Publisher's Synopsis
Are humans unique? Can animals think as we do? Will machines ever be conscious? What is free will? For centuries, attempts to answer these questions have been the stuff of theological and philosophical dispute, as well as bar-room debate. Now scientists claim they can solve these riddles of human existence, once and for all. In doing so they promise to upset many of the accepted ideas of morality and human nature. Man, Beast and Zombie is a thrillingly original and accessible book. Huge in its reach and powerful in its grasp, it draws on cutting-edge sciences such as evolutionary biology, cognitive psychology and Artificial Intelligence to assess what, precisely, they can and cannot explain about human nature. Kenan Malik explains the histories of these sciences and the philosophies that underpin them and analyses the complex relationship between human beings, animals and machines to explore what really makes us human. Malik's conclusions are important and controversial. He demonstrates that much contemporary Darwinism is flawed, how behaviours that occur universally in human beings are not necessarily biological in origin and that the existence of 'intelligence' genes, or 'aggression' genes is nonsense. Though wholly committed to reason and the scientific process, Man, Beast and Zombie challenges head-on some of today's most cherished theories. It deftly interweaves philosophy, science and history to answer the most fundamental question of all: What Are We?
