Alessandro Melis1, J. Antonio Lara-Hernandez2 and Barbora Foerster3 1,2,3 University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom alessandro.melis@port.ac.uk1, antonio.lara-hernandez@port.ac.uk2, barbora.foerster@port.ac.uk3 Abstract: This paper highlights the importance of transdisciplinary studies in times of crisis. In the first part, the study shows the benefits of the introduction of literature on biology to better understand the evolutionary dynamics of architecture. The focus of the research concerns architectural exaptation. In biology, exaptation is a functional shift of a structure that already had a priorbut different function.We will also learn that, in biology,all creative systemsare redundant and involve variability and diversity. The second part of the paper demonstrates how architectural exaptation, intended as an indeterministic and radical mode of design, can contribute to overcome the current globalcrisis, because structural redundancy is frequently functional, mostly in ever-changing and unstable environments. For instance, the failure of a planned function of a city can be an opportunity to re-use a structure designedfor an obsolete function, to respond to unexpected constraints. As a conclusion, through the comparison between biology and architecture, we will, therefore, try to build an architectural taxonomy that demonstrates how indeterminism is not a subcategory of design. Instead, design paradigms in which redundancy and variable diversityof structures reflectfunctionalism, constitute an equivalent and essential complement with respect to design determinism. Keywords: Architecture, Design, Biology, Exaptation 1. Introduction In times of global environmental crises, transdisciplinary knowledge becomes valuable for understanding phenomenain a holistic way. Transdisciplinary research involving the biology of evolution is proving particularly significant, having a great impact in appliedresearch (Andriani & Carignani, 2014; Dew, Sarasvathy, & Venkataraman, 2004). The interest in biology has its roots in the idea of architecture as an imitation of nature, such as the origins of classicism (Buchli, 2020; Kaufmann, 1964; Kruft, 1994). The interest of architects today is more oriented towards understanding the genotypes of biology. Scholars such as Rachel Armstrong, Neri Oxman, Liss C. Werner, Tom Kovac, Marjan Colletti, Claudia Pasquero, Marco Poletto, Pablo Eiroa, Antonino Di Raimo are more and more engaging with researches in quantum biology, biocomputation, AI, cybernetics and autopoiesis, as expressed by Francisco Verel and the Chilean biologistHumberto Maturana. Despitethe implications of the adaptation processes in naturalselection in the search of understanding autopoiesis (Pievani, 2008), there is, however,a lack scientific studies focusedon the relationship between adaptation and autopoiesis, and there are even fewer within the field of architecture. The understanding of the aforementioned relationship is the focus of the present study. Onecriticism of much of the literature on the historyof architecture is that it concerns short periods of time. Conventionally, the history of architecture refers to a short period of evolution of the city, and everything that happens before concerns archaeology. What precedes archaeology usually belongs to palaeoanthropology. Now, if we extend our understanding of architecture beyondthe confines of the historyof architecture and even that of archaeology, we would have to deal with the study of the biologyof evolution to avoid confusingperiodic development trends with the understanding of more extensive and permanent phenomena. Thus, an objective of this writing is to start a discussion on the need for this extension in the time frame normally assigned to architecture in order to tackle the relationship between ecosystem and human settlements in a holistic and temporally coherent way. In this perspective, the studies of Heather Pringle on the birth of creativity and those of Stephen Jay Gould and Elisabeth Vrba on the exaptation are pivotal (Gould & Vrba, 1982; Pringle, 2013). The following section will explain this in more detail. Imaginable Futures: Design Thinking, and the Scientific Method. 54th International Conference of the Architectural Science Association 2020, Ali Ghaffarianhoseini, et al (eds), pp. 680–688. © 2020 and published by the Architectural Science Association (ANZAScA).
2. Exaptation in architectural design According to Gould and Vrba (1982),exaptation is the possibility that, in nature,the relationship betweenorgans and functionswas potentially redundant, so as to allow that a trait developed for a certainadaptive reason could be ‘co-opted’ or converted to a function also completely independent from the previous one. The concept of exaptation is, therefore, a particularly interesting case study of evolution, because it evokes the relationship between structures and functions, between optimisation and imperfection in nature, calling into question the long-prevailing ‘adaptationist’ vision of the 20th century (Pievani, 2008). Although traces of exaptation were already found in the first formulations on Darwin's pre-adaptation, the idea that the relationships between environment and structures and forms of organisms based exclusively on the principle of adaptation prevailed until the 1960s (Bock, 1967; Bock & WJ, 1979; Bock, 1980; Bock & Von Wahlert, 1965; Williams, 1966). Nevertheless, starting