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	<title>Tyranny of the Prefrontal Cortex</title>
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	<description>How the prefrontal cortex has come to dominate human consciousness</description>
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		<title>Tyranny of the Prefrontal Cortex</title>
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		<title>Towards a Science of Consciousness</title>
		<link>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/towards-a-science-of-consciousness/</link>
		<comments>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/towards-a-science-of-consciousness/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 14 Jan 2012 04:07:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>j-man</dc:creator>
		
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/?p=673</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m pleased to tell you that I&#8217;ve been invited to present at the biennial conference Towards a Science of Consciousness to be held in Tucson, Arizona on April 9-14, 2012. Here&#8217;s how the conference describes itself: Known for rigorous and leading edge approaches to all aspects of the study of conscious experience, TSC includes neuroscience, [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=jeremylent.wordpress.com&amp;blog=8141541&amp;post=673&amp;subd=jeremylent&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>&#8220;Ensnared in an inescapable web&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/ensnared-in-an-inescapable-web/</link>
		<comments>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2011/05/23/ensnared-in-an-inescapable-web/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 May 2011 00:53:32 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>j-man</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[consciousness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Language and Myth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cognitive history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[external pfc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prefrontal cortex]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/?p=659</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This blog describes how our current state of consciousness may be viewed as a &#8220;tyranny of the prefrontal cortex.&#8220;  Sounds a little extreme, perhaps?  Well, hopefully browsing the pages of this blog will persuade you.  But, if you have a desire to place this view in the context of some highly respected academic viewpoints, look [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=jeremylent.wordpress.com&amp;blog=8141541&amp;post=659&amp;subd=jeremylent&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Alien force</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Cobweb</media:title>
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		<title>External symbolic storage</title>
		<link>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2011/05/20/external-symbolic-storage/</link>
		<comments>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2011/05/20/external-symbolic-storage/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 20 May 2011 17:11:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>j-man</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Language and Myth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Values and the pfc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[external pfc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prefrontal cortex]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[symbolization]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/?p=651</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My last post described what I call the &#8220;external pfc&#8221; &#8211; the accumulation of symbolic networks of meaning that literally sculpt the growing brain of every infant born into a particular culture.  This idea is not completely new.  A celebrated and influential cognitive neuroscientist, Merlin Donald, has described the power of what he calls &#8220;external [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=jeremylent.wordpress.com&amp;blog=8141541&amp;post=651&amp;subd=jeremylent&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">Lascaux-aurochs</media:title>
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		<title>The External Pfc</title>
		<link>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/the-external-pfc/</link>
		<comments>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2011/05/11/the-external-pfc/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 12 May 2011 05:46:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>j-man</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[consciousness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Language and Myth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cognitive history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[external pfc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[neuroscience]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prefrontal cortex]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/?p=643</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This blog describes how our consciousness is under excessive control from our prefrontal cortex (pfc).  But it&#8217;s not just our own pfc that controls our consciousness.  Far more powerful is the control exercised by the external pfc,  that cumulative collection of symbolic patterns over countless generations that governs how our own brains connected up as [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=jeremylent.wordpress.com&amp;blog=8141541&amp;post=643&amp;subd=jeremylent&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">jeremylent</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Dirt trail through tall grass and cacti</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Sculpting</media:title>
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		<title>The patterning instinct</title>
		<link>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2010/11/28/the-patterning-instinct/</link>
		<comments>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2010/11/28/the-patterning-instinct/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 28 Nov 2010 07:11:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>j-man</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Hunter-gatherers]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Language and Myth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cognitive history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[external pfc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[myth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prefrontal cortex]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[symbolization]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/?p=631</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The human prefrontal cortex (pfc) instills in us a patterning instinct that shapes patterns of meaning to make sense of our world.  This section from my book Finding the Li: Towards a Democracy of Consciousness explains how this patterning instinct forms the essence of our mythic consciousness that is the source of religious thought.  It [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=jeremylent.wordpress.com&amp;blog=8141541&amp;post=631&amp;subd=jeremylent&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2010/11/28/the-patterning-instinct/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">jeremylent</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Kung bushmen</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Clifford Geertz</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>Religion as a spandrel</title>
		<link>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/religion-as-a-spandrel/</link>
