In a single ejaculation there are enough spermatozoa for the generation of hundreds of millions of human beings. Yet male masturbation and noctural emissions are generally considered natural acts and not cause for murder indictments.
Any human egg or sperm under appropriate circumstances has the potential to become a human being. “The argument about the “potential” to be human seems to me particularly weak. I do not claim to have the answer, but I think it is certainly worthwhile to raise the question: Why, exactly, all over the civilized world, in virtually every major city, are apes in prison?”Įach question is sharp enough for us to rejudge our intelligence and humanity, to reconsider where the position of chimpanzee is in our “Intelligence” table rank, and what we should do about the cruelty which is being done by their cousins, us human. Like other mammals, they are capable of strong emotions. “If chimpanzees have consciousness, if they are capable of abstractions, do they not have what until now has been described as “human rights”? How smart does a chimpanzee have to be before killing him constitutes murder? What further properties must he show before religious missionaries must consider him worthy of attempts at conversion?” Next, he discussed the basic understandings of complexity of the genes and brains of human and beasts.
It starts off with Sagan’s iconic Cosmic Calendar, which is helpful when we want to put our early development relative to the cosmic time into comprehensible perspectives. “Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence” is my ninth Carl Sagan’s book I’ve read so far.
We are tempted with glimpses of truth resulting from comparisons between human and animal brains and behaviours, which also reveals that we are perhaps not so far removed from our nearest cousins as we might sometimes assume.Sagan even tries to ask questions about common human myths and ways of thinking and links them to what we know about the brain's development and operation.Much thought provoking stuff on left and right brain conflict and some fascinating insights into the effects of various brain diseases and injuries.A very useful further reading section included.A great book, up to his usual excellent standard.Dragons of Eden Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence by Carl Sagan We are given an anatomical tour of the brain, comparisons of competing theories of how it developed and how it is organised. I am sure that many of the subjects in this book have now progressed far beyond this collection of thoughts, nevertheless, this book provides an intriguing and wide ranging introduction to the topic. "Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence" is the subtitle.Written in 1977.
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