LEADER 04234nam 2200661Ia 450 001 9910781271303321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a1-78402-551-8 010 $a1-283-09396-0 010 $a9786613093967 010 $a0-231-51848-X 024 7 $a10.7312/hoff14704 035 $a(CKB)2550000000033065 035 $a(EBL)908729 035 $a(OCoLC)826476330 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000538391 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11364544 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000538391 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10556923 035 $a(PQKB)10770215 035 $a(StDuBDS)EDZ0000454867 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC908729 035 $a(DE-B1597)458942 035 $a(OCoLC)979904229 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780231518482 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL908729 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10464388 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL309396 035 $a(EXLCZ)992550000000033065 100 $a20101021d2011 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aLandscape of the mind$b[electronic resource] $ehuman evolution and the archaeology of thought /$fJohn F. Hoffecker 210 $aNew York $cColumbia University Press$dc2011 215 $a1 online resource (281 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a0-231-14704-X 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $tFrontmatter -- $tContents -- $tPreface and Acknowledgments -- $t1 Modernity and Infinity / $rDescartes, René -- $t2 Daydreams of the Lower Paleolithic / $rShaw, George Bernard -- $t3 Modern Humans and the Super-Brain / $rHobbes, Thomas -- $t4 The Upper Paleolithic as History / $rObama, Barack -- $t5 Mindscapes of the Postglacial Epoch / $rChilde, V. Gordon -- $t6 The Vision Animal / $rMore, Thomas -- $tNotes -- $tBibliography -- $tIndex 330 $aIn Landscape of the Mind, John F. Hoffecker explores the origin and growth of the human mind, drawing on archaeology, history, and the fossil record. He suggests that, as an indirect result of bipedal locomotion, early humans developed a feedback relationship among their hands, brains, and tools that evolved into the capacity to externalize thoughts in the form of shaped stone objects. When anatomically modern humans evolved a parallel capacity to externalize thoughts as symbolic language, individual brains within social groups became integrated into a "neocortical Internet," or super-brain, giving birth to the mind.Noting that archaeological traces of symbolism coincide with evidence of the ability to generate novel technology, Hoffecker contends that human creativity, as well as higher order consciousness, is a product of the superbrain. He equates the subsequent growth of the mind with human history, which began in Africa more than 50,000 years ago. As anatomically modern humans spread across the globe, adapting to a variety of climates and habitats, they redesigned themselves technologically and created alternative realities through tools, language, and art. Hoffecker connects the rise of civilization to a hierarchical reorganization of the super-brain, triggered by explosive population growth. Subsequent human history reflects to varying degrees the suppression of the mind's creative powers by the rigid hierarchies of nationstates and empires, constraining the further accumulation of knowledge. The modern world emerged after 1200 from the fragments of the Roman Empire, whose collapse had eliminated a central authority that could thwart innovation. Hoffecker concludes with speculation about the possibility of artificial intelligence and the consequences of a mind liberated from its organic antecedents to exist in an independent, nonbiological form. 606 $aHuman evolution 606 $aBrain$xEvolution 606 $aThought and thinking 615 0$aHuman evolution. 615 0$aBrain$xEvolution. 615 0$aThought and thinking. 676 $a153.4 700 $aHoffecker$b John F$01167444 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910781271303321 996 $aLandscape of the mind$93819984 997 $aUNINA