The very first word spoken by a woman: ‘No’

[photopress:cartoon.png,full,alignleft]EVOLUTION
Do the origins of mankind’s success lie in a sex-strike by our female ancestors?

IT ALL began with cosmetics. What did? The human success story. How we came out of Africa about a hundred thousand years ago, beat up all our rival species and invented language, art and religion. And we were able to do all this because of make-up.

But cosmetics were just the starting point, according to the latest theory. Continue reading “The very first word spoken by a woman: ‘No’”

Language co-evolved with the rule of law

Let me begin with a self-evident point, perhaps too often taken for granted. When academics participate in conferences and debates, we find ourselves operating under the rule of law. Protocols exist. We must keep to agreed time limits, disclose our sources, accept criticism and renounce any temptation to use threats, material inducements or force. There is status competition, certainly. But status is determined on an intellectual basis by peer evaluation alone; we compete to demonstrate relevance (Sperber and Wilson 1995 [1986]; Dessalles 1998) in one anothers’ eyes.

Download short (2006) version of Language co-evolved with the rule of law [PDF 188KB].

Download long (2007) version of Language co-evolved with the rule of law [PDF 224KB]

The Human Revolution (Symposium on the Evolution of Language)

Let me begin with a self-evident point, perhaps too often taken for granted. When academics participate in conferences and debates, we find ourselves operating under the rule of law. Protocols exist. We must disclose our sources, expose ourselves to criticism and renounce any temptation to use threats, material inducements or force. There is status competition, certainly. But the status of our output is determined on an intellectual basis by peer evaluation alone; we compete to demonstrate relevance in others’ eyes… Download The Human Revolution (Symposium on the Evolution of Language) in PDF format [348KB]