The Runaway Brain by Christopher Willis :: Willis Runaway Brain Essays

The tomboy Brain by Christopher Willis Christopher Wills has written a charming chronicle of tender maturation in a means that leave behind keep the reader glued to the book to find break through what happened next. The Runaway Brain is organized into four sections. First Wills addresses The Dilemmas, the many a(prenominal) problems that students of evolution forgather principal(prenominal)ly from public perception of the subject and from the many prejudices of those have-to doe with with the work. The incredulity of where our species first appeared is a particularly contentious one and all(a), although it is now widely current that the species originated out of Africa. There are, regardless, those who still disagree and especi completelyy at first, many dismissed an African origin out of hand. Wills second main figure is that of the transition to actual humanity and if it occurred once or twice. As he discusses in the chapter en coroneted An Obsession with Race, those who deride those of African free fall often use the multiple origin theory as one that justifies racism. Wills decries this abuse of the science and firmly argues against those that would use evolution to kick upstairs racial propaganda. He too takes issue with those who insist on accept that all of humanity came from one Eve and one Adam, instead move forward the theory of the mitochondrial Eve that we all descend from the mitochondrial DNA, but that we do non in fact descent from two individuals. Wills own sky on the issue is that humans are involved in a feedback circulate which he calls the runaway brain. Wills claims that humans are strange in that they have culture which has developed. The culture injects an otherwise unknown into the evolutionary process. Humans, Wills says, had mod brains which allowed them to create a mazy culture. The culture challenged their brains and led to much complex brains as the species involved. This process continued to repea t and is still reiterate today. This is what Wills claims is unprompted us towards our ultimate best. The second section of the book is titled The clappers and tells the story of the archeological remains of the ancestors of humanity. Wills creates a fascinating record as he describes the lives, feelings and desires of the people involved in finding these bones. non only does he describe the find and its significance to the understanding of evolution, he also tells the story of the finder making the section more of a human drama than a dry telling of facts.The Runaway Brain by Christopher Willis Willis Runaway Brain EssaysThe Runaway Brain by Christopher Willis Christopher Wills has written a fascinating chronicle of human evolution in a style that will keep the reader glued to the book to find out what happened next. The Runaway Brain is organized into four sections. First Wills addresses The Dilemmas, the many problems that students of evolution encounter mainly f rom public perception of the subject and from the many prejudices of those involved with the work. The question of where our species first appeared is a particularly contentious one, although it is now widely accepted that the species originated out of Africa. There are, regardless, those who still disagree and especially at first, many dismissed an African origin out of hand. Wills second main issue is that of the transition to actual humanity and if it occurred once or twice. As he discusses in the chapter entitled An Obsession with Race, those who deride those of African descent often use the multiple origin theory as one that justifies racism. Wills decries this abuse of the science and firmly argues against those that would use evolution to further racist propaganda. He also takes issue with those who insist on believing that all of humanity came from one Eve and one Adam, instead putting forth the theory of the mitochondrial Eve that we all descend from the mitochondrial DNA, but that we do not in fact descent from two individuals. Wills own slant on the issue is that humans are involved in a feedback loop which he calls the runaway brain. Wills claims that humans are unique in that they have culture which has developed. The culture injects an otherwise unknown into the evolutionary process. Humans, Wills says, had advanced brains which allowed them to create a complex culture. The culture challenged their brains and led to more complex brains as the species involved. This process continued to repeat and is still repeating today. This is what Wills claims is driving us towards our ultimate best. The second section of the book is titled The Bones and tells the story of the archeological remains of the ancestors of humanity. Wills creates a fascinating tale as he describes the lives, feelings and desires of the people involved in finding these bones. Not only does he describe the find and its significance to the understanding of evolution, he also tel ls the story of the finder making the section more of a human drama than a dry telling of facts.