The Artificial Ape

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The Artificial Ape

Author : Timothy Taylor
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2010-07-20
Category : Science
ISBN : 023010973X

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The Artificial Ape by Timothy Taylor Pdf

A breakthrough theory that tools and technology are the real drivers of human evolution Although humans are one of the great apes, along with chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans, we are remarkably different from them. Unlike our cousins who subsist on raw food, spend their days and nights outdoors, and wear a thick coat of hair, humans are entirely dependent on artificial things, such as clothing, shelter, and the use of tools, and would die in nature without them. Yet, despite our status as the weakest ape, we are the masters of this planet. Given these inherent deficits, how did humans come out on top? In this fascinating new account of our origins, leading archaeologist Timothy Taylor proposes a new way of thinking about human evolution through our relationship with objects. Drawing on the latest fossil evidence, Taylor argues that at each step of our species' development, humans made choices that caused us to assume greater control of our evolution. Our appropriation of objects allowed us to walk upright, lose our body hair, and grow significantly larger brains. As we push the frontiers of scientific technology, creating prosthetics, intelligent implants, and artificially modified genes, we continue a process that started in the prehistoric past, when we first began to extend our powers through objects. Weaving together lively discussions of major discoveries of human skeletons and artifacts with a reexamination of Darwin's theory of evolution, Taylor takes us on an exciting and challenging journey that begins to answer the fundamental question about our existence: what makes humans unique, and what does that mean for our future?

The Digital Ape

Author : Sir Nigel Shadbolt,Roger Hampson
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2019-04-03
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9780190932992

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The Digital Ape by Sir Nigel Shadbolt,Roger Hampson Pdf

The smart-machines revolution is reshaping our lives and our societies. Here, Sir Nigel Shadbolt, one of the world's leading authorities on artificial intelligence, and Roger Hampson dispel terror, confusion, and misconception. We are not about to be elbowed aside by a rebel army of super-intelligent robots of our own creation. We were using tools before we became Homo sapiens, and will continue to build and master them, no matter how complicated they become. How we exercise that control--in our private lives, in employment, in politics--and make the best of the wonderful opportunities, will determine our collective future well-being. Chapter by chapter, The Digital Ape outline how our choices and the use and adaptation of the tools we've created can lead to opportunities for the environment (both built and natural), health, and our security. Shadbolt and Hampson are uniquely well-suited to draw on historical precedent and technical know-how to offer a vision of the future that is exciting, rather than nerve-wracking, to contemplate.

Last Ape Standing

Author : Chip Walter
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 250 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2013-01-29
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780802778918

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Last Ape Standing by Chip Walter Pdf

Over the past 150 years scientists have discovered evidence that at least twenty-seven species of humans evolved on planet Earth. These weren't simply variations on apes, but upright-walking humans who lived side by side, competing, cooperating, sometimes even mating with our direct ancestors. Why did the line of ancient humans who eventually evolved into us survive when the others were shown the evolutionary door? Chip Walter draws on new scientific discoveries to tell the fascinating tale of how our survival was linked to our ancestors being born more prematurely than others, having uniquely long and rich childhoods, evolving a new kind of mind that made us resourceful and emotionally complex; how our highly social nature increased our odds of survival; and why we became self aware in ways that no other animal seems to be. Last Ape Standing also profiles the mysterious "others" who evolved with us-the Neanderthals of Europe, the "Hobbits" of Indonesia, the Denisovans of Siberia and the just-discovered Red Deer Cave people of China who died off a mere eleven thousand years ago. Last Ape Standing is evocative science writing at its best-a witty, engaging and accessible story that explores the evolutionary events that molded us into the remarkably unique creatures we are; an investigation of why we do, feel, and think the things we do as a species, and as people-good and bad, ingenious and cunning, heroic and conflicted.