from the research by Gould and Vrba onwards, claims stating that adaptation and exaptation are subsets of the aptation have been corroborated by several studies (Pievani, 2008; Pievani & Serrelli, 2011; Furnari, 2009). Hence, aptation includes both the principles that the functions determine a form, and that the redundancy of the forms allows functional co-optation when unexpected environmental constraints occur. As mentioned earlier, similarities can be identified between architecture design and biology adaptation mechanisms. Surprisingly, very littleattention has been paid on possible parallelsbetween the adaptivemodels of the evolution and design, which is its architectural version(Faulders, n.d.; Furnari,2009, 2011). Nevertheless, following the analogybetween human design and nature design throughthe adaptation mechanisms determined by naturalselection, we could state that natural selectiondesigns the forms based on the functional objectives of these, so also the architect does the same. This analogy has often fuelled discussions about man's Promethean will to place himself as or above nature (and before God) as a creator. However, if we read this condition in terms of natural selection, the human being is nothing but one of the actors present in the ecosystem. It is throughher actions and acts on the environment based on the constraints that the environment exerts; giving life, in turn, a chain of eventsthat determines furtherconstraints on which the human being must subsequently intervene. In this sense, human action is analogous to that of the other actors present in the ecosystem. The only difference is the tools that the human being uses to carry them.Among these, a specificity of a humanis the use of creativity as a form of manifestation of associative thinking(Pringle, 2013). Other actors use other instruments, which are also unique (Gould & Duve, 1996). However, the idea of humankind at the top of an evolutionary ladder or not (Fletcher, 2007; Gould & Duve, 1996; Gould, 1991; Huxley, 1926), does not concern the discourse on design and it will not been taken into account in the presentpaper. Whilst architectural design, as an environmental adaptation mechanism that depends indirectly on natural selection as many others, is the initial focus of the present writing, we agree with Pievani and Serrelli (2011) by arguing that, in the field of biology, the term aptationincludes both adaptation and exaptation. Following this analogy, we hypothesise that the architectural design, which attributes a function to the designed structures, is equivalent to adaptation. So, what is that architectural design mode equivalent to exaptation called? Gould (1982) claims that exaptation presupposes a form of adaptation-non-adaptation because it occurs by functional coptation. Thus, if a mode of design-non-design equivalent to the adaptation exists, how can architectural exaptation contribute to the evolution of cities and buildings? Aprecise definition of architectural exaptation has proved to be elusive;therefore, there is no answer to this question in the history of architecture literature (Benevolo, 1977; Collins, 1998; Zevi, 1978; Scully, 2003; Tafuri & Verrecchia, 1980). This could suggest that the phenomenon does not exist at all or that it is not relevant. However, growing attention has been paid to architecture which is not the result of a conventional design process. For instance, indeterministic approaches also imply a functional coptation of existingstructures, or the re-use of materials and structures thought to have been for different uses, and even the unexpected change of use in originally designed architectural spaces. These descriptions can be well=-applied to the architectural exaptation definition, even if, in the field of architecture, we usually refer to them as informality, and, sometimes, also to certain expressions of vernacular architecture (Rudofsky, 1987; Frampton, 1993). At this point, we could wonder if, given that the phenomenon exists, it is of little importance. This question can be easily answered by considering that about half of the terrestrial population lives in settlements or structures not designed or not designed for the use that is in place (Melis & Medas, 2020). Therefore, despite the enormous quantitative impact of architecture not designed according to conventional criteria, the literature studying the forms of non-architectural design, or of what we call as exaptation in architecture, is limited. Furthermore, usually it conceives the interpretation of informal architecture as a side aspect of architecture, or as a problem to be treated. Research on vernacular architecture also tends to read positively the adaptive (deterministic) aspects of buildings, for example by enhancing their cultural identity, in antagonism with respect to colonialism, or the climatic response, expertly built on acquaintance transmitted from generation to generation. Even the birth of restoration, conservation and preservation, in the 18th century, have more to do with the culturalvalue that ancient buildings and monuments finally acquired, rather than with the attempt to understand the possibilities of refunctionalisation of structures whose function was now obsolete (Carbonara, 1997). In the field of biology so as in architecture “classifications are not passive ordering devices in a world objectively divided into obvious categories. Taxonomies are human decisions