
Landscape of the Mind
Human Evolution and the Archaeology of Thought
John Hoffecker(Author)
Columbia University Press
Will be published approx. on 31. May 2011
Book
Hardback
288 pages
978-0-231-14704-0 (ISBN)
Description
In Landscape of the Mind, John F. Hoffecker explores the origin and growth of the human mind, drawing on archaeology, history, and the fossil record. He suggests that, as an indirect result of bipedal locomotion, early humans developed a feedback relationship among their hands, brains, and tools that evolved into the capacity to externalize thoughts in the form of shaped stone objects. When anatomically modern humans evolved a parallel capacity to externalize thoughts as symbolic language, individual brains within social groups became integrated into a "neocortical Internet," or super-brain, giving birth to the mind. Noting that archaeological traces of symbolism coincide with evidence of the ability to generate novel technology, Hoffecker contends that human creativity, as well as higher order consciousness, is a product of the superbrain. He equates the subsequent growth of the mind with human history, which began in Africa more than 50,000 years ago. As anatomically modern humans spread across the globe, adapting to a variety of climates and habitats, they redesigned themselves technologically and created alternative realities through tools, language, and art.
Hoffecker connects the rise of civilization to a hierarchical reorganization of the super-brain, triggered by explosive population growth. Subsequent human history reflects to varying degrees the suppression of the mind's creative powers by the rigid hierarchies of nationstates and empires, constraining the further accumulation of knowledge. The modern world emerged after 1200 from the fragments of the Roman Empire, whose collapse had eliminated a central authority that could thwart innovation. Hoffecker concludes with speculation about the possibility of artificial intelligence and the consequences of a mind liberated from its organic antecedents to exist in an independent, nonbiological form.
Hoffecker connects the rise of civilization to a hierarchical reorganization of the super-brain, triggered by explosive population growth. Subsequent human history reflects to varying degrees the suppression of the mind's creative powers by the rigid hierarchies of nationstates and empires, constraining the further accumulation of knowledge. The modern world emerged after 1200 from the fragments of the Roman Empire, whose collapse had eliminated a central authority that could thwart innovation. Hoffecker concludes with speculation about the possibility of artificial intelligence and the consequences of a mind liberated from its organic antecedents to exist in an independent, nonbiological form.
Reviews / Votes
Overall, this is a much needed addition to the area of cognitive thought, an area of research that will become increasingly important within archaeology and paleoanthropology over the coming decades. -- Samuel P. Griffiths PaleoAnthropology Landscape of the Mind provides an innovative view on the feedback between the biological and social in human evolution. -- Matthew L. Sisk Journal of Anthropological Research The volume would be a very good read for nonspecialists interested in cognitive evolution in general and human evolution in particular. -- Thomas Wynn Quarterly Review of BiologyMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
<B>66</B>
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
539 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-231-14704-0 (9780231147040)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
09/2015
1st Edition
De Gruyter
from
€65.95
Available for download
Person
John F. Hoffecker is a fellow of the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is the author of A Prehistory of the North: Human Settlement of the Higher Latitudes and coauthor of Human Ecology of Beringia, which was named a Choice outstanding academic title.
Content
Preface and Acknowledgments 1. Modernity and Infinity 2. Daydreams of the Lower Paleolithic 3. Modern Humans and the Super-Brain 4. The Upper Paleolithic as History 5. Mindscapes of the Postglacial Epoch 6. The Vision Animal Notes Bibliography Index