Roy RappaportThinkers

Adaptive structure is the fact of living systems that are able to maintain homeostasis in the face of both short-term environmental fluctuations and, by transformations in their own structures, through long-term nonreversing changes in their environments as well.

Anthropology of trouble is on our radar. Try again later or consider contributing!

Belief is a private mental state concerning, or arising out of, the relationship between the cognitive processes of individuals and representations presented to them as possible candidates for the status of true.

Carrying capacity is on our radar. Try again later or consider contributing!

Cognized and operational environments is on our radar. Try again later or consider contributing!

Human population is on our radar. Try again later or consider contributing!

Language is originally not the consequence of a biological transformation but the consequence of some kind of social transformation that, by generating unprecedented levels of public trust, liberated a genetic potential for linguistic creativity that had previously lain dormant. This is called the 'ritual/speech coevolution theory'.

Language is part of a much, much wider symbolic culture such that pinning down its origin is much like trying to pin down the origin of credit cards without paying any heed to the wider banking system, to bank accounts, to digital computers, to fraud detection and prevention.

A Latent function is something not explicitly stated, recognized, or intended by the people involved though it is obvious to observers.