From Apes to Cyborgs

Author : Claudio Tuniz,Patrizia Tiberi Vipraio
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 182 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2020-02-29
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9783030365226

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From Apes to Cyborgs by Claudio Tuniz,Patrizia Tiberi Vipraio Pdf

This book offers fascinating insights into the lives of our ancestors and investigates the dynamic processes that led to the establishment of complex human societies. It provides a holistic view of human history and social evolution by drawing on the latest evidence from a wide range of disciplines and proposes new hypotheses on the origins of human behaviour. After exploration of the encounters of Homo sapiens with other human species, diverse aspects of life in emerging societies are examined, including clothing, work, leisure, learning, diet, disease, and the role of women. Attention is drawn to the key role of self-domestication – the process of reducing natural aggression and increasing playfulness – in enabling survival. Another focus is Homo oeconomicus. The significance of symbolic thought for the emergence of surpluses in goods and services is highlighted, with analysis of how this led to private accumulation of wealth and development of the first hierarchical societies. Finally, the discussion turns to humans of the future and the potential risks posed by artificial intelligence. The aim is to unveil the deep roots of our social behaviour and how it is going to intertwine with the development of digital technologies and social networks.

The Waterside Ape

Author : Peter H. Rhys Evans
Publisher : CRC Press
Page : 226 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2019-07-24
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780429629419

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The Waterside Ape by Peter H. Rhys Evans Pdf

Why are humans so fond of water? Why is our skin colour so variable? Why aren’t we hairy like our close ape relatives? A savannah scenario of human evolution has been widely accepted primarily due to fossil evidence; and fossils do not offer insight into these questions. Other alternative evolutionary scenarios might, but these models have been rejected. This book explores a controversial idea – that human evolution was intimately associated with watery habitats as much or more than typical savannahs. Written from a medical point of view, the author presents evidence supporting a credible alternative explanation for how humans diverged from our primate ancestors. Anatomical and physiological evidence offer insight into hairlessness, different coloured skin, subcutaneous fat, large brains, a marine-type kidney, a unique heat regulation system and speech. This evidence suggests that humans may well have evolved, not just as savannah mammals, as is generally believed, but with more affinity for aquatic habitats – rivers, streams, lakes and coasts. Key Features: Presents the evidence for a close association between riparian habitats and the origin of humans Reviews the "savannah ape" hypothesis for human origins Describes various anatomical adaptations that are associated with hypotheses of human evolution Explores characteristics from the head and neck such as skull and sinus structures, the larynx and ear structures and functions Corroborates a novel scenario for the origin of human kind ‘... a counterpoint to the textbooks or other books which deal with human evolution. I think readers will see it as a clearly written, well-supported discussion of an alternativeperspective on human origins’. —Kathlyn Stewart, Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa ‘There is a pressing need to expand discussions of human evolution to includenon-anthropocentric narratives that use comparative data. Dr Rhys-Evans’ specific expertise and experience with the human head, neck, ears, throat, mouth and sinuses, provides him with a distinct perspective from which to approach the subject of human evolution. Moreover, his understanding of non-anthropocentric views of human evolution (water-based models), allow him to apply a biological approach to the subject, missing in more traditional (savannah-based) models’. —Stephen Munro, National Museum of Australia

The Thinking Ape

Author : Richard W. Byrne
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 278 pages
File Size : 47,9 Mb
Release : 1995
Category : Animal intelligence
ISBN : 9780198522652

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The Thinking Ape by Richard W. Byrne Pdf

"Intelligence" has long been considered to be a feature unique to human beings, giving us the capacity to imagine, to think, to deceive, to make complex connections between cause and effect, to devise elaborate stategies for solving problems. However, like all our other features, intelligenceis a product of evolutionary change. Until recently, it was difficult to obtain evidence of this process from the frail testimony of a few bones and stone tools. It has become clear in the last 15 years that the origins of human intelligence can be investigated by the comparative study ofprimates, our closest non-human relatives, giving strong impetus to the case for an "evolutionary psychology", the scientific study of the mind.

