Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Evolution of Science I:Evolution of Mind


Affiliations
1 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 400 005, India
 

The central nervous system and particularly the brain was designed to control the life cycle of a living being. With increasing size and sophistication, in mammals, the brain became capable of exercising significant control over life. In Homo sapiens the brain became significantly powerful and capable of comprehension beyond survival needs with visualization, formal thought and longterm memory. Here, we trace the rise of the power of the brains of the Homo sapiens and its capability to comprehend the three spatial dimensions as well as time. By tracing the evolution of technology over the last millennium and particularly the late arrival of astronomy, evolution of the formal thinking process in humans will be discussed in a follow up paper. We will trace the extensive use of this new faculty by humans to comprehend the working of the universe.

Keywords

Astronomy and Comprehension, Evolution of Mind, Evolution of Thought, Human Intelligence, Primate and Human Brain.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Bakker, R. T., Dinosaur physiology and the evolution of mammals. Evolution, 1971, 25, 636.

  • Zofia, K.-J., Cifelli, R. L. and Luo, Z.-X., Mammals from the Age of Dinosaurs – Origins, Evolution and Structure, Columbia University Press, 2004.

  • Guy, F, et al., Morphological affinities of the Sahelanthropus tchadensis (late iocene hominid from Chad) cranium. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 2005, 102, 18836.

  • Gibbons, A., Elusive Denisovans sighted in oldest human DNA. Science, 2013, 342, 1156.

  • Balter, M., What made humans modern. Science, 2002, 295, 1219.

  • McBearty, S., Sharpening the mind. Nature, 2012, 491, 531.

  • Balter, M., Report on the 11th Conference of Archaeozoology. Science, 2010, 329, 1464.

  • Balter, M., The killing grounds. Science, 2014, 344, 1080–1083.

  • d’Errico, F. et al., Additional evidence on the use of personal ornaments in the Middle Palaeolithic of North Africa. Publ. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 2009, 106, 16051.

  • Roebroeks, W. and Villa, P., On the earliest evidence for habitual use of fire in Europe. Publ. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 2012, 108, 5209–5214.

  • Fitch, T. W., The Evolution of Language, Cambridge University Press, 2010.

  • Henshilwood, C. A. et al., 100,000-year-old ochre-processing workshop at blombos cave, South Africa. Science, 2011, 334, 219.

  • Henshilwood, C. A. et al., Emergence of modern human behavior: middle stone age engravings from South Africa. Science, 2002, 295, 1278.

  • Wadley, L. et al., Middle stone age bedding construction and settlement patterns at Sibudu, South Africa. Science, 2011, 334, 1388.

  • Armitage, S. J. et al., The Southern route ‘Out of Africa’: evidence for an early expansion of modern humans into Arabia. Science, 2011, 331, 453.

  • Vernot, B. and Akey, J. M., Resurrecting surviving Neandertral lineages from modern human genomes. Science, 2014, 343, 1017.

  • Vahia, M. N., Physical Sciences and the Future of India, Manipal University Press, Manipal, India, 2014.

  • Tomasello, M., Why We Cooperate, A Boston Review Book, 2009.

  • Mithen, S., The Prehistory of the Mind, A Phoenix Paperback of Thames and Hudson Publication, 1996.

  • Lewis-Williams, D., The Mind in the Cave, Thames and Hudson Publication, 2002.

  • Lewis-Williams, D. and Pearce, D., Inside the Neolithic Mind, Thames and Hudson Publication, London, UK, 2005.

  • Huffman Michael, A., Animal self-medication and ethnomedicine: exploration and exploitation of the medicinal properties of plants. Proc. Nutr. Soc., 2003, 62, 371–381; doi:10.1079/PNS2003257

  • Kuzawa Christopher, W. et al., Metabolic costs and evolutionary implications of human brain development, 2014; www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1323099111

  • Chris, F. and Uta, F., Curr. Biol., 2005, 15, R644; doi:10.1016/j.cub.2005.08.041

  • David, P. and Guy, W., Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind? Behav. Brain Sci., 1978, 1, 515–526; doi:10.1017/S0140525X00076512

  • Vahia, M. N., Yadav, N. and Menon, S., Perspectives on origin of Astronomy in India. National Council Science Museum, 2015.

