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What, then, is creativity? It is the innate quest for originality.
What, then, is creativity? It is the innate quest for originality.
Proximate causes are the what and how of a full explanation. Ultimate causes are the why.
Proximate causes are the what and how of a full explanation. Ultimate causes are the why.
The informed interplay between competition and cooperation is the flywheel of a successful social organization.
The informed interplay between competition and cooperation is the flywheel of a successful social organization.
The hunting and scavenging of large animals as opposed to collecting vegetable materials further required a communal rendezvous, or den, or both.
The hunting and scavenging of large animals as opposed to collecting vegetable materials further required a communal rendezvous, or den, or both.
To express this increasingly complex subject as succinctly as possible, the ancestors of our species developed the brain power to connect with other minds and to conceive unlimited time, distance, and potential outcomes. This infinite reach of imagination, put quite simply, is what made us great.
To express this increasingly complex subject as succinctly as possible, the ancestors of our species developed the brain power to connect with other minds and to conceive unlimited time, distance, and potential outcomes. This infinite reach of imagination, put quite simply, is what made us great.
“Our old people long ago had a government, and it was an ember from the fire where we last lived which we used to light the fire at the new place we were going.”
“Our old people long ago had a government, and it was an ember from the fire where we last lived which we used to light the fire at the new place we were going.”
language, the greatest evolutionary advance since the eukaryotic cell.
language, the greatest evolutionary advance since the eukaryotic cell.
At the highest level of creativity, all human beings talk and sing and they tell stories.
At the highest level of creativity, all human beings talk and sing and they tell stories.
Most people, it bore on me at the time without understanding the reason, have a compelling need to talk a lot.
Most people, it bore on me at the time without understanding the reason, have a compelling need to talk a lot.
What exactly is creative literature, by what means is language rendered as art? And how are we to judge it as such? The answer: by its innovation of style and metaphor, by its aesthetic surprise, by the lasting pleasure it gives.
What exactly is creative literature, by what means is language rendered as art? And how are we to judge it as such? The answer: by its innovation of style and metaphor, by its aesthetic surprise, by the lasting pleasure it gives.
all fiction worth its mettle, does what science cannot: it provides an exact snapshot of a segment of culture in a particular place and time.
all fiction worth its mettle, does what science cannot: it provides an exact snapshot of a segment of culture in a particular place and time.
During the biological evolution of our species, the origin of language evidently preceded music, and both language and music evidently preceded visual art. Is that timeline correct, and, if so, what are the implications?
During the biological evolution of our species, the origin of language evidently preceded music, and both language and music evidently preceded visual art. Is that timeline correct, and, if so, what are the implications?
As populations spread around the world, they carried intact the basic genome prescribing human intelligence and the fundamentals of human social behavior.
As populations spread around the world, they carried intact the basic genome prescribing human intelligence and the fundamentals of human social behavior.
We are primarily audiovisual, one of the few animals on the planet, along with birds and a smattering of insects and other invertebrates, that depend on sight and sound to find their way.
We are primarily audiovisual, one of the few animals on the planet, along with birds and a smattering of insects and other invertebrates, that depend on sight and sound to find their way.
pleuston
regnant
Leaders in brain science and artificial intelligence have begun to search for the origins of mind and spirit, once territories exclusive to the humanities.
Leaders in brain science and artificial intelligence have begun to search for the origins of mind and spirit, once territories exclusive to the humanities.
The problem before America is being magnified by a growing inequality of income, correlated with a sharp decline of the middle class. Americans in all socioeconomic classes now recognize that just to stay afloat, and evolve, and thereby to flourish in what is rapidly becoming the new American dream, it is well to know the full lay of the land ahead. I will next argue that this expansion requires not just the promotion of STEM but also an equally powerful new growth within the humanities.
