HUMA 1780 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Stone Age, Neuroplasticity, Hominidae
Document Summary
No predetermined or inevitable goal with us as the best outcome (rather a story about nature"s experiments, and accident) Our primate cousins kept evolving on their own as well. Not a single line: rather many coexisting protohumans types. Sculpture (about 25,000 years ago) - from mammoth ivory. The idea that we our more developed and more civilized than animals. The ability to transmit diverse knowledge through social learning. In the stone age (99% of human culture spent here!) we communicated with one another and expressed ourselves in artistic ways. The ability to represent objects, people, and abstract concepts with symbols (vocal or visual) and use them in cultural practice. Author of crossing the line takes a neurological approach; considers brain plasticity; Use of language to express emotions, new thoughts, name new objects/subjects. Ability to play games; dance and enjoy music; enjoy ornamentation. But bonobos are capable of all the in limited ways (and some other great.