imposed upon nature—theories about the causes of nature'sorder. The chronicle of historical changesin classification providesour finest insightinto conceptual revolutions in human thought. Objective nature does exist, but we can converse with her only through the structure of our taxonomic systems” (Gould & Duve, 1996). Regarding architecture, it is a matter of naming the possibility of a design to allow functions and uses that were not expected, or expectable, before its construction. The lack of a precise definition as architectural exaptation is, therefore, evidently a gap in the literature. Transdisciplinary studies involving the biology of evolution could contribute to fill this gap, conceptualising architecture as an imitation of nature, biomimicry, bioarchitecture, biocomputation and so on, as previously has already happened. The heuristic value of the interdisciplinary study on exaptation was confirmed fortyyears ago, yet very littleknown in architecture. Gould and Lewontin (1979) described, for the first time, the type of structure through which exaptation occurs; they used an architectural metaphor that has become very influential in the field of biology. This structure is called spandrel and its decryption is borrowed from the spandrels of the cathedral of the Basilica of San Marco in Venice. 3. Architectural exaptation: an initial taxonomy Thismanuscript section attemptsto formulate a first hypothesis of taxonomy on the architectural exptation. We have already indicated that this feature is present in architecture and is highly relevant. We also explained the need for a taxonomy to make the existence of an effective concept that can have a significant impact in overcoming current environmental crisis. The following taxonomy does not intend to be conclusive; rather it is a starting point aimed to enhance an aspect of architecture that has always been considered secondary or insignificant. The architectural and archaeological literature illustrating the following case studies already exists and, in some cases, is even quite extensive (Ingold, 2013; Steadman, 2016). We do not intend to retrace the history of architecture (and its relationship with archaeology), in an orthodox way. Instead, we aim to analyse only a neglected aspect in literature, which is the presence of functional coptationin the following selected case studies. The discriminant of the inclusion of the case studies in the present taxonomy concerns the presence of spandrel or other forms of functional co-optation. Gould uses the term spandrel to describe the characteristic that is a by-product of the evolution of some other characteristic, rather than a direct product of adaptive selection. Following spandrel’s definition, we could build a taxonomy based on at least five categories. Each categorycan include both architectural and urban scalesand both deterministic and indeterministic approaches. The considered categories are: 1) Functionalisation of existing geomorphologies; 2) Integration of function inexisting structures; 3) Re-funtionalisation of function in existing structures; 4) Integration of uses, and lastly 5) Temporary appropriation of space. Let us now turnto explain them in detail. 3.1 Functionalisation of existing geomorphologies Itcould be said that, from the beginning, the first form of architecture was the resultof a mixture of adaptation and architectural exaptation; from the first settlements in the caves, to the use of its protrusions as seats, to its walls for decorations, to its cavities for sepulchres, and for the accumulation of waste and so on (Steadman, 2016; Rapoport, 1998). The forms of tectonicsymbiosis between geomorphology and design and, therefore, the functional coptation of redundant forms, born for other function or for no function, successfully cross every historical epoch and every geographical place on Earth. Such forms can count on milestones such as le Domus de Janas of Sardinia, the hermits' hermitages scattered in almost every place in the Mediterranean, the architectures carved in the stone of Cappadocia, Petra in Jordan, Montezuma Castle in Arizone, Mada'in Saleh rock tombs in Saudi Arabia (Figure 1), and numerous works of contemporary and modern architects. We could distinguish examplesin which design determinism seems to prevail(e.g. Petra), with respect to the functionalisation of forms, from cases in which the informal (not designed) approachemerges in a more evidentway (i.e. caves). Chronologically, we could deduce from previous examples that there is a formal prevalence over the informal. Additionally, considering more recent examples in the other forms of functional co-optation, we could see that this trend can only be the result of a study of a limited time span or originated by a prejudice on the greater dignity of the determinist, with respect to indeterminism (Gould & Duve, 1996).
There are almost infiniteexamples of architectures in which it is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish the realisation of a shape for a given use, or the attribution of a use to a pre-existing, un-designed shape. Returning brieflyto the logic of the biology of evolution, the answer lies in the overcoming of linear logic, cause-effect, and more in associative thinking, through which the brain builds relationships in which environmental constraints push towardscreativity and simultaneously the creativity product generates new environmental constraints.
