Why Are We So Odd? Explaining the Discontinuity Between Human and Nonhuman Minds

10/24/2011 Derek Penn - UCLA "Why Are We So Odd? Explaining the Discontinuity Between Human and Nonhuman Minds" Human animals-- and no other-- build fires and wheels, diagnose each other's illnesses, communicate using symbols, risk their lives for ideals, collaborate with others, explain the world in terms of unobservable causes, punish strangers for breaking the rules, worship ghosts and teach each other how to do all of the above. Why are we so odd? In this talk, I will explore what we now know (and don't know) about the discontinuity between extant human and nonhuman minds. I will argue that this cognitive discontinuity runs much deeper than language, culture, a prosocial disposition or a "Theory of Mind" alone can explain. And I will sketch out a functional specification of where the root of the discontinuity might lie.