The problem before America is being magnified by a growing inequality of income, correlated with a sharp decline of the middle class. Americans in all socioeconomic classes now recognize that just to stay afloat, and evolve, and thereby to flourish in what is rapidly becoming the new American dream, it is well to know the full lay of the land ahead. I will next argue that this expansion requires not just the promotion of STEM but also an equally powerful new growth within the humanities.
the mystery of why there are universal creative arts comes down to the question of what human beings were doing during the first nine-tenths of their existence.
the mystery of why there are universal creative arts comes down to the question of what human beings were doing during the first nine-tenths of their existence.
each human being, with no exception, belongs to a single, reproductively isolated species of animal confined by its idiosyncratic biology and social behavior.
each human being, with no exception, belongs to a single, reproductively isolated species of animal confined by its idiosyncratic biology and social behavior.
The second precondition for the origin of human societies was high levels of cooperation among members of the group.
The second precondition for the origin of human societies was high levels of cooperation among members of the group.
chimaeric
Stakhanovite
The humanities alone can correct this imperfection. Being focused on aesthetics and value, they have the power to swerve the moral trajectory into a new mode of reasoning, one that embraces scientific and technological knowledge.
The humanities alone can correct this imperfection. Being focused on aesthetics and value, they have the power to swerve the moral trajectory into a new mode of reasoning, one that embraces scientific and technological knowledge.
we need a unified humanities and science to construct a full and honest picture of what we truly are and what we can become. That combination is the potential bedrock of the human intellect.
we need a unified humanities and science to construct a full and honest picture of what we truly are and what we can become. That combination is the potential bedrock of the human intellect.
In the most advanced social organizations, characterized by a sterile worker caste and illustrated by siphonophores, which resemble jellyfish, as well as ants, bees, wasps, and termites, group selection almost entirely overrides individual selection.
In the most advanced social organizations, characterized by a sterile worker caste and illustrated by siphonophores, which resemble jellyfish, as well as ants, bees, wasps, and termites, group selection almost entirely overrides individual selection.
Because of group selection, and its obvious consequences in the evolution of human social behavior, there is reason to suppose that the better angels of our nature need not be drilled into us under the threat of divine retribution, but are instead biologically inherited.
Because of group selection, and its obvious consequences in the evolution of human social behavior, there is reason to suppose that the better angels of our nature need not be drilled into us under the threat of divine retribution, but are instead biologically inherited.
Natural selection at the group level especially favored altruism and cooperation.
Natural selection at the group level especially favored altruism and cooperation.
It is a remarkable fact that the hair-trigger capacity to acquire conditioned aversions and phobias is almost entirely limited to risks acquired in the wild by our distant human and prehuman ancestors over countless millennia.
It is a remarkable fact that the hair-trigger capacity to acquire conditioned aversions and phobias is almost entirely limited to risks acquired in the wild by our distant human and prehuman ancestors over countless millennia.
Our species has not yet had time to evolve phobias to knives, guns, and automobiles, which are by far the most frequent agents of death in modern life.
Our species has not yet had time to evolve phobias to knives, guns, and automobiles, which are by far the most frequent agents of death in modern life.
The humanities have yet to come to grips with the chimaeric nature of our minds and creativity. We are ruled by emotions inscribed in our DNA by prehistoric events little known and only partly understood. Meanwhile, infinitely puzzled, we have been catapulted into a technoscientific age that may in time serve instructions to robots well but not the ancient values and feelings that keep us indelibly human.
The humanities have yet to come to grips with the chimaeric nature of our minds and creativity. We are ruled by emotions inscribed in our DNA by prehistoric events little known and only partly understood. Meanwhile, infinitely puzzled, we have been catapulted into a technoscientific age that may in time serve instructions to robots well but not the ancient values and feelings that keep us indelibly human.
Ten thousand years after the invention of farms, villages, and empires, our spirits still dwell in the ecological motherland of the natural world.
Ten thousand years after the invention of farms, villages, and empires, our spirits still dwell in the ecological motherland of the natural world.
