How did we come to have minds? For centuries poets philosophers psychologists and
physicists have wondered how the human mind developed its unrivaled abilities. Disciples of
Darwin have explained how natural selection produced plants but what about the human mind?
In From Bacteria to Bach and Back Daniel C. Dennett builds on recent discoveries from biology
and computer science to show step by step how a comprehending mind could in fact have arisen
from a mindless process of natural selection. A crucial shift occurred when humans developed
the ability to share memes or ways of doing things not based in genetic instinct. Competition
among memes produced thinking tools powerful enough that our minds don't just perceive and
react they create and comprehend. An agenda-setting book for a new generation of
philosophers and scientists From Bacteria to Bach and Back will delight and entertain all
those curious about how the mind works.
