Book Chapters by Emiko Shoji
Settlement, Society and Cognition in Human Evolution, 2011
In this paper, we consider the technological and the social domain as two areas that have individ... more In this paper, we consider the technological and the social domain as two areas that have individually, as well as jointly, positively affected the development of our cognitive capacity during human evolution. To make this argument, we will incorporate empirical evidence from studies of primates, cognitive science, kinship, and ancient human technologies. But the core of our argument is a theoretical one – we ask at each step in our argument: “What kind of ‘tools for thought’ did human beings require to obtain the desired artifact functionality in different domains and at different stages in their development, and how might they have acquired these?” During hominin evolutionary history, genetic transmission of biological information between generations was slowly but surely overtaken in importance by deliberate, social transmission of information among members of the same generation and across generations. That transition led humans to become the only species able to actively and purposefully organize its social as well as its material environment, a difference central to our understanding of human social systems. For simplicity’s sake, we consider hominin evolution as consisting of three phases: (a) the biological evolution of the cognitive capacities requisite for the florescence of stone tool technologies, (b) the evolutionary origin of cultural systems enabling the organization of social groupsno longer localized in space and time, and (c) the emergence of increasingly complex forms of social organizations such as urban societies. We recognize that this distinction is, in part, artificial, as the phases of concern were not sequential but overlapping, with interaction among them. After describing changes that occurred in each of these phases, we will conclude with an outline of a general perspective on the relationship between the ‘inside’ and the ‘outside’ aspects of the human cognitive relationship with the external world ithat can guide future ideas and research.
As humans, we are the only species that reflects consciously on our existence and how we came to ... more As humans, we are the only species that reflects consciously on our existence and how we came to be. Such musings have led us to formulate many different scenarios that see us as coming into existence through a creative act by forces outside of ordinary experience. However, within the domain of scientific reasoning, any appeal to such extraordinary forces is excluded.We therefore seek a natural account of how a species as complex as ours, capable of formulating and realizing the widely diverse forms of social systems that we know, could have arisen. Such an account must be embedded in the Darwinian paradigm for evolution, which has been fundamental to our understanding of the way in which biological reproduction can drive change from simpler to more complex biological forms.
Papers by Emiko Shoji
Sub-stance, 1990
Page 1. Archaeology, Material Culture and Innovation SE van der Leeuw Introduction EARLIER IN THE... more Page 1. Archaeology, Material Culture and Innovation SE van der Leeuw Introduction EARLIER IN THESE PAGES, Rene Girard beautifully sketches the history of the concept "innovation." At the same time, it becomes clear that ...
WORLD SCIENTIFIC eBooks, May 1, 2005
University of Arizona Press eBooks, Jun 21, 2022
The MIT Press eBooks, Nov 3, 2006
Risques urbains =, Jun 1, 2018
This paper first argues that the driving force behind the aggregation of human settlement, throug... more This paper first argues that the driving force behind the aggregation of human settlement, throughout the centuries, has been the ever-increasing need for collective problem solving. Villages and cities have emerged in 'dissipative flow structures' in which organization (information processing capacity) spread out from cities into their hinterland, enabing energy and other resources to increasingly flow into cities to meet the needs of the population. Information processing is thus the driver of urbanization, and energy is the constraint. With the Industrial Revolution, the growth of such dissipative flow structures accelerated very rapidly due to the fact that fossil energy became available and lifted the constraint. Hence the urban explosion of the last couple of centuries. In the second part of the paper, some of the potential consequences of this explosion are discussed. First, whether the ever accelerating increase of global urbanization will continue or not, and then what might be the consequences of that acceleration for urban planning and architecture, emphasizing that cities need to become pro-active rather than re-active. They need to start designing for change rather than responding to it. In a final section we discuss some of the risks to urbanization that are posed by the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Revolution, and conclude with a suggestion how, in developed countries, information technology might reverse the trend to increasing concentration of the population in cities, whereas for the moment, this is not likely to be the case in developing countries.
Springer eBooks, 2008
In this contribution, I will first draw upon the other chapters of this book to summarise what ar... more In this contribution, I will first draw upon the other chapters of this book to summarise what are in my opinion the essential elements of their discussion on the concept of agency and on Actor Network Theory. Then I will argue the need to come to understand the process of invention and innovation and present some ideas about why this topic has not generally been given the importance that, in my eyes, it merits. Finally, I will try and develop a perspective that might indeed help us understand the process of intention and innovation, based on some of the ideas about agency presented in this book.
In a discipline which essentially studies how modern man came to be, it is remarkable that there ... more In a discipline which essentially studies how modern man came to be, it is remarkable that there are hardly any conceptual tools to describe change. This is due to the history of the western intellectual and scientific tradition, which for a long time favoured mechanics over dynamics, and the study of stability over that of change. Change was primarily deemed due to external events (in archaeology mainly climatic or 'environmental'). Revolutionary innovations in the natural and life sciences, often (erroneously) referred to as 'chaos theory', suggest that there are ways to overcome this problem. A wide range of processes can be described in terms of dynamic systems, and modern computing methods enable us to investigate many of their properties. This volume presents a cogent argument for the use of such approaches, and a discussion of a number of its aspects by a range of scientists from the humanities, social and natural sciences, and archaeology.
This paper first argues that the driving force behind the aggregation of human settlement, throug... more This paper first argues that the driving force behind the aggregation of human settlement, throughout the centuries, has been the ever-increasing need for collective problem solving. Villages and cities have emerged in ‘dissipative flow structures' in which organization (information processing capacity) spread out from cities into their hinterland, enabing energy and other resources to increasingly flow into cities to meet the needs of the population. Information processing is thus the driver of urbanization, and energy is the constraint. With the Industrial Revolution, the growth of such dissipative flow structures accelerated very rapidly due to the fact that fossil energy became available and lifted the constraint. Hence the urban explosion of the last couple of centuries. In the second part of the paper, some of the potential consequences of this explosion are discussed. First, whether the ever accelerating increase of global urbanization will continue or not, and then what might be the consequences of that acceleration for urban planning and architecture, emphasizing that cities need to become pro-active rather than re-active. They need to start designing for change rather than responding to it. In a final section we discuss some of the risks to urbanization that are posed by the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Revolution, and conclude with a suggestion how, in developed countries, information technology might reverse the trend to increasing concentration of the population in cities, whereas for the moment, this is not likely to be the case in developing countries.
Natures Sciences Sociétés, Apr 1, 2016
Oxford University Press eBooks, Apr 11, 2013
La Découverte eBooks, Oct 20, 1994
Archeological Papers of The American Anthropological Association, Mar 1, 2014
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Book Chapters by Emiko Shoji
Papers by Emiko Shoji