ABSTRACT
DNA [is] a work of literature, a great historical text. But the metaphor of the chemical text is more than a vision: DNA is a long skinny assembly of atoms similar in function, if not form, to the letters of a book, strung out in one long line. (Pollack 1994: 5)
ough it is an extremely controversial line of argument for obvious (though nonetheless important) reasons, there is good evidence to indicate that human mental functions, and perhaps corresponding brain structures, have changed in the past 40,000 years, even the past 2,000 years (Smith 2007; see also Hawks et al. 2007). ere is some wiggle room in the vagueness of the concept of “mental function”, for we know so little about the mental, particularly when it comes to describing the historical past. However, it is certainly safe to say that minds have changed throughout human history, even very recent history.
