"For all we know, and quite possibly all we will ever know, we are the only creatures in the universe who write paslms and sculpt marble and know how stars work. We inhabit a virtual reality of symbols and ideas and we are uniquely endowed with the capacity to teach as well as imitate.

Understanding the human as the emergent outcome of natural history, and in particular the outcome of co-evolution of language, brain and culture, allows us to understand who we are in exciting new ways. Deacon (2001 3: 306) lifts up one such perspective:

'Human consciousness is not merely an emergent phenomenon; it epitomizes the logic of emergence in its very form. Human minds, deeply entangled in symbolic culture, have an effective causal locus that extends across continents and millennia, growing out of the experiences of countless individuals. Consciousness emerges as an incessant creation of something from nothing, a process continually transcending itself. To be human is to know what it feels like to be evolution happening.' "

Slots and Values
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