Book:
The Evolution of Intelligent Systems – How Molecules Became Minds, by Ken Richardson, 2010, Palgrave Macmillan
現在腦科學研究的現狀還遠遠不能解開人腦的奧祕。各個研究學派的理論不僅不能相互兼容統一，而且都沒有足夠深入到人腦細節中。
Many people interested in the nature and origins of the human mind complain about the lack of coherence and depth in existing scientific accounts. They say that the area lacks a meaningful framework through which they can relate the various models, theories and opinions being expressed within it; and it lacks ‘roots’ in the way that evolutionary theory gives ‘history’, coherence and grounding to all of biology. It is a truism spoken by many that if we want to truly understand functions of living things – including mental systems – then we really need to be clear about why they evolved. Sadly, recent attempts to incorporate psychology within the classical evolutionary framework, far from yielding fresh insights, seem to have generated even more division and controversy. In consequence, there are still crucial gaps in our understanding of human minds and human nature, and about their continuity with the rest of life. This creates many problems for scientists, and increasing public scepticism about scientific accounts of what we’ve actually got in our heads and how it works.