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The Robot's Rebellion: Finding Meaning in the Age of Darwin

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Keith E. Stanovich (Author)
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Keith E. Stanovich (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars 12 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0226771250
ISBN-10: 0226771253
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 374 pages
  • Publisher: University Of Chicago Press (October 15, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0226771253
  • ISBN-13: 978-0226771250
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 1.4 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #378,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsPartially a development from the work of Richard Dawkins
By Dennis Littrell HALL OF FAME on August 4, 2004
Format: Hardcover
This book is largely about what psychologist Keith Stanovich sees as the disconnect in the postmodern world between "maximizing genetic fitness and maximizing the satisfaction of human desires." (p. xiii) On the one hand we have the "replicators," the genes that blindly seek only their replication. On the other hand we have the vehicle (the phenotype), i.e., "us," which carries the genes, which Stanovich believes should seek its own happiness. He sees our brain as composed of two overlapping, but sometimes divergent, systems. One, the more primitive, he calls "The Autonomous Set of Systems" (TASS) and the other he calls an "analytic system." He calls this having "two minds in one brain."

The autonomous system is held on a "short leash" by the genes while the analytic system is on a longer leash; that is, TASS reacts to events in the environment almost automatically in close concert with the dictates of the replicators while the analytic system is more removed from innate drives and can analyze situations rationally and can act in terms of what is good for the vehicle rather than what promotes the replication of the genes. Note that these systems usually are in agreement and react to the environment in the same way. Threats to the well-being of the vehicle from predators and other dangers, signal the same avoidance behavior. However, sometimes there is a conflict. The example that Stanovich uses is TASS's need to flirt with the boss's wife, which might increase the replication of the genes, while the analytic system realizes that such behavior probably goes against the best interests of the vehicle (possible loss of job, etc.).Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsA scientific and Creative Analysis of Human Potentials
By Herbert Gintis on July 22, 2004
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Keith Stanovich is an accomplished behavioral scientist (psychologist) who applies all his scientific knowledge to answer a single question. We humans are the genetic product of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution, during most of which we lived as menial hunter-gatherers with a 35 year life expectancy. Given this genetic heritage, Stanovich asks, is there any way we can free ourselves from being the captives of our genetic pre-history?

The setting for this analysis is Richard Dawkins' argument in The Selfish Gene that we humans are "giant lumbering robots" who serve only as transient containers for our genes, who are the truly eternal replicators.

Stanovich makes the following arguments. First, there are two decision processes in the human brain. The first is the Autonomous Set of Systems (TASS) which we share with nonhuman animals, is a complete product of our evolutionary history, and only very imperfectly serves our contemporary interests. For instance, the TASS may tell us to overeat, have unsafe sex, or enjoy other forms of immediate gratification. However, there is a second decision center, which Stanovich calls 'analytical' that can override the TASS. This sounds like Freud's Id and Ego, which is one of Freud's unsullied contributions to human understanding. There is much evidence in favor of the TASS/analytical distinction.

Stanovich is to be praised for NEVER descending into the philosopher's morass, in which the question would be posed as one of 'free will.' I do not know if there is free will, but I do know the scientific evidence on which Stanovich's case is built.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsTerribly written spectacular content
By Stephen R. Loftus-Mercer on February 19, 2013
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
This is a painful book to read. It is poorly edited. It has ridiculous footnoting. It pounds on certain points until you scream, "Stop!" Other points the author glosses over, assumes you have them memorized, and then expects you to recognize his off hand reference a few chapters later. Maddening.

AND YET. If you are willing to stick with it... If you are willing to pull content from the writing... what you have here is a spectacular piece of research. This book summarizes in one place I-don't-know-how-many research studies, pulling the threads together and highlighting some startling patterns of human behavior. The author presents a compelling argument for how to truly be ourselves, how to recognize the preprogramming of nature and when we are working against our own best interests. The modern world is a terrible place for many of our instinctive actions, and this book highlights the places where our thinking gets overwhelmed by our patterns of action. Then it goes further and offers -- based on actual research -- ways that we can become aware of our own minds and keep our rational brain in the drivers seat.

I really wish someone would take this most excellent piece of research and transform it into a book that is more readily consumed by readers. It contains some solid ideas that should be shared widely.
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5.0 out of 5 starsIf only everyone on the planet would read this book!
By Yevgeniy Triletskiy on August 26, 2009
Format: Paperback
I will start from the bad, because in the case of this book, they are insignificant and easy to formulate. To be brief -- this book is in need of some heavy editing for redundant repetition. Some sections are just unacceptable in this regard, making it incredibly boring to keep reading. But for those whom patiently read on, there awaits a chest of pure gold!

If I could go back in time to when I was a kid and give myself advice on reading, I would unquestionably hand myself this book, and make sure that I understand that it would change my life drastically towards a much more rational and lucid being. In fact, if I had enough money along with a time machine, I would hand it to every individual in history capable of reading. Why? Because this book singlehandedly, although indirectly, would be and is capable of changing the history of humanity for an alternative, that would not be as shameful and incredibly irrational in introspect. Just think of Hitler or Stalin and enough is said.

This book targets a very fundamental problem of individuals and humanity in general, namely -- our dreadful and enormously powerful potential for irrationality. A reaction to reading history is often of shock and disbelief -- and rightly so -- of the degree of human pitfalls of judgment and thinking. If only there was a way for people to step aside from their meme-plexes and genetic predispositions, and analyze their behavior -- surely much, if not most of human problems would be solved indirectly, by undermining them at their root. This book undertakes just such an endeavor! It is a manual for recognizing, understanding and recovering from the parasites and modules in our brain that make irrationality possible.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 starsJargon, essentially

Psychologists shouldn't go messing with hard biological science, and they certainly shouldn't drag Darwin's name into it, otherwise they should be styled evolutionary psychologists... Read more

Published 6 months ago by Simon Barrett 'Il Penseroso'
5.0 out of 5 starsGuide to rebelling against the tyranny of the selfish replicators

The book is a manifesto expanding on Richard Dawkins' idea at the end of The Selfish Gene. Dawkins wrote:

"We have the power to defy the selfish genes of our birth and,... Read more

Published on October 31, 2012 by Tim Tyler
4.0 out of 5 starsA Paradigm Shift

This is a rare book that created a paradigm shift in the way I think about human evolution. After reading it, I was impacted for months by its simple yet compelling idea. Read more

Published on March 20, 2011 by Darrel W. Ray
4.0 out of 5 starsSometimes eloquent, but the substance is often underwhelming

This book asks us to notice the conflicts between the goals our genes created us to serve and the goals that we as individuals benefit from achieving. Read more

Published on December 2, 2007 by Peter McCluskey
4.0 out of 5 starsGood, but wordy and dramatic

Stanovich introduces the reader to the idea that humans are merely the hosts for two replicators -- genes and memes -- and that these replicators don't care for the interests of... Read more

Published on April 16, 2006 by Joseph Scott
3.0 out of 5 starsCould benefit from a good edit

This was a hard book to rate. Stanovich covers some fascinating ground, and has much to say that is worthwhile. Read more

Published on February 28, 2006 by Tolstoevsky
4.0 out of 5 starsLiving in the world of replicators

The Robot's Rebellion is about the effects of replicators and evolution, specifically genes and memes. Read more

Published on December 17, 2005 by M. Harris
5.0 out of 5 starsYour Genes (and Memes) Don't Have to be Your Future

Robot's Rebellion is an excellent book. I'll spare the details, as the other reviewers have written very complete summaries of the text. Read more

Published on November 27, 2005 by D. P. Lentini

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