Annie Dillard was a pioneer in her Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,
Annie Dillard was a pioneer in her Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,
Now, sixty years later, I am ready, with admitted bias, to nominate the ant as one of the most beautiful animals in the world.
Now, sixty years later, I am ready, with admitted bias, to nominate the ant as one of the most beautiful animals in the world.
Choosing exotic over native species has profound implications for the environment, most significantly the much higher production of insects supported by native plants.
Choosing exotic over native species has profound implications for the environment, most significantly the much higher production of insects supported by native plants.
The more closely we examine the properties of metaphors and archetypes, the more it becomes obvious that science and the humanities can be blended. In the borderland of new disciplines created, it should also be possible to reinvigorate philosophy and begin a new, more endurable Enlightenment.
The more closely we examine the properties of metaphors and archetypes, the more it becomes obvious that science and the humanities can be blended. In the borderland of new disciplines created, it should also be possible to reinvigorate philosophy and begin a new, more endurable Enlightenment.
The history of drama and its critical analysis, from the Greeks forward, is to a large degree the addition of lan guage and culture to the hereditary, emotion-based repertories of an Old World primate.
The history of drama and its critical analysis, from the Greeks forward, is to a large degree the addition of lan guage and culture to the hereditary, emotion-based repertories of an Old World primate.
neseophile,
dissimulation.
Glenn Close alone gets it right—start to finish.
Contrary to common belief, the humanities are not distinct from science.
Contrary to common belief, the humanities are not distinct from science.
The act of discovery is completely a human story. Its telling is a human achievement. Scientific knowledge is the idiosyncratic, absolutely humanistic product of the human brain.
The act of discovery is completely a human story. Its telling is a human achievement. Scientific knowledge is the idiosyncratic, absolutely humanistic product of the human brain.
If science is thereby the bedrock of the humanities, the humanities have the farther reach. Where scientific observation addresses all phenomena existing in the real world, scientific experimentation addresses all possible real worlds, and scientific theory addresses all conceivable real worlds, the humanities encompass all three of these levels and one more, the infinity of all fantasy worlds.
If science is thereby the bedrock of the humanities, the humanities have the farther reach. Where scientific observation addresses all phenomena existing in the real world, scientific experimentation addresses all possible real worlds, and scientific theory addresses all conceivable real worlds, the humanities encompass all three of these levels and one more, the infinity of all fantasy worlds.
A major cause of the alarming decline in public esteem and support of the humanities is their overly narrow focus on the human condition during present and recent historical times.
they remain largely unaware and uncaring about the evolutionary events of prehistory that created the human mind, which after all created the history on which the humanities focus.
In their own way, scientists are equally unprepared for collaboration with creative artists and scholars of the humanities.
Will there be heroic ages of the intellect in the future? I feel certain there will be, and especially in the new borderland disciplines that combine scientific discovery with the innovations and insights of the humanities.
The philosopher’s stone of human self-understanding is the relation between biological and cultural evolution.
The philosopher’s stone of human self-understanding is the relation between biological and cultural evolution.
It is one thing to hold and share the elevated spiritual values of theological religion, with a belief in the divine and trust in the existence of an afterlife. It is another thing entirely to adopt a particular supernatural creation story. Faith in a creation story gives comforting membership in a tribe. But it bears stressing that not all creation stories can be true, no two can be true, and most assuredly, all are false. Each is sustained by blind tribalistic faith alone.
It is one thing to hold and share the elevated spiritual values of theological religion, with a belief in the divine and trust in the existence of an afterlife. It is another thing entirely to adopt a particular supernatural creation story. Faith in a creation story gives comforting membership in a tribe. But it bears stressing that not all creation stories can be true, no two can be true, and most assuredly, all are false. Each is sustained by blind tribalistic faith alone.
The grail to be sought is the nature of consciousness, and how it originated. Equally fundamental is the origin and proliferation of life as a whole.
