Cognitive Science and Evolution (DRAFT)

Modified: 2007-02-22

Evolution has been responsible for the design of the biological world. How does evolution work? How is evolution constrained? What is the relationship between the mechanism of evolution an human design?

• Evolution as History
• Evolution as Mechanism
  • Natural Selection
  • Artificial Selection
  • Extinction
  • Uniqueness
• Conservative Nature of Evolution
  • Examples (readaptation)
• Convergent Evolution
• Organisms and the Environment (MacArthur & Wilson)
  • Types of Environments
    • Stable--sea bottom
    • Dynamic--tropics
  • Tracking the Environment
• Human Design (or Technology)
• Crafts
  • Examples: glass, pottery, metal
• Science and Technology
• Engineering
• Human Uses of Technology
  • Warfare
  • Public Good
• Unintended Consequences of Technology
  • Environmental Degradation
  • Demographic Movements
  • Alienation
• Cognitive Issues
• Evolution of the Brain
  • Bilateral
  • Redundant
  • Larger
  • Organization
• Evolution of the Computer
  • Mental Computation
  • Manual Aids
  • Mechanical Computation
  • Electronic Computation
  • Biological Computation
  • Note the lack of conservatism

Back to CS Main Page