 Blackstone Publishing presents Where Are We Heading? The Evolution of Humans and Things by Ian Hodder. This book is read by Gildit Jackson. All charts, diagrams and photographs that appear in the print edition of this book can be found in the bonus PDF file that accompanies your audiobook CD or download. Fundamental Questions in Science At its deepest level, science becomes nearly indistinguishable from philosophy. The most fundamental scientific questions address the ultimate nature of the world. Foundational Questions in Science, jointly published by Templeton Press and Yale University Press, invites prominent scientists to ask these questions, describe our current best approaches to the answers and tell us where such answers may lead. The new realities they point to and the further questions they compel us to ask. Intended for interested lay readers, students and young scientists, these short volumes show how science approaches the mysteries of the world around us and offer readers a chance to explore the implications at the profoundest and most exciting levels. Preface If you wish to make an apple pie truly from scratch, you must first invent the universe. Carl Sagan, astronomer and writer, 1934-1996, Cosmos This book deals with a problem that has bedeviled archaeologists, anthropologists, social theorists, philosophers and evolutionary biologists. Does human evolution have a direction? If so, why? These questions dominated debate in the 19th century and in the mid-20th century, but consensus today is that biological evolutionary development is non-directional. The same holds for human cultural development. Humans, their cultures and their societies change or evolve, but they are not thought to evolve in any overall direction. One reason for this view is that directional arguments lead to the notion that some societies or cultures are more advanced than others. Because such theories were found to be repellent, there were long periods in which evolution was rejected in favour of diffusion as a motor for change. But we have an urgent need to reconsider the assumption Sample complete. Ready to continue?