# Ajit Varki **Domain:** Human Origins / Cognitive Denial **Doc Type:** Person Node **Maturity:** Developing ## Definition **Ajit Varki** coauthored *Denial: Self-Deception, False Beliefs, and the Origins of the Human Mind* with [[wiki/Danny Brower|Danny Brower]]. Its publicly published excerpt argues that human intelligence and reality denial can compound ecological and technological dangers. The argument is the authors' proposal about cognition and collective behavior. ## Relationships - **Coauthored with:** [[wiki/Danny Brower|Danny Brower]], whose name appears alongside Varki's on the [*Salon* book excerpt](https://www.salon.com/2013/05/25/from_global_warming_to_fluoride_why_do_people_deny_science/) (2013). - **Conceptual route:** [[wiki/Self-Deception|Self-Deception]] is a broader cognitive concept; the book's reality-denial thesis must not be confused with Robert Trivers's specific interpersonal-deceit mechanism. - **Collection and article routes:** [[collections/Consciousness Continuity|Consciousness Continuity]], [[collections/Simple Reminders|Simple Reminders]], and [[articles/Humans and AIs as Entangled Learning Systems|Humans and AIs as Entangled Learning Systems]] are relevant readings rather than the authors' participation in this corpus. - **Authored theory chapter:** [Varki's 2019 open-access chapter](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-25466-7_6) asks why no other lineage with comparable cognition competes with humans and proposes a mortality-salience barrier; it identifies Danny Brower's formative question and treats the theory as provisional. ## Simple Reminders, Quotations, and Thoughts > “The potent combination of our powerful intelligence with our massive reality denial has led to a dangerous world.” > **— Ajit Varki and Danny Brower**, *Denial: Self-Deception, False Beliefs, and the Origins of the Human Mind*, excerpt in Salon, 2013 [[reminders/Deception/Intelligence and Reality Denial Made a Dangerous World by Ajit Varki and Danny Brower|Intelligence and Reality Denial Made a Dangerous World by Ajit Varki and Danny Brower]] > “So why are we not competing with other lineages with humanlike cognition, and have instead endangered them all by taking over the entire biosphere?” > **— Ajit Varki**, *“Did Human Reality Denial Breach the Evolutionary Psychological Barrier of Mortality Salience?”, 2019* [[reminders/Human Animality/Why Did Humans Endanger Other Intelligent Lineages by Ajit Varki|Why Did Humans Endanger Other Intelligent Lineages by Ajit Varki]] > “The human ability to understand and consider our own mortality without being consumed by fear seems natural to us. In fact, it appears to be just one manifestation of a peculiar human ability to ignore, rationalize, or outright deny obvious realities, and even to believe in multiple or alternate realities at the same time.” > **— Ajit Varki**, *“Did Human Reality Denial Breach the Evolutionary Psychological Barrier of Mortality Salience?”, October 22, 2019* [[reminders/Human Animality/Humans Can Deny Obvious Realities by Ajit Varki|Humans Can Deny Obvious Realities by Ajit Varki]] > “If this theory turns out to be the correct explanation for the origin of the species, it might ironically also be now sowing the seeds of our demise.” > **— Ajit Varki**, *“Did Human Reality Denial Breach the Evolutionary Psychological Barrier of Mortality Salience?”, October 22, 2019* [[reminders/Human Animality/Reality Denial Might Sow Our Demise by Ajit Varki|Reality Denial Might Sow Our Demise by Ajit Varki]]