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...Konner surveys and synthesizes a tremendous amount of data, including his own observations of hunting gathering life made during twenty months spent with the 'Kung San people of the Kalahari Desert in Africa. He distrusts a great deal of previous scientific writings and finds much of the literature "superficially impressive but historically impossible." Ever on his guard against "the dangers of behavioral biology," he includes an encapsulated history of the misuse of "science" to justify social aims--nineteenth century racial theories, the Nazis' view of the Jews as genetically interior, and Shockleyian notions about the inherent intellectual superiority of some...

Author: By Simon J. Frankel, | Title: Why We Are What We Are | 1/10/1983 | See Source »

...book proceeds through examinations of the evolutionary history of Homo sapiens, general patterns of human behavior, the biological basis of gender differences (a delicate subject), and the evolutionary role of language Konner then looks at the implications of behavioral biology's latest contribution to the understanding of seven human emotions rage, fear, joy, lust, love, grief, and gluttony...

Author: By Simon J. Frankel, | Title: Why We Are What We Are | 1/10/1983 | See Source »

...Some of Konner's analysis shows the strong impact of environmental experience Jogging, for example, can influence the body a muscles and improve one's running speed, and this is not a product of (though it may be limited by) the body's genetic code. Similarly the structure of the brain of a rat is meticulously spelled out in its genes, but experiments have shown that the environment the rat is raised in has a profound effect on the ultimate state of its brain "Look," Konner says frankly. "Experience changes the brain." Indeed, in many cases, "the nongenetic sources...

Author: By Simon J. Frankel, | Title: Why We Are What We Are | 1/10/1983 | See Source »

...genes and their far-reaching impact always loom large in Konner's analysis. He notes that males are inherently more aggressive than females and explains this as a result of certain set differences in the structure of the hypothalamus, an important part of the brain which controls hormone levels. Males simply have more testesterone and so are simply--genetically--more violent (on average) than females. But to Kronner, this knowledge is promising, since it tells us. "Serious disarmament may ultimately necessitate an increase in the proportion of women in government. We would all be safer if the world's weapons...

Author: By Simon J. Frankel, | Title: Why We Are What We Are | 1/10/1983 | See Source »

Indeed, even while noting the impact of experience and emphasizing the irrelevancy of the nature-nurture dichotomy. Konner seems to be saying much of the importance of environmental conditions exists precisely because the human genes allow for a great deal of flexibility. There has been, he says, an evolutionary tendency towards organisms with greater flexibility: penguins, for example, naturally live in Antarctica but are not able to live elsewhere: humans don't live there naturally, but can, if they wish, survive there. Konner believes that "it is impossible be to read even a single chapter of this book without coming...

Author: By Simon J. Frankel, | Title: Why We Are What We Are | 1/10/1983 | See Source »

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