Book Proposal

George Mobus, PhD
Associate Professor,
Computer Science and Engineering,
University of Washington Tacoma,
Institute of Technology

The tentative title of the book

Sapience: A New Theory of the Human Mind, Why We Are Not Wise (and what we can do about it)

A description of its rationale and scope.

From the Preface:

Consider this perplexing question: If human beings are so smart, why have we not solved the many social and physical problems that have plagued humanity throughout history? Moreover, why are we facing nearly imponderable problems that have developed due to our own actions, e.g. climate change?

An on-going major presumption about our species has been that we are supremely intelligent, able to solve difficult problems and create technologies to satisfy our needs and wants. We are a clever species, far more so than any other. We can communicate using language. We can learn how the world (universe) works through science. We can find and exploit numerous resources. We can occupy any environment on the planet and even off-planet, at least for short periods of time. From earliest times we have seen our species as fundamentally different from every other species. Indeed we have very often considered ourselves to be something different from other life forms, superior, in control of our destinies.

Yet, as the first decade of the 21st Century came to an end the evidence that we had made some serious mistakes in judgments and choices with global negative impacts became effectively undeniable. Many very serious scientists, philosophers, historians, and other disciplinarians recognized the signs of dysfunction and questioned just how superior our intelligence might be under the circumstances. ...

There is a paradox regarding the human condition. The evidence suggests that we are too clever for our own good. Is it possible that, as Shakespeare?s Cassius claims ?The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings?? Is it possible that there is something within us that prevents us from being able to use our cleverness to recognize unintended consequences of our clever inventions, or of our various, supposedly intelligent behaviors? Are we ?underlings? in the sense that we are incapable of making the right decisions in pursuing life? If so, can we identify the ?fault in ourselves?? Can we consider possible remedies?

This book addresses this idea of a “fault” in our basic human cognitive capacity. I have used the principles of systems science (taken from my textbook of that same name, see below) to analyze several bodies of knowledge in psychology, neurobiology, and evolution as they apply to the human condition and the paradox. Using what we know from human evolution and what makes us different from other animals (especially our closest living relatives), I describe the facility of sapience and how it provides the basis for individuals and societies to develop wisdom from experience. But I also show how the capacity for sapience is still underdeveloped relative to affecting the fullness of wisdom needed to make wise decisions about our use of technology and our relations with each other.

An explanation of how it relates to other books on the topic that have been published recently

There are a large number of psychology books on wisdom as a psychological construct. There are a few books that relate wisdom to neurology. But there is only one book I know of that the evolutionary context of our condition to find an answer to a very similar question as above. That is: Dilworth, C. (2010). Too Smart for our Own Good: The Ecological Predicament of Humankind, Cambridge University Press, New York.

Dilworth does consider the fundamental biological reasons for humans? inabilities to behave in ways that lead to better outcomes, however he attributes the cause to a somewhat nebulous notion of a ?vicious circle principle? (VCP) phenomenon. This he describes and attributes to our biological nature, but does not offer deeper psychological or neurological insights into why. The circle is based on a positive feedback loop that is amplified by technology (due to our cleverness) and is framed in economic terms. Humans have escaped the normal biological constraints on population by the deployment of technological ?fixes? that then provide more resources and lead to expanding population sizes (the biological aspect). But expanding populations invariably overshoot resources before the next round of technological increases, thus causing temporary declines and collapses of prior civilizations. For Dilworth the root ?cause? is instinctive behavior that just seems to be our lot.

My book goes into the brain basis of this phenomenon and explains why we don?t actually learn to self-regulate ourselves as a society. It also points to a way out of the predicament. I provide a perspective from evolution that argues that human beings may be able to affect our own evolution to increase our sapience competency and in a coevolutionary processes, society will also evolve those internal self-regulation systems that would result in a new social order that would exist in balance with the world ecology (be sustainable in the true sense).