  • Hurley, M. M., Dennett, D. C. and Adams Jr, R. B., Inside Jokes, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2011.

  • Dediu, D. and Levinson, S. C., On the antiquity of Languages: the reinterpretation of Neanderthal linguistic capacities and its consequences. Front. Psychol., 2013, 4, 1.

  • Dediu, D. and Ladd, D. R., Linguistic tone is related to the population frequency of the adaptive haplogroups of two brain size genes, ASPM and microcephalin. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 2007, 104, 10944–10949.

  • Nettle, D., Language and genes: a new perspective on the origins of human cultural diversity. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 2007, 104, 10755–10756.

  • Feigenson, L. and Halberda, J., Conceptual knowledge increases infants’ memory capacity. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 208, 105, 9926–9930.

  • Diamond, J., Guns, Germs and Steel, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, London, 2005.

  • Batty, M., The New Science of Cities, MIT Press Books, Massachusetts, 2013.

  • Conard, N. J., A female figurine from the basal Aurignacian of Hohle Fels Cave in south Western Germany. Nature, 2009, 459, 448.

  • Vahia, M. N., Menon, S., Abbas, R. and Yadav, N., Megaliths and their Possible Association with Astronomy, Mapping the Oriental Sky, Proceedings of 7th International Conference on Oriental Astronomy, 2011 (eds Nakamura, T. et al.), National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, pp. 13–20.

  • Curie, T. E. and Mace, R., Political complexity predicts the spread of thnolinguistic groups. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 2009, 106, 7339.

  • Gelfand, M. J., Differences between tight and loose cultures: a 33-nation study. Science, 2011, 332, 1100–1104.

  • Vahia, M. N., Evolution of science II: insights into working of nature. Curr. Sci., 2016, 111(9), 1465–1472.

  • Vahia, M. N. and Ganesh, H., Aspects of gond astronomy. J. Astron. Hist. Herit., 2013, 16(1), 29–43.

  • Vahia, M. N., Ganesh, H., Kishore, M. and Harini, C., Astronomy of two Indian Tribes: the Banjaras and the Kolams. J. Astron. Hist. Herit., 2014, 17, 65.

  • Sastry, K., Vedanga, T. S., Jyotisa by Lagadha (edited and translated), critically edited by K. V. Sarma, Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, India, 1985.

  • Iyengar, R. N., Parasaratantra: Ancient Sanskrit Texts on Astronomy and Natural Sciences, Jain University Press, 2011

  • Balachandra Rao, S., Indian Astronomy – A Primer, Bhavans Gandhi Centre for Science and Human Values, Bangalore, 2008.


Abstract Views: 340

PDF Views: 112




  • Evolution of Science I:Evolution of Mind

Abstract Views: 340  |  PDF Views: 112

Authors

Mayank N. Vahia
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 400 005, India

Abstract


The central nervous system and particularly the brain was designed to control the life cycle of a living being. With increasing size and sophistication, in mammals, the brain became capable of exercising significant control over life. In Homo sapiens the brain became significantly powerful and capable of comprehension beyond survival needs with visualization, formal thought and longterm memory. Here, we trace the rise of the power of the brains of the Homo sapiens and its capability to comprehend the three spatial dimensions as well as time. By tracing the evolution of technology over the last millennium and particularly the late arrival of astronomy, evolution of the formal thinking process in humans will be discussed in a follow up paper. We will trace the extensive use of this new faculty by humans to comprehend the working of the universe.

Keywords


Astronomy and Comprehension, Evolution of Mind, Evolution of Thought, Human Intelligence, Primate and Human Brain.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv111%2Fi9%2F1456-1464