Catching Fire

Author : Richard Wrangham
Publisher : Profile Books
Page : 309 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2010-08-06
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781847652102

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Catching Fire by Richard Wrangham Pdf

In this stunningly original book, Richard Wrangham argues that it was cooking that caused the extraordinary transformation of our ancestors from apelike beings to Homo erectus. At the heart of Catching Fire lies an explosive new idea: the habit of eating cooked rather than raw food permitted the digestive tract to shrink and the human brain to grow, helped structure human society, and created the male-female division of labour. As our ancestors adapted to using fire, humans emerged as "the cooking apes". Covering everything from food-labelling and overweight pets to raw-food faddists, Catching Fire offers a startlingly original argument about how we came to be the social, intelligent, and sexual species we are today. "This notion is surprising, fresh and, in the hands of Richard Wrangham, utterly persuasive ... Big, new ideas do not come along often in evolution these days, but this is one." -Matt Ridley, author of Genome

Demonic Males

Author : Richard W. Wrangham,Dale Peterson
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Page : 372 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 1996
Category : Nature
ISBN : 0395877431

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Demonic Males by Richard W. Wrangham,Dale Peterson Pdf

Whatever their virtues, men are more violent than women. Why do men kill, rape, and wage war, and what can be done about it? Drawing on the latest discoveries about human evolution and about our closest living relatives, the great apes, "Demonic Males" offers some startling new answers to these questions.

The Ape that Understood the Universe

Author : Steve Stewart-Williams
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2019-11-21
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9781108776035

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The Ape that Understood the Universe by Steve Stewart-Williams Pdf

The Ape that Understood the Universe is the story of the strangest animal in the world: the human animal. It opens with a question: How would an alien scientist view our species? What would it make of our sex differences, our sexual behavior, our altruistic tendencies, and our culture? The book tackles these issues by drawing on two major schools of thought: evolutionary psychology and cultural evolutionary theory. The guiding assumption is that humans are animals, and that like all animals, we evolved to pass on our genes. At some point, however, we also evolved the capacity for culture - and from that moment, culture began evolving in its own right. This transformed us from a mere ape into an ape capable of reshaping the planet, travelling to other worlds, and understanding the vast universe of which we're but a tiny, fleeting fragment. Featuring a new foreword by Michael Shermer.

Artificial Intimacy

Author : Rob Brooks
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 387 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2021-11-19
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9780231553858

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Artificial Intimacy by Rob Brooks Pdf

What happens when the human brain, which evolved over eons, collides with twenty-first-century technology? Machines can now push psychological buttons, stimulating and sometimes exploiting the ways people make friends, gossip with neighbors, and grow intimate with lovers. Sex robots present the humanoid face of this technological revolution—yet although it is easy to gawk at their uncanniness, more familiar technologies based in artificial intelligence and virtual reality are insinuating themselves into human interactions. Digital lovers, virtual friends, and algorithmic matchmakers help us manage our feelings in a world of cognitive overload. Will these machines, fueled by masses of user data and powered by algorithms that learn all the time, transform the quality of human life? Artificial Intimacy offers an innovative perspective on the possibilities of the present and near future. The evolutionary biologist Rob Brooks explores the latest research on intimacy and desire to consider the interaction of new technologies and fundamental human behaviors. He details how existing artificial intelligences can already learn and exploit human social needs—and are getting better at what they do. Brooks combines an understanding of core human traits from evolutionary biology with analysis of how cultural, economic, and technological contexts shape the ways people express them. Beyond the technology, he asks what the implications of artificial intimacy will be for how we understand ourselves.

Strategy, Evolution, and War

Author : Kenneth Payne
Publisher : Georgetown University Press
Page : 270 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2018
Category : TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING
ISBN : 9781626165809

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Strategy, Evolution, and War by Kenneth Payne Pdf

The evolution of strategists -- Defining strategy as psychology -- Evolutionary strategy -- Strategic heuristics and biases -- Culture meets evolved strategy -- The pen and the sword in ancient Greece -- Clausewitz explores the psychology of strategy -- Nuclear weapons are not psychologically revolutionary -- AI and strategy -- Tactical artificial intelligence arrives -- Artificial general intelligence does strategy -- Conclusion: strategy evolves beyond AI

Apes, Language, and the Human Mind

Author : E. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh,Stuart Shanker,Talbot J. Taylor
Publisher : New York : Oxford University Press
Page : 255 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : Animal communication
ISBN : 9780195109863

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Apes, Language, and the Human Mind by E. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh,Stuart Shanker,Talbot J. Taylor Pdf

