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Key Ingredients of the Human Mind

Key Ingredients of the Human Mind. By Dr. Marc Hauser In Scientific American , September 2009. The first step in figuring out how the human mind arose is to determine what distinguishes human mental processes from those of other creatures

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Key Ingredients of the Human Mind

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  1. Key Ingredients of the Human Mind By Dr. Marc Hauser In Scientific American, September 2009

  2. The first step in figuring out how the human mind arose is to determine what distinguishes human mental processes from those of other creatures • Four key traits of the human mind distinguish the human mind from those of animals • Generative computation • Enables humans to create a virtually limitless variety of words, concepts, and things • Promiscuous combination of ideas • Allows the mingling of different domains of knowledge • Mental symbols • Encode sensory experiences, both real and imagined, forming the basis of a rich and complex system of communication • Abstract thought • Permits contemplation of things beyond what we can see, hear, touch, taste or smell

  3. Generative Computation • Encompasses both recursion and combination • Recursion • A short phrase can be embedded within another phrase repeatedly, to create longer, richer descriptions • Gertrude Stein: “A rose is a rose is a rose.” • Combination • We routinely connect thoughts from different domains of knowledge • Allows our understanding of art, sex, space, causality, and friendship to combine

  4. MENTAL SYMBOLS • We can spontaneously any sensory experience, real or imagined, into a symbol • We can keep the symbol to ourselves or express to others through language, art, music, or computer code • ABSTRACT THOUGHT • Only humans engage in abstract thought • Animals are largely anchored in sensory and perceptual experiences • Many human experiences have no clear connection to sensory and perceptual experiences • Humans alone ponder the likes of unicorns and aliens, nouns and verbs, infinity and God

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