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The story of life: critical insights from evolutionary biology
Author(s) -
Paulson Steve,
Chang Melanie Lee,
Tattersall Ian,
Morris Simon Conway
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/nyas.13874
Subject(s) - meaning (existential) , conversation , evolutionary theory , evolutionary psychology , epistemology , environmental ethics , cognitive science , sociology , psychology , philosophy , communication
The notion that humans, in all their complexity, are merely an evolutionary accident, an insignificant speck in a boundless cosmos, is deeply unsatisfying for most nonscientists and fails to resonate with their life experience. What, then, can evolutionary biology ultimately tell us about the meaning of our lives? In conversation with Steve Paulson, executive producer and host of To the Best of Our Knowledge , paleoanthropologists Melanie Lee Chang and Ian Tattersall, and paleontologist Simon Conway Morris share their insights on these competing concepts and explain how meaning and purpose can be gleaned from the remarkable story of life itself.