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The Universe and How We Know It

Explore the biocultural perspective on reality, myths, and human perception within the universe. From the uniqueness of personal worlds to the influence of cultural and species interpretations, delve into the complexities of what we perceive and what truly exists. Discover how individuals navigate the dynamic and evolving universe amid the bounds of their sensory experiences and cognitive processes.

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The Universe and How We Know It

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  1. The UniverseandHow We Know It

  2. reality, n.1. the state or quality of being real.2. resemblance to what is real.3. a real thing or fact.4. Philos.,a. something that exists independently of ideas concerning it.b. something that exists independently of all other things and from which all other things derive.

  3. myth, n.1. a traditional or legendary story, usually concerned with deities or demigods and the creation of the world and its inhabitants.2. a story or belief that attempts to express or explain a basic truth; an allegory or parable.3. a belief or a subject of belief whose truth or reality is accepted uncritically.4. such stories or beliefs collectively.

  4. The Biocultural Approach An anthropological perspective which recognizes that humans are biological organisms whose primary means of adapting to their environment is culture

  5. Each of us lives within the universe – the prison – of his own brain. Projecting from it are millions of fragile sensory nerve fibers, in groups uniquely adapted to sample the energetic states of the world around us: heat, light, force and chemical composition. That is all we ever know of it directly; all else is logical inference. Vernon Mountcastle (from “The View from Within: Pathways to the Study of Perception”, Johns Hopkins Medical Journal, 136:109-131, 1975)

  6. Where Your Universe is Made

  7. Color Perception in Humans

  8. Maintaining Visual Information

  9. The Mind’s Job is to (try to) “Make Sense”

  10. But Can We Trust What We Are “Seeing”?

  11. What Happens WhenPerception and Cognition Collide?

  12. Fives Kindsof Human Reality

  13. Universe • “Sets” boundary conditions • Is dynamic and evolving • Brings forth new types of phenomena & new levels of complexity • Beyond comprehension (?)

  14. Species World • Experienced via perceptual channels • five classic senses of humans • other perceptual channels in other species • Variations within channels • Variations in emphasis of channels

  15. Species World • No species can access the entire Universe, but only a “small slice” of this • Interpreted in manners that are • the result of the species’ past • appropriate to the species’ environmental niche

  16. Dolphin Sonar

  17. Bat Sonar

  18. Electroreception in Fish

  19. Perceptual World • Variation in number of neurons & synapses • Variation in processing capabilities • Variation in instinctual (“hard-wired”) repertoire • Variation in learned (“programmed”) repertoire

  20. Left: Nissl-stained visual cortex of a human adult.Middle: Nissl-stained motor cortex of a human adult.Right: Golgi-stained cortex of a 1 1/2 month old infant. from Santiago Ramón y Cajal Comparative Study of the Sensory Areas of the Human Cortex (1899)

  21. Perceptual World Unique as a result of • The individual’s unique perceptual version of the Species World • The individual’s unique version of the Species World interpretational schema

  22. Cultural World • A subset of Homo sapiens’ Species World • Assigns learned meanings & values to phenomena in the Universe

  23. Cultural World • Preexists the individual, who is born into it • Is learned (differently) by individuals • A “virtual” universe

  24. Personal World • Perceived through the individual’s unique perceptual version of the Species World • Interpreted through • the individual’s uniquely learned version of the group-specific culture • the filters resulting from the individual’s unique biographical history

  25. Personal World • Assigns meaning and value to aspects of the Universe • Limited (i.e., it cannot anticipate or explain everything in the Universe) • Unavoidably unique and fluid • different for each individual • changes throughout the individual’s lifetime

  26. Reality • Is ultimately unknowable • Each individual creates a unique view of the world • No two humans live in the same “reality” • All humans rely on some type of “myths”

  27. The Biocultural Perspective on Myths • myths (and other explanations) are acquired as part of a group • “fill in the blanks” of what can be known via perception • reflect the architecture of our brains and nervous system • provide us with a sense of certainty and control

  28. Are all Myths “Equal”? • What is the myth attempting to explain? • What are the standards by which the myth can be evaluated? • How can the myth be shown to be wrong? • Myths of science vs. myths of religion

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