Consciousness | Mind | Awareness & Identity | Reason & Emotion | Cognition | Evolutionary Psychology | Cognitive Biology | Memetics | Language | Intelligence | Metacognition | Theory of Mind | Neuroscience | Neuroanatomy

This group is for those who have an interest in the intersection of mind, biology, and culture. This is a group basically about us: human beings—the thinking ape. It is an exploration into who we have become, and how we got here, with the emphasis on the mind and consciousness. In other words, what we perceive, how we think, and why we believe. It is about how we understand and process information, and what we do with it once we have it.

For example, a good post topic would be what goes on in the mind that causes tribalism based on perceptions of race, nationality, belief, etc. But posting on the ethnic tensions in Kosovo, not so much.

So yes to what causes schizophrenia in the brain, but no to the latest clinical trials for treating it, unless the discussion concentrates on how the mind is specifically altered by the drugs.

Yes to articles on how evolution has caused us to develop a sense of morality and ethics, but no to posts about moral dilemmas, like should you tell your best friend his wife is cheating on him.

Same for culture: yes on how our mental faculties shape our culture, but no on the history of Mardi Gras.

Thumbs up to posts on language evolution, but thumbs down on questions about prescriptive grammar.

Get the idea? The post must be tied in some manner to the mind—how it has evolved, how it works, and how it influences us as a species.

I am not a scientist in any field. I do not know a lot about these topics, but I do have an increasingly strong interest in them. It is my hope that we can all learn from one another in this group.


ONGOING THREADS
Blurbs & Tidbits – post short, interesting links here
Get Mental: The Thinking Ape Repository - for miscellaneous info
Quotes – post interesting quotes here
The Reading List – post interesting books here
Video Thread – post your videos here