A breakdown of the table of contents with descriptions of the contents of each chapter

  • Preface
    This preface explores the human condition of today and asks the central question: If we are so smart, why are we in the current predicament? It introduces the fact that what is missing in our cognitive capacities is sufficient wisdom to make good judgments, especially regarding the adoption of technologies, the greed-driven interpretation of economics, and control of population size so as to not overtax the Earth systems. It introduces the idea that wisdom, when it is present, is based on specific brain capabilities and suggests that the average brain, the brain that evolved in the late Pleistocene era, has only minimal competence in the area of developing strong wisdom over the course of a lifetime. The brain basis for what wisdom we are able to muster is called sapience. It then introduces the use of systems science to analyze the cognitive situation in human sapience from both the psychological (including behavioral) and neurological perspectives. The treatment of individuals and social groups as systems is explained (with illustrations). The principles of systems science, as elucidated in my textbook, are introduced and explained for the purposes of the current work. It ends with an explication of the motivation behind needing a better understanding of the human mind in light of the existential crisis that we face. [3 color figures, 15 pages]
  • 1. The Concept of Sapience
    The chapter begins with an explanation of why and how we humans are an entirely new kind of animal by virtue of our extraordinary intelligence and creativity, our capacity for abstraction and expression through recursive language, and our ability to make higher order judgments based on learned concepts (models) of the world. It briefly introduces the background of what we know currently about the evolution of our species (details will come in chapter 5). It provides an introduction to how human consciousness is different from (of a higher order) all other previous animals?, referring to more detailed explanations to come in chapters 3 and 4. It then explains in greater detail the principles of systems science, introduced in the preface, and how they are used to explicate the human mind and human society.

    The chapter provides the background explanation for the psychology research into wisdom and thinking and provides a basic explanation of the brain basis - sapience. It then introduces the major components of sapience, judgment, moral sentiment, systems perspective, and strategic perspective, and several minor components. [8 color figures, 48 pages]
  • 2. Making Decisions: Relations of Intelligence, Creativity, and Affect to Sapience
    This chapter focuses on the whole process of decision making in the human brain/mind. It describes the types of decisions in terms of how they relate to overt behavior, categorized by their level in a hierarchical cybernetic management system (see Appendix A). Decisions are shaped by multiple influences from intelligent (rational), creative, and affective (emotional) processes, fairly well understood by psychologists (e.g. Daniel Kahneman, ?Thinking Fast and Slow?). I add to this the influence of sapience through intuitive judgments that are based on subconscious processing of models of how the world works. These models (tacit knowledge) are constructed over a lifetime and their veracity and validity are based on the inherent level of sapience that a person possesses. The better the models, the greater the wisdom expressed in decisions.

    The chapter walks through the mechanics of how all of these psychological constructs (processing modules in the brain) contribute to decision making. [12 color figures, 36 pages]
  • 3. The Cognitive Components of Sapience Explained
    This chapter provides a top-down systems analysis of the major cognitive components of sapience. It starts by introducing the notion of human-level consciousness as a product of the evolution of sapience and provides a starting explanation of how human consciousness differs from our animal ancestors. I use Michael Tomasello?s (2014 A Natural History of Human Thinking) schema, tracing human intentionality through evolution to arrive at the collective intentionality of modern Homo sapiens. I show how sapience is related to this uniquely human thinking trait.

    Each of the four major components of sapience (judgment, moral sentiment, systems, and strategic perspectives) are then analyzed, again from a top-down approach to provide details of how each works and contribute to human consciousness and decision making. [9 color figures, 43 pages]
  • 4. The Neuroscience of Sapience
    This chapter starts with a caveat regarding the early stage of understanding brain functions, especially in the prefrontal cortex and the focal area, BA10. I admit that there will be some speculation regarding some details, but point out that those are testable hypotheses that derive from the systems analysis of sapience and brain development. It then provides something of a basic tutorial in brain functions and the complexity of the brain at multiple scales, showing how the neural networks in the brain encode engrams, concepts, and models in support of subconscious thinking. The architecture of the brain, from perceptual processing through the executive functions of the prefrontal cortex are mapped onto the hierarchical cybernetic model (Appendix A) to show how systems thinking and strategic thinking result and contribute to sapience. The chapter contains many figures/diagrams to help explain this complex subject. [19 color figures, 54 pages]
  • 5. The Evolution of Sapience: Past and Future
    In this chapter I trace the evolution of sapience in the genus Homo. First I explain the concept of the evolution of the hierarchical cybernetic systems in nature (Appendix A) and how the brains of hominids developed highly adaptive capabilities in logistical and tactical management of behaviors. I provide a view of how strategic thinking was evolved in the genus Homo and came to be sufficient in strength to produce the sapience our species possesses.

