The Robot’s Rebellion as inferred from the author’s account of narrations regards finding meaning in the age of Darwin to refer to the 21st century period (Stanovich, 2005). Based on the major thesis that “certain unrecognized and considerably underdeveloped implications of findings in cognitive psychology, decision theory, and neuroscience can help humans become reconciled with the Darwinian view of life” (Stanovich, (2005), the author seeks to reconcile the scientific theory of Darwinism with the perspectives that humans are freely existing agents who can make their own decisions so as to respond in specific ways. As such, this discussion employs cognitive science knowledge to explain some of the themes explored by Stanovich in Chapter one.
Stanovich concurs with Dawkins that the replicators in the current biological context imply the genes while the vehicles denote humans who are also referred to as the survival machines. Human beings, therefore, are the carriers of the genes. However, the author disagrees that the only reason why humans exist is to act as the survival machines for the replicators. Consequently, he notes that humans are free-living agents with the ability to make individual decisions and act on them without the control of the genes. In so saying, he begins to invoke the aspects of cognitive science. For instance, one would ponder and wonder why humans have been able to act on their own yet their only role as expected by the genes is to replicate.
An imperative aspect of cognitive science that the author has intensively and recurrently applied is the use of analogy. Employing analogies to explain certain points that are crucial ensure that the intended information is passed to the target audience and causes the desired impact. Analogies intrigues a person’s ability to think in regards to the issue of concern and conceptualization of the planed meaning lasts longer. For instance, while the author would have simply genes and human, he opted for replicators and survival machines. Since he wanted the audience to relate with his thoughts in a way that they also imagined of the haunting image that informed his decision to write this book, he had to find something good in human memory to refer to, upon evaluation, he realized that the use of the above mention analogies could deliver the message he wanted and imprints a lasting memory to be used and be referred to as being successful in the future. As of the use of the two words, a reader would be left thinking why he or she would be referred to as a survival machine used to perform and achieve something else’s objectives and goals.
A cognitive science view that explains why humans respond to other stimuli and conduct themselves differently besides replicating is their complex nature. The complexity affords humans the characteristic of being flexible as well as intelligent, thus, are able to respond to different demands stemming from the environmental changes. In reference to Jean Piaget’s stages of development, for instance, there are four distinct stages each with its advantage that modifies human during the development. First, the sensorimotor stage enables an individual to develop simple reflex actions which manifest progressively as observed inability to adapt and explore the environment, focus on one’s intentional behavior, and understand the different objects within the environment as well as their permanence. Secondly, the preoperational stage exposes an individual to the egocentrism and centration. The former shapes and enables a person to view a situation from different perspectives while the latter conditions one to concentrate thought on a particular activity. Thirdly, the concrete operational stage is the period that one is inducted to acquire mental operations that are employed in solving problems by thinking abstractly and hypothetically. Forth is the formal operational stage where an individual is then able to abstract entities and think hypothetically through applying respective mental operations.
Correspondingly, the author as opposed to affirming Dawkin assertion which referred to the replicators as the selfish genes that only care about themselves “Intelligent life on a planet comes of age when it first works out the reason for its own existence.... Living organisms had existed on Earth, without ever knowing why, for more than three billion years before the truth finally dawned on one of them. His name was Charles Darwin”( Stanovich, 2005), takes a different view and notes that the genes indeed care more about the humans than the humans care about them. For example, the author infers that it is only the humans who are aware that there may be goals within their brains that are only meant to serve the interests of the genes. Similarly, the humans are the only creatures with intelligence level that is flexible and can be in control for long-terms. As such, the author concluded that the two aforementioned characteristics enable the human to choose not to peruse the goals of the genes by resorting to developing their own that are completely different from those of the genes’ thus, humans behaviors are meant to serve human interests.
In order to explain why human behavior serves mainly their interests and can opt to diverge from those expected by the genes as highlighted by the author, the integral aspect of cognitive science reflects on such issues is the cognitive level. For example, sociological level enables humans to determine the relative goals for the genes within the brain which if they peruse, would endanger their lives. Nevertheless, since humans cannot rely wholly on sociological level of learning, physiological and cognitive levels become significant. The physiological aspects of learning have situated man to be informed that not every situation could be on social context, whereas the cognitive level has shaped human to express their discomfort under situations that perusing the replicators’ goals might endanger them.
Conclusion
In summary, the human beings otherwise referred to as robots in Stanovich’s context are rebelling. The rebellion is witnessed in circumstances where as opposed to the perception that humans could only act in certain ways as prescribed by the replicators, they today have the option of either choosing the gene’s way or their way. In order for them to come to be able to decide on whether to peruse or not to peruse and perform the only action that benefits them, cognitive science has played a vital role in advancing their abilities. Cognitive stages of development with time have enhanced the human ability to think critically and be logical in responding to the environmental changes. Moreover, the levels of learning such as sociological, physiological, and cognitive levels have augmented the human capability to think rationally before responding to situations. Hence, they have not only been able to survive but also make their own decisions to engage in and with what they perceive as best for them.
Reference
Stanovich, K. E. (2005). The robot's rebellion: Finding meaning in the age of Darwin. University of Chicago Press.
