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On Human Nature, by Edward O. Wilson
A truly fascinating work from one of the great scientists of the later part of the
20th century. While best regarded for his contributions towards ant behavior, Edward O. Wilson
did not restrict his interests and research to so narrow a study and over the years developed
important and well-learned theories of larger questions concerning humanity at large.
This text from 1978 is the last part of a trilogy, begun by considering ants and insects
organizing themselves into colonies with rules and behavior, then extending that to the
animal kingdom, and then lastly here to mankind.
I found the most groundbreaking and startling claim of this work to be "hypertrophy" which
was a new term to me, meaning "the extreme development of a preexisting structure". In
particular, the reason this becomes so powerful and important, is the theory that the
thousands of generations of evolutions that has produced modern humans not only
developed our physiological components, but has developed within us a massive set
of predispositions that are awakened and switched on much like instinct in animals,
with little care for the environment in which a particular human finds themselves.
This ranges from a predisposition towards religion, to the ability to rapidly learn
language which would be nearly impossible from a blank slate. I will need to track
down further information about this theory, and see where it went since 1978.
A beautiful, classic book that is well worth picking up.
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