A few excerpts from Evolution For Everyone: How Darwin's Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives :
Theology is no longer used to explain the material world, not because it is unfairly excluded but because it proved its inadequacy many times over. I mean no disrespect by saying this and will turn my attention to theology in future chapters. [p.43]
Abandoning supernatural explanations is only the first step in our multistep road to recovery. The world is full of people who have already abandoned supernatural explanations, who fully accept the fact of evolution and human origins, and yet haven't a clue about what evolution can tell us about our bodies, minds, and societies in any detail. [p.69]
Highly sensitive people (or animals) are likely to be slow in a novel situation for the simple reason that they are processing new information. They are stopping to check it out" rather than "forging ahead." Given too much sensory input, highly sensitive people tend to become overwhelmed and withdrawn from the situation. This is a form of shyness, but highly sensitive people are not intrinsically shy. After all, the purpose of processing all of that information is to arrive at new solutions to life's problems. A highly sensitive person who succeeds at doing this can become as outgoing and gregarious as someone who is merely "forging ahead." Some individual differences (such as sociability) are not innate but are manifestations of other individual differences (such as information processing) that are. [p.112]
Instead of minimalistic assumptions such as the utility maximization of rational choice theory or the blank slate of behaviorism and social constructivism, we need to discover a complex psychological architecture that evolved by genetic evolution and that causes small groups to self-organize into coordinated units. Alexis de Tocqueville got it right in 1835 when he wrote, "The village or township is the only association that is so perfectly natural that...it seems to constitute itself," but modern science has yet to even remotely take his conjecture seriously. [p.216]
It should be noted that what I am striving to initiate is very similar -- but has been amended to be successful in a resource deficient world.
Both the Nuer and the Dinka doubtless thought very hard about matters of importance in their everyday lives, such as raising cattle, growing millet, getting married, and planning raids, but they appeared unaware of the larger cultural parameters that framed their everyday decisions.
One is reminded of this when one takes note of the competitive breeding that is going on. There now appears to be a trend towards "posting" the number of offspring on the rear of vans and suvs -- much like the emblems that adorn the helmets of college football players.
It might seem odd that I began this chapter by stressing our ignorance about cultural evolution, but then proceeded to describe well-known and well-documented examples. Raymond Kelly, Waler Ong, Dick Nisbett, Robert Putnam, Francis Fukuyama, and Alexis de Tocqueville are all giants within their respective fields and do not require an introduction by an itinerant evolutionist such as myself. Or do they? It all depends upon which island of the Ivory Archipelago we visit. A giant in one discipline can be unheard-of in another. Even worse, the ideas that a giant represents can be foundational for one discipline, totally absent for another, and heretical for still another. Academic disciplines are cultures too, with certain propositions "in their bones" and others beyond their imagination. [p.231]
These are not just matters of idle intellectual curiosity. Our future depends upon adapting our culture to the realities of modern life at an unprecedented spatial and temporal scale. The idea that we can do this without a detailed knowledge of genetic and cultural evolution will appear laughable in retrospect -- if we are lucky enough to persist in our current maladaptive cultures for so long. [p.232]
Bold emphasis is mine. MH
As if to affirm the superiority of scientists, the general population seems to get dumber and dumber. The nation's children struggle to read and write, avoid science courses like the plague, and take more interest in their social lives than anything that can be called intellectual. The nation's adults work mind-numbing jobs and are distracted in their leisure hours by all manner of diversions, most of them offering short-term pleasure without long-term gain. [p.322]
Human history is the fossil record of cultural evolution, as we have seen. We need armies of scholars studying every culture as far back as possible to understand how societies function and change. If universities aren't up to the task, then others must rise to the challenge or the information will be lost forever. That's why there is an important role for amateurs, if they can be appropriately trained and organized, as I emphasize in the previous chapter. If you love history and culture, then you could contribute to such an effort. [p.346]
Recommended reading for all ages.
