{"product_id":"what-we-are-the-evolutionary-roots-of-our-future-9783031058783","title":"What We Are: The Evolutionary Roots of Our Future","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003eOther animals spend their lives trying to get fed, stay alive, and get laid. Humans also have a Survival Drive and a Sex Drive, but today we spend most of our lives trying to convince ourselves that our existence is not absurd. Lonnie Aarssen, a biologist at Queens University, traces how our biocultural evolution has shaped Homo sapiens into the only creature that refuses to be what it is, with a delusion of a distinct 'mental life' that exists separately and apart from 'material life'. This delusion gave our ancestors some wishful thinking for finding relief from the terrifying knowledge of the eventual loss of corporeal survival, but it also came with an impulsive, nagging doubt. Biocultural evolution has also given us two additional, uniquely human, primal drives, Legacy Drive and Leisure Drive, which serve to help quell the burden of this anxiety. Aarssen argues that these drives have been a driving force in shaping fundamental motivations and cultural norms of modern humans and that effective management of this crisis will require a deeper and more broadly public understanding of its Darwinian evolutionary roots. \u003c\/blockquote\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormat\u003c\/strong\u003e: Hardback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLength\u003c\/strong\u003e: 196 pages\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublication date\u003c\/strong\u003e: 06 July 2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher\u003c\/strong\u003e: Springer International Publishing AG\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOther animals spend their entire lives simply striving to survive, reproduce, and find partners. This was also the case for our early human ancestors. Modern humans, of course, also need a survival instinct and a sex drive to leave descendants. But today, most of our lives are spent trying to convince ourselves that our existence is not absurd.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn his book, What We Are: A New Theory of Human Nature, Queens University biologist Lonnie Aarssen explores how our biocultural evolution has shaped Homo sapiens into the only creature that refuses to be what it is—the only creature preoccupied with a deeply ingrained and absurd sentiment: \"I have a distinct 'mental life—an 'inner self—that exists separately and apart from 'material life, and so, unlike the latter, need not come to an end.\" This delusion may have provided our distant ancestors with some hope for finding relief from the terrifying, uniquely human knowledge of the eventual loss of corporeal survival. However, it came with an impulsive, nagging doubt: \"self-impermanence anxiety.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBiocultural evolution, however, was not finished. It also gave us two additional, uniquely human, primal drives, both serving to help alleviate the burden of this anxiety. Legacy Drive generates delusional cultural domains for \"extension of self,\" while Leisure Drive generates pleasurable cultural domains for distraction—'escape' from self.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAarssen argues that Legacy Drive and Leisure Drive represent two of the most profound consequences of human cognitive and cultural evolution. What We Are advances propositions regarding how a visceral susceptibility to self-impermanence anxiety has paradoxically played a pivotal role in rewarding the reproductive success of our species.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe book also delves into the evolutionary origins of our sense of self-impermanence anxiety and how it has shaped our behavior and beliefs. Aarssen suggests that our fear of death and our desire for immortality are deeply intertwined and that our cultural beliefs and practices, such as religion and science, have been created to help us cope with these existential concerns.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOverall, What We Are is a thought-provoking and insightful book that offers a new perspective on human nature and our place in the world. It challenges our assumptions about what it means to be human and offers a roadmap for understanding ourselves and our relationships with others.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWeight\u003c\/strong\u003e: 494g\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDimension\u003c\/strong\u003e: 235 x 155 (mm)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN-13\u003c\/strong\u003e: 9783031058783\u003cbr\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eEdition number\u003c\/strong\u003e: 1st ed. 2022\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lonnie Aarssen","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":44103436730618,"sku":"9783031058783","price":16.07,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0522\/4297\/2845\/products\/1660951484675_book.jpg?v=1661359289","url":"https:\/\/shulphink.com\/products\/what-we-are-the-evolutionary-roots-of-our-future-9783031058783","provider":"Shulph Ink","version":"1.0","type":"link"}