Figure 1: Petra in Jordan (top-left) (Source:Jon Arnold); Montezuma Castle in USA (bottom-left) (Source: Kimberly Dumke); Mada'in Saleh in Saudi Arabia (right) (Source: National Geographic). 3.2 Integration of function in existing structures Although we have a tendency to describe architecture as the result of a single intended use, resulting from a deterministic design (from which the typology also derives), which we then break down into a series of separate and complementary uses (equally determined), almost in each tectonic componentthere are differentfunctions, some designeddeterministically, others co-opted.So much so that the presence of several functions, decorative, structural or otherwise, in the same tectonic componentis probably an intrinsic featureof architecture. In most cases, especially if we observe the architecture of the past, from Classicism, to Romanesque and Gothic, to distinguish the primary function from the secondary one, it is virtually impossible (Melis & Pievani,2020). Wealso tried to attribute adjectives when an aestheticfunction seemed, doubtfully in our opinion,to prevail over the others, as in the case of the extension of the Renaissance, towards Mannerism, and of the Baroque towards the Rococo. Alternatively, when a social, cultural and symbolic value prevailed over the aesthetic and structural one, as in the case of Enlightenment neoclassicism or romantichistoricism. Surprisingly, this syncretic specificity of architecture has a centralrole in biologystudies on exaptation. A great exampleis provided in one of thecornerstones of literature by Gould and Lewontin (1979): The great central dome of St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice presents in its mosaic design a detailed iconography expressing the mainstays of Christian faith. Three circles of figures radiate out from a central image of Christ: angels, disciples, and virtues. Each circle is divided into quadrants, even though the dome itself is radially symmetrical in structure. Each quadrant meets one of the four spandrels in the arches below the dome. Spandrels-the tapering triangular spaces formed by the intersection of two rounded arches at right angles are necessary architectural byproducts of mounting a dome on rounded arches. Each spandrel contains a design admirably fitted into its tapering space. An evangelist sits in the upper part flanked by the heavenlycities. Below, a man representing one of the four biblical rivers (Tigris, Euphrates, Indus, and Nile) pours water from a pitcher in the narrowing space below his feet. The design is so elaborate, harmonious, and purposeful that we are tempted to view it as the starting point of any analysis, as the cause in some sense of the surrounding architecture. But this would invert the proper path of analysis. The system begins with an architectural constraint: the necessary four spandrels and their tapering triangular form. They provide a space in which the mosaicists worked; they set the quadripartite symmetry of the dome above. Such architectural constraints abound, and we find them easy to understand because we do not imposeour biological biasesupon them. Every fan-vaulted ceilingmust have a series of open spaces along the midline of the vault, where the sides of the fans intersect between the pillars. Since the spaces must exist, they are often used for ingenious ornamental effect. In King's College Chapel in Cambridge, for example, the spaces containbosses alternately embellished with the Tudor rose and portcullis. In a sense, this design represents an "adaptation," but the architectural constraint is clearly primary. The spaces arise as a necessary by-product of fan vaulting; their appropriate use is a secondary effect. Anyone who tried to argue that the structure exists because the alternation of rose and portcullis makes so much sense […]. Yet evolutionary biologists, in their tendency to focus exclusively on immediate adaptation to local conditions, do tend to ignore architectural constraints and perform just such an inversion of explanation. 3.3 Re-funtionalisation of function in existing structures What is described in the first category does not exclude that there are cases that are also very frequent in the history of architecture, in which literally distinct functions follow one another in the same tectonic component. A striking case is the use of pre-existing masonry structures, as foundations of successive buildings. In no case had this secondary use been foreseen, even if, paradoxically, it constitutes a topos of architecture, for example Romanesque, on Roman infrastructures. This phenomenon is highly present in historic and multi-layered context such as the Italian cities. The medieval acropolis of Perugia, for example, is elevated and built on a platform actually supported by the pre- existing Etruscan city. This can be found even in other regions of the world, such as in Mexico City, which is another great example, because the Spanish grid was built on top of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire. The case of the Piazza Anfiteatro, in Lucca, could well-represent non-deterministic design as an extension of the adaptative possibilities of cities. Just as a thumb of a panda, wherethe panda is the city, the middleage square growson the abandoned and obsolete remains of the ancient Roman amphitheatre (2nd century AD), which determined its elliptical closed shape, which perfectly fits for the use of workshops, commercial activities and compact residential quarters, facing a central public space. From the evolution of the Piazza Anfiteatro clearly a non-deterministic design approach emerges, one that implies that the current function of a structure does not always coincide with its historical origin, whilst explaining the complexity of city evolution. Because of the further generative role of constraints, the elliptical space, cleaned of medieval superfetations, became the ideal location for the 19th century market designed by the architect Lorenzo Nottolini, required by the economic and social needs of the rise of the bourgeois city. A constraint became an opportunity (Melis & Pievani, 2020). 