Current primate research has yielded stunning results that not only threaten our underlying assumptions about the cognitive and communicative abilities of nonhuman primates, but also bring into question what it means to be human. At the forefront of this research, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh recently has achieved a scientific breakthrough of impressive proportions. Her work with Kanzi, a laboratory-reared bonobo, has led to Kanzi's acquisition of linguistic and cognitive skills similar to those of a two and a half year-old human child. Apes, Language, and the Human Mind skillfully combines a fascinating narrative of the Kanzi research with incisive critical analysis of the research's broader linguistic, psychological, and anthropological implications. The first part of the book provides a detailed, personal account of Kanzi's infancy, youth, and upbringing, while the second part addresses the theoretical, conceptual, and methodological issues raised by the Kanzi research. The authors discuss the challenge to the foundations of modern cognitive science presented by the Kanzi research; the methods by which we represent and evaluate the abilities of both primates and humans; and the implications which ape language research has for the study of the evolution of human language. Sure to be controversial, this exciting new volume offers a radical revision of the sciences of language and mind, and will be important reading for all those working in the fields of primatology, anthropology, linguistics, philosophy of mind, and cognitive and developmental psychology.

Ape House

Author : Sara Gruen
Publisher : Bond Street Books
Page : 321 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2010-09-07
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780307367952

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Ape House by Sara Gruen Pdf

The wildly entertaining new novel from the bestselling author of Water for Elephants. Sam, Bonzi, Lola, Mbongo, Jelani, and Makena are no ordinary apes. These bonobos, like others of their species, are capable of reason and carrying on deep relationships—but unlike most bonobos, they also know American Sign Language. Isabel Duncan, a scientist at the Great Ape Language Lab, doesn’t understand people, but animals she gets—especially the bonobos. Isabel feels more comfortable in their world than she’s ever felt among humans . . . until she meets John Thigpen, a very married reporter who braves the ever-present animal rights protesters outside the lab to see what’s really going on inside. When an explosion rocks the lab, severely injuring Isabel and “liberating” the apes, John’s human interest piece turns into the story of a lifetime, one he’ll risk his career and his marriage to follow. Then a reality TV show featuring the missing apes debuts under mysterious circumstances, and it immediately becomes the biggest—and unlikeliest—phenomenon in the history of modern media. Millions of fans are glued to their screens watching the apes order greasy take-out, have generous amounts of sex, and sign for Isabel to come get them. Now, to save her family of apes from this parody of human life, Isabel must connect with her own kind, including John, a green-haired vegan, and a retired porn star with her own agenda. Ape House delivers great entertainment, but it also opens the animal world to us in ways few novels have done, securing Sara Gruen’s place as a master storyteller who allows us to see ourselves as we never have before. BONUS: This edition contains a reader's guide.

The Beginning was the End

Author : Oscar Kiss Maerth
Publisher : New York : Praeger
Page : 264 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 1974
Category : Brain
ISBN : UOM:39015037395202

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The Beginning was the End by Oscar Kiss Maerth Pdf

Asserts the human species is at a low level in the evolutionary chain and that the human brain grew larger than its physical skull could accomodate, causing damage which resulted in the species' alienation from the immaterial world.

The Apes of Wrath

Author : Richard Klaw
Publisher : Tachyon Publications
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2013-01-08
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781616961411

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The Apes of Wrath by Richard Klaw Pdf

In the Rue Morgue, the jungles of Tarzan, the fables of Aesop, and outer space, the apes in these seventeen fantastic tales boldly go where humans dare not. Including a foreword from Rupert Wyatt, the director of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, this provocative anthology delves into our fascination with and fear of our simian cousins. “Evil Robot Monkey” introduces a disgruntled chimp implanted with a chip that makes him cleverer than both his cohort and humans alike. In “Murders in the Rue Morgue,” a murder mystery unravels with the discovery of a hair that does not appear quite human. Merging steampunk with slapstick, “The Ape-Box Affair” has a not-so-ordinary orangutan landing on Earth in a spherical flying ship—where he is promptly mistaken for an alien. King Kong sets a terrible example with booze and Barbie dolls in “Godzilla’s 12-Step Program.” If you’ve ever wondered what makes humans different from apes, soon you’ll be asking yourself, is it even less than we think?