The Robot's Rebellion

Finding Meaning in the Age of Darwin

Keith E. Stanovich

374 pages, parution le 23/11/2005

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Résumé

The idea that we might be robots is no longer the stuff of science fiction; decades of research in evolutionary biology and cognitive science have led many esteemed scientists to the conclusion that, according to the precepts of universal Darwinism, humans are merely the hosts for two replicators (genes and memes) that have no interest in us except as conduits for replication. Richard Dawkins, for example, jolted us into realizing that we are just survival mechanisms for our own genes, sophisticated robots in service of huge colonies of replicators to whom concepts of rationality, intelligence, agency, and even the human soul are irrelevant.

Accepting and now forcefully responding to this decentering and disturbing idea, Keith Stanovich here provides the tools for the "robot's rebellion," a program of cognitive reform necessary to advance human interests over the limited interest of the replicators and define our own autonomous goals as individual human beings. He shows how concepts of rational thinking from cognitive science interact with the logic of evolution to create opportunities for humans to structure their behavior to serve their own ends. These evaluative activities of the brain, he argues, fulfill the need that we have to ascribe significance to human life.

We may well be robots, but we are the only robots who have discovered that fact. Only by recognizing ourselves as such, argues Stanovich, can we begin to construct a concept of self based on what is truly singular about humans: that they gain control of their lives in a way unique among life forms on Earth--through rational self-determination.

Sommaire

Staring into the Darwinian Abyss
A Brain at War with Itself
The Robot's Secret Weapon
The Biases of the Autonomous Brain: Characteristics of the Short-Leash Mind that Sometimes Cause Us Grief
How Evolutionary Psychology Goes Wrong
Dysrationalia: Why So Many Smart People Do So Many Dumb Things
From the Clutches of the Genes into the Clutches of the Memes
A Soul without Mystery: Finding Meaning in the Age of Darwin

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Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	The University of Chicago Press
Auteur(s)	Keith E. Stanovich
Parution	23/11/2005
Nb. de pages	374
Format	15 x 22,5
Couverture	Broché
Poids	510g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9780226771250
ISBN13	978-0-226-77125-0