    The second part of the chapter speculates about the future of humanity in terms of the further evolution of the genus as a result of several natural processes. I introduce the notion of a population (evolutionary) bottleneck event caused to the extreme climate changes that are now anticipated due to global warming. Survivors of such an event will be subject to harsh selection pressures. However I also explain the nature of evolvability and how it seems to work in human evolution. The possibility that survivors might rapidly evolve the ability to survive in that future world exists and should be considered. Moreover, I suggest that we humans are the first species to actually know about evolution and all of these mechanisms. In this we might find ways to enhance our evolution toward greater sapience so that a distant future population of new humans (a more sapient species) might be able to thrive. [5 color figures, 29 pages]
  • Postface
    I review the predicament of our civilization and species. I repeat the case for finding ways to increase our collective wisdom if we are to keep the impacts of climate change, fossil fuel depletion, and all of the various population overshoot effects from driving our kind to extinction. [3 pages]
  • Appendix A: Principles of Hierarchical Cybernetic Management
    This appendix provides a basic explanation of the hierarchical cybernetic management theory that is the basis for the systems analysis of the brain/mind and sapience. The theory is explained in greater detail in my textbook, but this principle from systems science is so important to understanding our cognition that I felt it important to have it available in this book (this will also be true of the other books I plan for this series). [6 color figures, 19 pages]
  • Bibliography
    [approx. 155 references, 8 pages (currently)]
  • Index TBD

    • A description of the intended readership

    There seems to be a growing amount of existential angst being expressed by many people these days. No longer are the doomsayers and survivalists the only people thinking about the possibility of demise of our civilization or even of our species. Prominent scientists such as Martin Rees, William Catton, E. O. Wilson, James Lovelock, and more recently, James Hansen are beginning to sound warnings that humanity sits on a precipice and is there by its own devices. And people are starting to listen. Many more people are becoming concerned that our species is facing an existential crises. At the same time, people are confused and do not understand the reasons why. They are looking for a core cause and an explanation for why this is happening. I have no idea as to the numbers of people in this category, but my sense is that it is growing rapidly and there are enough to make the production of such a book worthwhile, not merely as an economic prospect, but to help people understand what is happening and why.

    Additionally I would think that people who study and read cognitive science and neurobiology literatures would be interested in this book from the view of how it provides a new perspective on human psychology and brain functions. The chapter on the psychology of sapience derives from the literature in the psychology of wisdom and provides a systemic framework for understanding the dimensions and processes of wisdom and wise behavior. The chapter on the neuroscience of sapience suggests a number of testable hypotheses about brain functions and what to look for. Neuroscientists with an interest in the brain basis of wisdom and judgment should find this a fruitful perspective that could lead to new avenues of research.

    Details of the proposed length of the book and its intended completion date

    The book, in a relatively final draft, is currently at 228 pages in a Word document formatted 1.15 points between lines, 12 pt Times Roman font. It contains 62 original color graphic figures to help readers visualize many of the more complex aspects of the concepts, especially the neurological ones.

    A draft of the book in pdf is available for qualified reviewers.

    Brief credentials of the author (N.B. a full curriculum vitae is not required)

    I have a PhD in computer science from the University of North Texas. But I also have an MBA from San Diego State University and a baccalaureate in zoology from the University of Washington. These degrees speak to my extensive interests in computation, modelling, business, economics, and biology (esp. neuroscience and animal behavior). My research area has been in autonomous adaptive agents (robots) where I combined my interests in brain research and computer science to produce robots that could learn to navigate and negotiate dynamic and changing environments successfully (see: http://faculty.washington.edu/gmobus/AdaptiveAgents/ ). I currently teach computer science and engineering at the University of Washington Tacoma in the Institute of Technology. My first passion, however, is the study of systems science (of which computer science is a subset subject). In this regard I have recently co-authored (as lead author) a book published by Springer, Principles of Systems Science, with Michael Kalton (ISBN: 978-1-4939-1919-2, http://www.springer.com/us/book/9781493919192). The research reported in this proposed book is based on the principles as elucidated in the published book.

    I also publish a blog, Question Everything (http://questioneverything.typepad.com/ ), which covers many of the topics being reported in this proposed book. I originally developed the research working papers and reported on some of that work in this blog. My hit rate has been 300 - 400 per day for several years, and when I make a new post it can average over 500/day over several days? time with peaks as high as 1,000/day. I have a consistent following there and attribute the reasonably strong sales of my textbook to having publicized it through that venue.