Cognitive gadgets: A provocative but flawed manifesto

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Del Giudice
Keyword(s):  
Theory Of Mind ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Twin Studies ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Evolutionary Approach ◽  
Genetic Inheritance ◽  
Double Standards ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences ◽  
Cherry Picking ◽  
Dichotomous Thinking

Abstract The argument against innatism at the heart of Cognitive Gadgets is provocative but premature, and is vitiated by dichotomous thinking, interpretive double standards, and evidence cherry-picking. I illustrate my criticism by addressing the heritability of imitation and mindreading, the relevance of twin studies, and the meaning of cross-cultural differences in theory of mind development. Reaching an integrative understanding of genetic inheritance, plasticity, and learning is a formidable task that demands a more nuanced evolutionary approach.

Aire et gestion des ressources en chêne du canton de Vaud: dossier d'un avenir immédiat | Resource management and distribution area of oak in canton Vaud: an issue for the immediate future

2009 ◽  
Vol 160 (s1) ◽  
pp. s65-s73
Author(s):  
Denis Horisberger ◽  
Micheline Meylan
Keyword(s):  
Resource Management ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Climatic Changes ◽  
Distribution Area ◽  
Oak Forests ◽  
Genetic Inheritance ◽  
Main Species ◽  
Forestry Management ◽  
New Situation

When climatic changes are taken into account in forestry management, the question arises of the choice of tree species in order to adapt the forests to increased temperatures and stress arising from lack of water. The oak could be the main species accommodating itself to the new situation up to an altitude of about 900 m. A maximal development of this genetic inheritance adapted to our soils and the reinstallation of a network of oak forests would in fact give a new boost to the exceptional biodiversity linked to this species. In canton Vaud, the application of a sylviculture favourable to the oak would concern a relatively small and reasonable area of approximately 8,000 hectares, which corresponds to less than 20% of the surface theoretically adapted to this species, with a rhythm of rejuvenation of about 40 hectares a year.

A BARGAIN WITH NATURE

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 1035-1035
Author(s):  
R. J. H.
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
Genetic Information ◽  
Human Species ◽  
Genetic Inheritance ◽  
New Learning ◽  
Short Time

Humans have a longer childhood relative to our lifespan than any other species. This provides immense plasticity-ability to learn from their environment and their culture. Most organisms on Earth depend on their genetic information which is prewired into their nervous system. While our behavior is still significantly controlled by our genetic inheritance, we have, through our brains, a much richer opportunity to blaze new behavioral and cultural pathways on short time scales. We have made a bargain with nature; our children will be difficult to raise, but their capacity for new learning will greatly enhance the chances of survival of the human species.

Exploring the role of non-genetic inheritance in the etiology of human disease

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Escher ◽  
Victor Corces ◽  
Isabelle Mansuy ◽  
Wei Yan
Keyword(s):  
Human Disease ◽  
Genetic Inheritance

Patterns of Genetic Inheritance

1999 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Reyna ◽  
Rita Pickler
Keyword(s):  
Somatic Cell ◽  
Single Gene ◽  
Cytoplasmic Inheritance ◽  
Genetic Inheritance ◽  
Neonatal Nurses ◽  
Genetic Transmission ◽  
Multifactorial Inheritance ◽  
Mendel’S Laws

Neonatal nurses need to understand the basic patterns of genetic transmission. This article, the first in a series, provides an overview of Mendel’s laws and discusses five types of transmission: single gene inheritance, chromosomal inheritance, multifactorial inheritance, cytoplasmic inheritance, and somatic cell mutations.

scholarly journals Human niche construction in interdisciplinary focus

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1566) ◽  
pp. 785-792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Kendal ◽  
Jamshid J. Tehrani ◽  
John Odling-Smee
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Niche Construction ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Causal Process ◽  
Genetic Inheritance ◽  
Selection Pressures ◽  
Ecological Inheritance ◽  
Human Niche Construction ◽  
The Social

Niche construction is an endogenous causal process in evolution, reciprocal to the causal process of natural selection. It works by adding ecological inheritance , comprising the inheritance of natural selection pressures previously modified by niche construction, to genetic inheritance in evolution. Human niche construction modifies selection pressures in environments in ways that affect both human evolution, and the evolution of other species. Human ecological inheritance is exceptionally potent because it includes the social transmission and inheritance of cultural knowledge, and material culture. Human genetic inheritance in combination with human cultural inheritance thus provides a basis for gene–culture coevolution, and multivariate dynamics in cultural evolution. Niche construction theory potentially integrates the biological and social aspects of the human sciences. We elaborate on these processes, and provide brief introductions to each of the papers published in this theme issue.

scholarly journals Por que o desenvolvimento ontogenético foi tratado como uma “caixa preta” na síntese moderna da evolução?

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 263
Author(s):  
Leonardo Augusto Luvison Araújo ◽  
Aldo Mellender De Araújo
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Effects ◽  
Black Box ◽  
Evolutionary Synthesis ◽  
Ontogenetic Development ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Genetic Inheritance ◽  
Genetics Research ◽  
Inheritance Model ◽  
Modern Evolutionary Synthesis

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/1808-1711.2015v19n2p263The Modern Evolutionary Synthesis relegated the ontogenetic development to a “black box”. In this article, we argue that the absence of ontogenetic development in the Evolutionary Synthesis was due its strong foundation in transmission genetics. We discuss three research strategies of transmission genetics that created an incompatibility with the ontogenetic development: (i) particulate inheritance model; (ii) population as locus for genetics research; (iii) and experimental tools that have been applied to remove “non-heritable fluctuations” from ontogenetic and environmental effects. These practices have contributed to the strength of the genetic inheritance, but also excluded the ontogenetic development from the explanation of heredity and evolution. This distinction has been perpetuated in the Evolutionary Synthesis.

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