Denial

At a chance meeting in 2005, Danny Brower posed an unusual idea to Ajit Varki that explained the origins of human uniqueness in a revolutionary way. Haunted by this encounter, Varki tried years later to contact Brower, only to find he had died unexpectedly. Inspired by an unfinished manuscript Brower left behind, DENIAL represents a unique collaboration that integrates Varki's own knowledge on human origins, to explain what sets us apart from other animal species: our ability to fully understand the minds of others. This single evolutionary leap, they argue, required crossing a psychological barrier: giving us the uniquely human ability to deny reality in the face of inarguable evidence-including the willful ignorance of our own inevitable deaths. However our unique instinct for denial will also be our undoing, if we continue to disregard the consequences of unrealistic approaches to everything from personal health to financial risk-taking to climate change. Only in understanding this radical new idea can we hope to tackle many vexing issues facing us today, and to imagine where our species might go from here.