000			01729nam a22001337a 4500
020			_a9780141984209
082			_a599.938 _bVIN
100			_aVince, Gaia
245			_aTranscendence : how humans evolved through fire, language, beauty, and time / _cGaia Vince
260			_aLondon : _bPenguin Books, _c2019
300			_axvii, 293 pages ; _c24 cm
520			_aHumans are the most successful species on Earth; a planet-altering force of nature. Meanwhile, our closest living relatives, the now-endangered chimpanzees, continue to live as they have for millions of years. Yet we evolved through the same process. What are we then? And now we have remade the world, what are we becoming? Setting out to answer this question, Gaia Vince retells our evolution story. Unlike any other species on earth we determine the course of our own destiny, something that she argues rests on a special relationship between our genes, environment and culture going back into deep time. It is our collective culture, rather than our individual intelligence, that makes humans unique. Vince shows how our four evolutionary drivers--Fire, Language, Beauty and Time--are further transforming our species into a superorganism: a hyper-cooperative mass of humanity that she calls Homo omnis, or 'Homni'. Drawing on cutting-edge advances in population genetics, archaeology, palaeontology and neuroscience, Transcendence compels us to reimagine ourselves, showing us to be on the brink of something grander--and potentially more destructive. To think of humans as a smarter sort of chimp with cool tools is to miss what is truly extraordinary about us. Look around you: we are the intelligent designers of all you see--including ourselves.
942			_cBK
999			_c2553 _d2553