsky, 1998, p. 43). Chomsky recorre aos trabalhos do paleoantropólogo norte americano Ian Tattersall 423 para salientar a hipótese de que a linguagem humana surgiu como um evento abrupto dentro de uma janela estreita de 50 a 100 mil anos atrás (Tattersall, 2012) (Chomsky, 2009, p. 16, aspas do autor):…”