Stone Age Present: How Evolution Has Shaped Modern Life -- From Sex, Violence and Language to Emotions, Morals and Communities - Softcover

Allman, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0684804557 ISBN 13: 9780684804552

Publisher: Touchstone, 1995

Synopsis

Have you ever wandered why men don't ask for directions? Why we react with anger to infidelity? Why we love music and art? Why war and racism still thrive in our most sophisticated cultures?

In this fascinating synthesis of the disciplines of anthropology, psychology, linguistics, philosophy, and biology, William Allman shows us how our minds have evolved in response to challenges faced by our prehistoric ancestors, and reveals how our brains continue to harbor that legacy in the present day.

Scientists speculate that many of the problems of modern life -- from obesity to war -- arise because our "Stone Age mind" hasn't caught up with our technologically sophisticated world. But Allman also reveals how morality, rather than being the result of arbitrary convention, is deeply rooted in our need to cooperate, which has been essential to the survival of our species through its evolution.

About this title

About the Author:

William F. Allman is a senior writer at U.S. News and World Report.

From Kirkus Reviews:

A stimulating overview of the emerging field of evolutionary psychology. Can a brain that was forged to meet the challenges of the Stone Age cope with the problems of an urban, global society? This is the question posed by Allman (Apprentices of Wonder, 1989), a senior writer for U.S. News & World Report. He argues that human nature is a reflection of the various successful strategies that enabled our ancient ancestors to survive in harsh social and physical environments. Humanity's key asset, he asserts, is our ability to form groups and cooperate. In the Stone Age, our ancestors survived by forming small, mobile hunter/gatherer bands. Navigating the intricacies of this human social world--e.g., learning to recognize deception--fueled the rapid expansion of the brain. A warming trend in the global climate at the end of the last Ice Age, however, forced humans to adopt new social arrangements to meet different environmental demands. Humans settled into larger and more sedentary social groups--marking the onset of the agricultural revolution, but also loosing the social bonds that had previously ensured cooperation. Unfortunately, new mental mechanisms haven't evolved as rapidly as new social orders. According to Allman, we must now navigate a complex industrial society with Stone Age minds. Allman cites various psychology experiments and computer simulations that indicate our cooperative abilities are stretched to their limits by living in such large assemblages, which helps explain the prevalence of stress and depression in developed nations. Using the tools of evolutionary psychology, he offers explanations of behaviors like why men and women pursue different sexual strategies, why men don't ask for directions when lost, why we still engage in warfare, and why we like fast food. Even though Allman occasionally strains credulity by drawing bold conclusions from flimsy evidence, his arguments are nevertheless compelling and thought-provoking. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Touchstone
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0684804557
• ISBN 13: 9780684804552
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288