The Day We Learned To Think. Understanding of humans' earliest past often comes from studying fossils. They tell us much of what we know about the people who lived before us. There is one thing fossils cannot tell us; at what point did we stop living day-to-day and start to think symbolically, to represent ideas about our environment and how we could change it? At a dig in South Africa the discovery of a small piece of ochre pigment, 70,000 years old, has raised some very interesting questions. Anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) emerged in Africa roughly 100,000 years ago. We know from fossil evidence that Homo sapiens replaced other hominids around them and moved out of Africa into Asia and the Middle East, reaching Europe 40,000 years ago.
Prof Richard Klein believes art is a landmark in human evolution. No other animals, after all, are able to define a painting as anything other than a collection of colours and shapes. Watch the full documentary now (playlist - 46 minutes) Why Are We Here? In this short documentary, Dawkins takes a look at the purpose of human existance and asks the earthshaking question – Why are we here? Pointing out that religious stories of human purpose fail miserably, Dawkins indicates that science may be able to offer a better explanation for human existence.
Starting out with Darwin, he claims that Darwin’s theory of evolution may offer the only explanation for humanity’s raison d’état that we are likely to ever get. Many religious believers may claim that answers for our existence offered by evolution theory mean that humans are nothing special, that we are just another species of animal. They are, of course, correct in saying that we are just another animal species but this does not necessarily mean that are not special. Clearly humans are different from our animal brothers in that we have the ability to ask questions like why are we here. This also means, however, that with our ’specialness’ comes extraordinary responsibilities. Chip Conley: Measuring what makes life worthwhile | Video on TED. Belief in Nothing. Nihilism confuses people. "How can you care about anything, or strive for anything, if you believe nothing means anything? " they ask. In return, nihilists point to the assumption of inherent meaning and question that assumption.
Do we need existence to mean anything? After all, existence stays out there no matter what we think of it. Nihilists who aren't of the kiddie anarchist variety tend to draw a distinction between nihilism and fatalism. What is nihilism? As a nihilist, I recognize that meaning does not exist. In the same way, I accept that when I die, the most likely outcome will be a cessation of being. Even further, I recognize that there is no golden standard for life. A tree falling in a forest unobserved makes a sound. Many people "feel" marginalized when they think of this. Meaning is the human attempt to mold the world in our own image. This distanced mentality further affirms our tendency to find the world alienating to our consciousness. Nihilism reverses this process. A companion to phenomenology and ...
The Purpose of Purpose - Richard Dawkins. Rick Warren on a life of purpose. Philosophy Now. Sam Harris: Science can answer moral questions | Video on TED.co. A .
Help. Neuroscience of Free Will. On several different levels, from neurotransmitters through neuron firing rates to overall activity, the brain seems to "ramp up" before movements. This image depicts the readiness potential (RP), a ramping-up activity measured using EEG. The onset of the RP begins before the onset of a conscious intention or urge to act. Some have argued that this indicates the brain unconsciously commits to a decision before consciousness awareness. Others have argued that this activity is due to random fluctuations in brain activity, which drive arbitrary, purposeless movements.[1] Philosophers like Daniel Dennett or Alfred Mele consider the language used by researchers. They explain that "free will" means many different things to different people (e.g. some notions of free will believe that free will is compatible with determinism,[10] some not). Dennett insists that many important and common conceptions of "free will" are compatible with the emerging evidence from neuroscience.[11][12][13][14]
Dan Dennett on our consciousness. Tom Wujec on 3 ways the brain creates meaning. BrainSex – Why We Fall in Love? BrainSex - Why We Fall In Love, is an interesting documentary about the science and natural findings as to why humans fall in love. For centuries, love has been celebrated - and probed - mostly by poets, artists, and balladeers.
But now, its mysteries are also yielding to the tools of science, including modern brain scanning machines. A handful of young people who had just fallen madly in love volunteered to have their brains scanned to see what areas were active when they looked at a picture of their sweetheart. The brain areas that lit up were precisely those known to be rich in a powerful feel good chemical, dopamine - the substance that brain cells release in response to cocaine and nicotine. Dopamine is the key chemical in the brain's reward system, a network of cells associated with pleasure - and addiction. In the same lab, older volunteers who claimed to still be intensely in love after two decades of marriage participated in the same experiment. Watch the full documentary now - Seth Priebatsch: The game layer on top of the world.