Talk Is Cheap: Sarcasm, Alienation, and the Evolution of Language
Putting aside questions of truth and falsehood, the old "talk is cheap" maxim carries as much weight as ever. Indeed, perhaps more. For one need not be an expert in irony or sarcasm to realize that people don't necessarily mean what they say. Phrases such as "Yeah, right" and "I could care less" are so much a part of the way we speak - and the way we live - that we are more likely to notice when they are absent (for example, Forrest Gump). From our everyday dialogues and conversations ("Thanks a lot!") to the screenplays of our popular films (Pulp Fiction), what is said is frequently very different from what is meant.
Henry II is the most imposing figure among the medieval kings of England. His fiefs and domains extended from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, and his court was frequented by the greatest thinkers and men of letters of his time, besides ambassadors from all over Europe. Yet his is a reign of paradoxes: best known for his dramatic conflicts with his own wife and sons and with Thomas Becket, it was also a crucial period in the evolution of legal and governmental institutions. Here experts in the field provide significant reevaluations of its most important aspects.
In this book, Kate Distin proposes a theory of cultural evolution and shows how it can help us to understand the origin and development of human culture. Distin introduces the concept that humans share information not only in natural languages, which are spoken or signed, but also in artefactual languages like writing and musical notation, which use media that are made by humans.
Darwin recognised that the evolution of cooperative societies in animals and man posed an important challenge to his theory of natural selection. If resources are limited and individuals compete to breed, why is cooperative behaviour so widespread? Hamilton's extension of the theory of natural selection to incorporate the effects of cooperation on non-descendant kin provides the framework for our current understanding of animal societies.
The Dawn of Symbolic Life: The Future of Human Evolution
Approaching evolution from a different point of view, The Dawn of Symbolic Life examines how the rise of civilization and ongoing current technological progress can be seen as an extension of biological evolution. A fascinating blend of biology, philosophy, and economics, the book outlines a formidable and compelling set of ideas that places mankind at the center of an epic evolutionary event. An event that the author believes could lead to a transformation of the world as we know it.
