More Than Nature
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More Than Nature
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Author : Doris Friedrich
language : en
Publisher: LIT Verlag Münster
Release Date :
More Than Nature written by Doris Friedrich and has been published by LIT Verlag Münster this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on with categories.
The Arctic is often associated with pristine wilderness, natural resources, and climate change. Yet settlements and infrastructure, which have received less attention, play a significant role in Arctic environments. Extractive industries, military activities, and scientific undertakings have driven the expansion of infrastructures. This book presents current research on Northern towns and Arctic and Subarctic infrastructure. It examines historical developments, the shaping of environments, sustainability, future planning, and associated living conditions, mainly from a social science perspective.
More Than Nature Needs
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Author : Derek Bickerton
language : en
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Release Date : 2014-01-13
More Than Nature Needs written by Derek Bickerton and has been published by Harvard University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2014-01-13 with Science categories.
The human mind is an unlikely evolutionary adaptation. How did humans acquire cognitive capacities far more powerful than anything a hunting-and-gathering primate needed to survive? Alfred Russel Wallace, co-founder with Darwin of evolutionary theory, saw humans as "divine exceptions" to natural selection. Darwin thought use of language might have shaped our sophisticated brains, but his hypothesis remained an intriguing guess--until now. Combining state-of-the-art research with forty years of writing and thinking about language evolution, Derek Bickerton convincingly resolves a crucial problem that both biology and the cognitive sciences have hitherto ignored or evaded. What evolved first was neither language nor intelligence--merely normal animal communication plus displacement. That was enough to break restrictions on both thought and communication that bound all other animals. The brain self-organized to store and automatically process its new input, words. But words, which are inextricably linked to the concepts they represent, had to be accessible to consciousness. The inevitable consequence was a cognitive engine able to voluntarily merge both thoughts and words into meaningful combinations. Only in a third phase could language emerge, as humans began to tinker with a medium that, when used for communication, was adequate for speakers but suboptimal for hearers. Starting from humankind's remotest past, More than Nature Needs transcends nativist thesis and empiricist antithesis by presenting a revolutionary synthesis--one that instead of merely repeating "nature and nurture" clichés shows specifically and in a principled manner how and why the synthesis came about.
More Than Nature Needs
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Author : Derek Bickerton
language : en
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Release Date : 2014-01-13
More Than Nature Needs written by Derek Bickerton and has been published by Harvard University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2014-01-13 with Science categories.
How did humans acquire cognitive capacities far more powerful than any hunting-and-gathering primate needed to survive? Alfred Russel Wallace, co-founder with Darwin of evolutionary theory, set humans outside normal evolution. Darwin thought use of language might have shaped our sophisticated brains, but this remained an intriguing guess--until now. Combining state-of-the-art research with forty years of writing and thinking about language origins, Derek Bickerton convincingly resolves a crucial problem that biology and the cognitive sciences have systematically avoided. Before language or advanced cognition could be born, humans had to escape the prison of the here and now in which animal thinking and communication were both trapped. Then the brain's self-organization, triggered by words, assembled mechanisms that could link not only words but the concepts those words symbolized--a process that had to be under conscious control. Those mechanisms could be used equally for thinking and for talking, but the skeletal structures they produced were suboptimal for the hearer and had to be elaborated. Starting from humankind's remotest past, More than Nature Needs transcends nativist thesis and empiricist antithesis by presenting a revolutionary synthesis that shows specifically and in a principled way how and why the synthesis came about.
Nature Contained
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Author : Tony O'Dempsey
language : en
Publisher: NUS Press
Release Date : 2014-03-20
Nature Contained written by Tony O'Dempsey and has been published by NUS Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2014-03-20 with History categories.
How has Singapore's environment and location in a zone of extraordinary biodiversity influenced the economic, political, social, and intellectual history of the island since the early 19th century? What are the antecedents to Singapore's image of itself as a City in a Garden? Grounding the story of Singapore within an understanding of its environment opens the way to an account of the past that is more than a story of trade, immigration, and nation-building. Each of the chapters in this volume focusing on topics ranging from tigers and plantations to trade in exotic animals and the greening of the city, and written by botanists, historians, anthropologists, and naturalists examines how humans have interacted with and understood the natural environment on a small island in Southeast Asia over the past 200 years, and conversely how this environment has influenced humans. Between the chapters are travelers' accounts and primary documents that provide eyewitness descriptions of the events examined in the text. In this regard, Nature Contained: Environmental Histories of Singapore provides new insights into the Singaporean past, and reflects much of the diversity, and dynamism, of environmental history globally.
Sparing Nature
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Author : Jeffrey K. McKee
language : en
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Release Date : 2003-01-03
Sparing Nature written by Jeffrey K. McKee and has been published by Rutgers University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2003-01-03 with Nature categories.
Are humans too good at adapting to the earth’s natural environment? Every day, there is a net gain of more than 200,000 people on the planet—that’s 146 a minute. Has our explosive population growth led to the mass extinction of countless species in the earth’s plant and animal communities? Jeffrey K. McKee contends yes. The more people there are, the more we push aside wild plants and animals. In Sparing Nature, he explores the cause-and-effect relationship between these two trends, demonstrating that nature is too sparing to accommodate both a richly diverse living world and a rapidly expanding number of people. The author probes the past to find that humans and their ancestors have had negative impacts on species biodiversity for nearly two million years, and that extinction rates have accelerated since the origins of agriculture. Today entire ecosystems are in peril due to the relentless growth of the human population. McKee gives a guided tour of the interconnections within the living world to reveal the meaning and value of biodiversity, making the maze of technical research and scientific debates accessible to the general reader. Because it is clear that conservation cannot be left to the whims of changing human priorities, McKee takes the unabashedly neo-Malthusian position that the most effective measure to save earth’s biodiversity is to slow the growth of human populations. By conscientiously becoming more responsible about our reproductive habits and our impact on other living beings, we can ensure that nature’s services will make our lives not only supportable, but also sustainable for this century and beyond.
