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INDEX

Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations.

abilities, 11, 121, 209

see also input/output circuits

abortion, 3, 96, 99, 102, 287, 288–91

aboutness, 185, 187, 191, 193, 194–219, 220

see also thinking about stuff

Abrahamic religions, 52, 84, 87, 99

abstinence, fat chance of, 119

abstract expression, 307

acceleration, 168

acoustical vibration, 284

adaptation, 45–70, 48, 59, 71–93, 71, 90, 251, 252

a bad bet, 72

chemical, 70

cultural, 220–41, 255

first sliver of, 70

adultery, 102

joke about, 106

aesthetic judgments, 311

affirmative action, 96, 287

Africa, 259

African evolutionary bottleneck, 86, 116, 208

African mega fauna, 11

see also mega fauna

Age of Reason, 5

aggregating rational behavior, 268

agnostics, 100

airplanes, 306

Alexander, J. McKenzie, 323

ambitions, 297

analogy of illusion of thought, 190

Anatomy of Melancholy (Burton), 283

ancient history, 272

animal behavior, 13

Animists, 105

ant colony, 214, 215–16

anthropic principle, 39–40

anthropology, 102, 116, 139, 242

see also cultural anthropology; evolutionary anthropology

antimatter, 23, 38

anything goes, 95

aphids, 215–16

Aplysia california, 326

see also sea slug

appropriateness of outputs to circumstances, 191

Aristotle, 35, 49, 167

arms race, 68, 74, 120, 248–50, 255–56, 262, 266, 270, 271, 272

Arrow, Kenneth, 330

Asimov, Isaac, 234, 243

asteroid, 15

astronomers, 41

asymmetrical process, 32, 41, 78, 79

asymmetry, of second law of thermodynamics, 32

atheists, 4, 5, 6, 100, 275

atomic chemistry, 24, 25, 169

atrocious design, 81

Atta, Mohamed, 98

Augustine, 52

authenticity, can’t be taken seriously, 283

Avatar, 191

awareness, see consciousness

Ayala, Francisco, 46

Ayn Rand objectivists, 295

babies, 122

with large brains, 81

Bacon, Francis, 307

bad news about morality, 94–114

basement level of reality, 37

basic laws of physics, time symmetrical, 32–35

bats, 48, 229

what it’s like to be one, 230–33

Beagle, HMS, 55

beavers, 215

Becker, Gary, 329

behavioral biology, 18, 22, 206

behavioral sciences, 260

beliefs

as information storage circuits,

189

false, 112

false but useful, 111

Bell, Alexander Graham, 252

bell-curve of variations, 142, 283

benevolence, of God, 87

Bethe, Hans, 51

Bible, 87, 91, 92, 208

bicycle pump, 29–31

big bang, 15, 22, 35–38, 43, 80, 237

billiard balls, 47–48

Bing, in arms race with Google, 264

biography, 168, 208, 212, 214, 245

biological anthropology, 311

see also evolutionary anthropology

biologists, 248

biology, 15, 19, 44, 240

explained by chemistry, 25

birth canal, 81, 118

Black Death, 257, 258

black holes, 22, 23

blade of grass, 46

Blakeslee, Sandra, 328

blanket prohibition, 289, 290

blind variation 56, 57, 71, 78, 83, 84, 88, 89, 90, 92, 107, 121, 122, 125, 131, 161, 196, 216, 244, 247, 251, 252, 255, 263, 270, 283, 312

blindsight, 149–51, 170, 231

blueprints, 42–43

bodily switch, 221

Boltzmann, Ludwig, 31

Boltzmann brains, 27–28, 43, 91

Bordeaux, France, 172

bosons, 21, 22, 26, 35, 37, 38, 41, 43, 179, 221, 222, 235, 237, 292

Boswell, Thomas, 212

bottleneck, evolutionary, 86, 116, 198, 208

Bowles, Samuel, 330

Boyd, Robert, 322, 323, 329

brain, 4, 10, 11, 14, 103, 148, 149, 152, 158, 162, 164–93, 208, 221, 234, 237, 245, 252, 270, 282, 286, 288, 303

damage, 151

size, 11

in vat, 221–22, 224

Brass, M., 324

brightness differences, 155, 156

Brights, 5–6

British constitution, 253

browsers, Web, 264

bubonic plague, death rate, 258

buckyballs, 61

bunk, 242–74

burn avoidance behavior, 159–60

Burton, Richard, 283

Bushido, 143

butterflies, 216

calcium, potassium, sodium, and chloride molecules in synapses, 181, 182

calculus, inventing, 225, 228–29

“caloric” theory of heat, 29

camouflage,