CHAPTER ONE BIBLIOGRAPY
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1. Homo sapiens sapiens refers to the immediate predecessor of Modern Humans. They evolved some 100,000 to 200,000 years ago out of Homo sapiens and were a transitional stage to Modern Humans which evolved between 30,000 to 60,000 years ago as indicated by the rapid transformation of tools and living patterns. I propose that modern language with all its elements had finally come together and this element lies at the core of these changes.
2. It is sometimes assumed that modern language evolved somewhere around 100,000 to 200,000 years ago. This time-frame is used because that is the period when Homo sapiens are believed to have begun moving out of Africa. Since all human beings have modern language it appears that they must have had all the necessary physiological structures for modern language before leaving Africa. However, in my mind this seems too early since we don't see the consequences I would expect of that achievement at that time.
But, another possibility is that the various components of the brain necessary for symbolic language were spread throughout the species and they were only concentrated through extreme selective pressures on a small isolated group of Homo sapiens sapiens in Asia some 60,000 years ago and were then inserted into the rest of the Homo sapiens sapiens gene pool as alpha males wandered back to Africa from there.
3. As discussed by Steven Mithen [THE PREHISTORY OF THE MIND: The Cognitive Origins of Art and Science, Thames and Hudson, New York, 1996.] Modern Humans appeared over a period of time from 30,000 to 60,000 years ago and set us on our current path.
4. The term meme was coined by Richard Dawkins in his book, THE SELFISH GENE (1976) to contrast with genes and apply to ideas, thought-patterns, actions, fashions, etc. that replicate themselves in a culture from generation to generation. Dawkins defines the meme as a unit of intellectual or cultural information that survives long enough to be recognized as such, and which can be passed from mind to mind.
5. LAMARCKIAN EVOLUTION: Jean Pierre Antoine de Monet de Lamarck [Jean de Lamarck to his friends] (1744-1829) suggested a mechanism for organic evolution prior to Charles Darwin's "evolution by natural selection." He proposed the theory that characteristics acquired by habits, use, disuse, or adaptations to changes in environment may be passed on to progeny. Of course this can't work for genes, but it works for memes.
6. I was surprised and encouraged to find this idea expressed in SCIENCE AND RELIGION: A Critical Survey, Holmes Rolston III, p. 93, Harcourt Brace, New York, 1997: "When natural selection moves into the cultural realm, what is selected is no longer merely genetic mutations, but, more importantly, selection is of acquired and learning-transmitted traits, a notion more Lamarckian than Darwinian."
Another reference source more in tune with my efforts is DARWIN'S DANGEROUS IDEA: Evolution and the Meanings of Life, Daniel C. Dennett, p. 355, Touchstone, New York, 1996. "It [new memes produced by an individual by joining and altering other memes] is a sort of Lamarckian replication of acquired charisteristics, as Gould and others have suggested." And, Dennett helps to clarify that I have reversed Dawkins's intent when he coined the term, meme. He focuses on the meme replicating itself and spreading. I am focusing on the role of the individual in creating and dispersing memes.
7. THE LANGUAGE INSTINCT, Steven Pinker, William Morrow, New York, 1994.
8. THE SYMBOLIC SPECIES, Terrence W. Deacon, W.W. Norton, New York, 1997.
9.THE PREHISTORY OF THE MIND: The Cognitive Origins of Art and Science, Steven Mithen, Thames and Hudson, New York, 1996.
10. These words were written in the 60s and have been maintained as an evidence supporting the principle.
11. Deacon, op. cit., p. 395 ff.
12. See, GOOD NATURED, Frans De Waal, p. 128, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1996. This book helps clearify how these behaviors probably played out in early human societies.
13. However, Sociobiology has much to say along this line. Also books like SEX ON THE BRAIN (Deborah Blum, Viking, New York, 1997) do an effective job of relating genetics and behaviors at a different level.
14. Chapter Two, "The Science of Ethics: Defining Meaning of Human Life."
15. VOLUME II, Chapter 34, "Work and a Science of Ethics."
16. VOLUME II, Chapter 34-B, "The Future of Success."
17. THE ALPHABET VERSUS THE GODDESS, Leonard Shlain, Viking, New York, 1998.
18. I use the feminine pronoun to refer to God in order to demonstrate the hidden associations that exist when God is assigned a gender. I hope readers will utilize any feelings generated by this approach to better understand their own beliefs in order to change them if they desire.
19. VOLUME II, Chapter 3, "The Enlightened Community."
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