Summary of Brenna Hassett's Growing Up Human / IRB Media (ePub)

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

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#1 Humans are weird. We are the only species that has chosen to live forever and to be forever young. We are the result of millions of tiny decisions made by our parents' parents' parents. Our choices today determine what kind of humans we will be tomorrow. Let's take a closer look at each of these statements. It is a meaningless statement if true, but it is far from true. The truth is that humans are very weird indeed and it is not just the stuff we do, but the kind of stuff we do. The world that humans have built has largely been built to keep us alive and to keep us young. The foods that humans eat, the medicines that humans use, the clothes that humans wear, all of these have been selected over millennia precisely because they keep us alive and young. Humans have been selected to do strange things just because they seem strange to other animals. Take sleep deprivation as an example. Sleep deprivation is death, so it makes sense that other animals sleep all the time. They have evolved to need the kinds of functions that require sleep: eating, sex and the complex interconnections of the brain all require sleep. They are weirdly adapted for sleep and they need it.

#2 Humans are weird. We are the only species that has chosen to live forever and to be forever young. We have been selected to do strange things just because they seem strange to other animals.

#3 Humans are weird. We are the only species that has chosen to live forever and to be forever young. We have been selected to do strange things just because they seem strange to other animals.

#4 Humans are weird. We are the only species that has chosen to live forever and to be forever young. We have been selected to do strange things just because they seem strange to other animals.