The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence

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In chapter 2, Sagan briefly summarizes the entire evolution of species starting from the Big Bang to the beginning of the human civilization with the help of a " Cosmic Calendar", an analogy where one year in the calendar corresponds to the time since the Big Bang. If the human brain had only one synapse-- corresponding to a monumental stupidity-- we would be capable of only two mental states. This part provides a good segue into the even more interesting part of the book which deals with some fascinating speculations on the reptilian origins of human intelligence. Although I read this book years ago, I have thought of it several times a week since then, as I speculate upon some of the biological causes of human behavior. The scientific credentials of Carl Sagan are impeccable, as he is one of the premier astronomers of this century.

A great popularizer of science, Sagan produced the PBS series, " Cosmos," which was Emmy and Peabody award-winning, and was watched by 500 million people in 60 countries. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.My field is not science, so The Dragon's of Eden was my first encounter with the idea of the tripartite brain. May 1st would be the origin of the Milky Way Galaxy, and September 9th would be the origin of the solar system. We are indeed creatures of habit, following sometimes ancient patterns, written in the mysterious language of our genetic code.

It would appear from this that the construction of an artificial intelligence should begin with a simple core followed by the continued construction of advanced overlays. In simple,lucid and easy to comprehend prose the author breaks down the story of how our brains assumed today's form and reflexes. However, he has left one of the most compelling legacies that will continue to enhance the human perspective for a long time. However, in this book he engages in speculation about the organization and structure of the human brain.Another was the proposal that the greenhouse effect explained the high temperature of the surface of Venus. Our primitive pieces occasionally rise to dominance, perhaps showing us what those mighty reptiles were really like. The title "The Dragons of Eden" is borrowed from the notion that man's early struggle for survival in the face of predators, and in particular a fear of reptiles, may have led to cultural beliefs and myths about dragons. What's consistent with theories of Sagan's time and today is that much of our brain activity is subconscious, and the sensation that we are actively directing our behavior is largely an illusion.

Also, since this book was written in 1977, its safe to say that in the past 40 years someone has written a book on this topic with updated information. A respected planetary scientist best known for outside the field for his popularizations of astronomy, Carl Sagan was born in New York City and educated at the University of Chicago. The speculations that he engages in in this book are also based on hard science, and an honest reading will force you to reconsider the construction of the human brain. Carl Sagan takes us on a great adventure, offering his vivid and startling insight into the brain of man and beast, the origin of human intelligence, the function of our most haunting legends - and their amazing links to recent discoveries. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average.

The reason Sagan dives deep into the Cosmic Calendar is that he is trying to show that humans are incredibly new in the scale of the universe. I was brought there by a desire to dig deeper into what drives our habits, our creativity, our problem solving abilities. Recently, I decided to bring a more educated and critical mind to Dragons of Eden, and I now realize why I read it so fast the first time: lucid, thought-provoking . Just be prepared for the possibility of investing a bit of brain power into the analysis of some numbers and equations (something I found surprisingly rewarding!