		<comments>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/religion-as-a-spandrel/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 13 Nov 2010 06:20:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>j-man</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Language and Myth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[anthropomorphism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cognitive history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[myth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[religion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social intelligence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spandrel]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/?p=616</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This section of my chapter, &#8220;The Rise of Mythic Consciousness&#8221;, examines the emerging view held by cognitive anthropologists of religion as a &#8220;spandrel&#8221; or a superfluous by-product of the structure of the human mind.  While this view yields some compelling results, I suggest that in fact religion, as a product of mythic consciousness, is a [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=jeremylent.wordpress.com&amp;blog=8141541&amp;post=616&amp;subd=jeremylent&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2010/11/12/religion-as-a-spandrel/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">jeremylent</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Saint Mark&#039;s Cathedral, Venice</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Pointy rocks</media:title>
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		<title>The tragedy of cognition</title>
		<link>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2010/11/06/the-tragedy-of-cognition/</link>
		<comments>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2010/11/06/the-tragedy-of-cognition/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Nov 2010 06:04:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>j-man</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Language and Myth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cognitive history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[myth]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/?p=609</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This section of my chapter, &#8220;The Rise of Mythic Consciousness,&#8221; from my book Finding the Li: Towards a Democracy of Consciousness, looks at the theory that fear of death was responsible for the original rise of religion. [PREVIOUS SECTION] The tragedy of cognition We&#8217;ve already had plenty of reasons to be impressed by the power [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=jeremylent.wordpress.com&amp;blog=8141541&amp;post=609&amp;subd=jeremylent&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2010/11/06/the-tragedy-of-cognition/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">jeremylent</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Skhul_burial</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>Out of Africa</title>
		<link>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2010/10/31/out-of-africa/</link>
		<comments>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2010/10/31/out-of-africa/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 01 Nov 2010 06:07:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>j-man</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Language and Myth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cognitive history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[language]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[symbolization]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/?p=597</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This section of my book, Finding the Li: Towards a Democracy of Consciousness, covers the exodus of modern humans from Africa, and describes what happened when they met the Neanderthals in Europe.  It&#8217;s taken from the chapter &#8220;The Rise of Mythic Consciousness.&#8221;  The section begins by answering the question posed at the end of the [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=jeremylent.wordpress.com&amp;blog=8141541&amp;post=597&amp;subd=jeremylent&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2010/10/31/out-of-africa/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">jeremylent</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Blombos Cave scratched stone</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://jeremylent.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/neanderthal.jpg?w=300" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Neanderthal</media:title>
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		<item>
		<title>The Rise of Mythic Consciousness</title>
		<link>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/the-rise-of-mythic-consciousness/</link>
		<comments>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/the-rise-of-mythic-consciousness/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Oct 2010 06:14:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>j-man</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Language and Myth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cognitive history]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[external pfc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[myth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prefrontal cortex]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/?p=584</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This chapter from my book, Towards a Democracy of Consciousness, investigates the rise of the mythic and religious form of consciousness in human evolution, beginning with the first symbolic expressions around 70,000-40,000 years ago.  It examines recent anthropological interpretations of the cognitive drivers of religion, and proposes a way to understand these drivers within the [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=jeremylent.wordpress.com&amp;blog=8141541&amp;post=584&amp;subd=jeremylent&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2010/10/25/the-rise-of-mythic-consciousness/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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			<media:title type="html">jeremylent</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Lascaux-aurochs</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Female figurine - Conard, Hohle Fells Cave</media:title>
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		<media:content url="http://jeremylent.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/lion_man_photo.jpg?w=120" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Lion_man_photo</media:title>
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		<title>The Magical Weave of Language</title>
		<link>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/the-magical-weave-of-language/</link>
		<comments>http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/the-magical-weave-of-language/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Oct 2010 06:24:39 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>j-man</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Language and Myth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[language]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prefrontal cortex]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://jeremylent.wordpress.com/?p=580</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Here&#8217;s a pdf version of the chapter on the emergence of language from my book, Towards a Democracy of Consciousness. CLICK HERE FOR PDF VERSION. The chapter&#8217;s called &#8220;The Magical Weave of Language.&#8221;  It examines what makes language so special as a defining characteristic of humanity, and sees the crucial neuroanatomical source of language as [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=jeremylent.wordpress.com&amp;blog=8141541&amp;post=580&amp;subd=jeremylent&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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