Nature S Treasures
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Author : Ben Hoare
language : en
Publisher: Dorling Kindersley Ltd
Release Date : 2021-11-18
Nature S Treasures written by Ben Hoare and has been published by Dorling Kindersley Ltd this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2021-11-18 with Juvenile Nonfiction categories.
The world is filled with curious objects made by plants, animals, and even by the Earth itself. Dive into this collection of more than 100 intriguing items from the natural world and discover the stories behind them. Learn how huge whales eat tiny animals from looking at their bristly teeth, why butterflies shine and glitter in the sunlight from seeing their minute wing scales, how plants transport water and food around from examining a delicate leaf skeleton, and what makes every snowflake unique from admiring their miniature, branching crystals of ice. A bird's egg, a lump of coal, a cacao pod, a mermaid's purse, a fossil, a pine cone, an owl pellet, and a chrysalis - all tell a story. Arranged by animal, vegetable, or mineral, objects are shown with truly stunning photography and colourful illustrations to help explain the science behind them. The lively descriptions by best-selling nature writer Ben Hoare explore the remarkable tales behind each item and all are included in information. A Treasury of Nature takes you on a tour of the Earth through the things made by nature. This ebook is for every inquisitive child who loves to spot objects when exploring outside and wants to know more about the wonderful and mysterious natural world.
The Immortal In You
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Author : Michael Augros
language : en
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Release Date : 2017-08-04
The Immortal In You written by Michael Augros and has been published by Ignatius Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2017-08-04 with Religion categories.
Many scientists and philosophers believe that you are no more than a machine. By their account there is no afterlife and you are no better than any other kind of animal. The existence of mankind, according to such thinkers, is purely the outcome of chance events. There never was any tendency, natural or supernatural, to produce life and the human mind. The universe is hostile or indifferent toward you, and you occupy no special place within it. At the heart of this story of mankind lies not science but a rarely expressed philosophical assumption that modern science, at least in principle, tells all there is to know about you and the world. With his unique blend of cogency, clarity, and charm, philosopher Michael Augros hauls that assumption out into the light and demolishes it. The Immortal in You demonstrates how an astute use of common sense and a study of common human experience reveal that there is more to you—much more—than science could possibly say. From the author of Who Designed the Designer?, this modern response to the ancient exhortation “Know thyself” delivers a wealth of fresh, powerful, and uplifting ideas about what it is to be human, which will engage thoughtful readers regardless of their beliefs.
The Better Angels Of Our Nature
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Author : Steven Pinker
language : en
Publisher: Penguin
Release Date : 2011-10-04
The Better Angels Of Our Nature written by Steven Pinker and has been published by Penguin this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2011-10-04 with Psychology categories.
“If I could give each of you a graduation present, it would be this—the most inspiring book I've ever read." —Bill Gates (May, 2017) Selected by The New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of the Year The author of Rationality and Enlightenment Now offers a provocative and surprising history of violence. Faced with the ceaseless stream of news about war, crime, and terrorism, one could easily think we live in the most violent age ever seen. Yet as New York Times bestselling author Steven Pinker shows in this startling and engaging new work, just the opposite is true: violence has been diminishing for millenia and we may be living in the most peaceful time in our species's existence. For most of history, war, slavery, infanticide, child abuse, assassinations, programs, gruesom punishments, deadly quarrels, and genocide were ordinary features of life. But today, Pinker shows (with the help of more than a hundred graphs and maps) all these forms of violence have dwindled and are widely condemned. How has this happened? This groundbreaking book continues Pinker's exploration of the esesnce of human nature, mixing psychology and history to provide a remarkable picture of an increasingly nonviolent world. The key, he explains, is to understand our intrinsic motives--the inner demons that incline us toward violence and the better angels that steer us away--and how changing circumstances have allowed our better angels to prevail. Exploding fatalist myths about humankind's inherent violence and the curse of modernity, this ambitious and provocative book is sure to be hotly debated in living rooms and the Pentagon alike, and will challenge and change the way we think about our society.
Modern Nature
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Author : Derek Jarman
language : en
Publisher:
Release Date : 2009
Modern Nature written by Derek Jarman and has been published by this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2009 with Biography & Autobiography categories.
Originally published: Woodstock, N.Y.: Overlook Press, 1994.
Why Trust Science
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Author : Naomi Oreskes
language : en
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Release Date : 2021-04-06
Why Trust Science written by Naomi Oreskes and has been published by Princeton University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2021-04-06 with Science categories.
Why the social character of scientific knowledge makes it trustworthy Are doctors right when they tell us vaccines are safe? Should we take climate experts at their word when they warn us about the perils of global warming? Why should we trust science when so many of our political leaders don't? Naomi Oreskes offers a bold and compelling defense of science, revealing why the social character of scientific knowledge is its greatest strength—and the greatest reason we can trust it. Tracing the history and philosophy of science from the late nineteenth century to today, this timely and provocative book features a new preface by Oreskes and critical responses by climate experts Ottmar Edenhofer and Martin Kowarsch, political scientist Jon Krosnick, philosopher of science Marc Lange, and science historian Susan Lindee, as well as a foreword by political theorist Stephen Macedo.