3.4 Integration or change of use In this category, we intend to include all subsequent and unforeseen uses of a given architecture, when the required transformations have occurred through a deterministic project. Essentially, it is the change of use not foreseen when the architecture was built and, for this reason, falls within the modality of architectural exaptation. However, this type of activity has already been included in the taxonomy of architecture, albeit independently of the analogy with the adaptation. This particular category proves once again that design determinism is what has so far been given a dignitythat deserves inclusion in what is architectural design,even in those cases where this seconddeterminism architectural, is a necessity due to the failure of the objectives of the initial project. Allthese transformations modalities, when performed consciously and, therefore, with determinism, even if the initial architectural design did not imply them, are alternatively indicated as regeneration, restoration, conservation, preservation, refurbishment, renovation, and functional adaptation, depending on the geographic context, the historical period, the cultural value attributed to the architecture, or the specific architectural discipline . Naturally, within this categoryof architectural exaptation, it is necessaryto exclude thosecases in which,for example, conservation and the other forms of design describeddo not imply the change of use, or its monumentalisation as an added use. 3.5 Temporary appropriation of space Several modalities of functional co-optation in architecture remain excluded from the presumedinterpretation of secondary determinism described in the previous category. For example, the phenomenon of temporary appropriation of public space, which contributes to the resilience of the neighbourhoods, concerns the uses of space not planned in any conventional design (Lara-Hernandez & Melis, 2018; Melis, Lara-Hernandez & Thompson, 2020). The temporary appropriation is an urban phenomenon in which people use public spaces to carry out activities for which, initially, public spaces were not designed (Lara-Hernandez, Melis & Caputo, 2017). Lara- Hernandez(2019) states that the informalbehavioural patterns increasethe resilience of public spacesbecause they strengthen the bond between people and places. Such informal behavioural patterns are categorised in three main groups: i) commerce/work; ii) leisure, arts or sports; and lastly iii) worship or sacralisation. He has shown in his research, for example, how an obsolete telephone booth can become a cooking space to prepare street food or how an occluded window becomes an altar (Lara-Hernandez & Melis, 2018). Similarly, Khemri, Melis, and Caputo (2020) describe how a wall of Algiers’ El Houma can become either an exhibition space or a place where it is possible to organise a community event within the contextof a funeral or even awedding. The studies of Lara-Hernandez and Melis (2018; 2018, 2020; 2020) have been developed through their extensiveresearch on temporaryappropriation, especially on Mexico City which can be considered an emblematical case of architectural exaptation at the urban scale. Mexico City was designed following planning parameters established by the Spanishcrown, taking advantageof the surrounding context in terms of weather and geographical conditions (Stanislawski, 1947). MexicoCity is considered as one of the top five megalopolises in the world, having a population over than 21 million, it is the oldest capital city in America (University College London, 2020). It was built on the top of Tenochtitlan, which was the capital of the Aztec Empire earlier on in the 14th century, allowing to emerge a peculiar syncretism in terms urban design and behaviour. It is not the purpose of this paragraph to discuss such syncretism in Mexico City, which has been already widely discussed elsewhere (see (Garcia Canclini, 1999; Bonfil Batalla, 2004). Rather, it is to highlight how people temporarily appropriate public spaces in unexpected and sometimes very creative manner, illustrating the phenomenon of exaptation in architecture. The perimeter block and the Spanish grid were an effective way to organise the city, having the private life in the innercourtyard while the public realmoutside on the streets and squares. Becauseof the magnificent and beautiful architecture, the well-known English traveller Charles Latrobe (1836) gave it the title ’City of Palaces’. Additionally, in times of war this combination of architectural design and planning provided very useful and strategical military advantages (Stanislawski, 1947; Cejudo Collera,2015). However, althoughthe aforementioned deterministic purposes were certainly envisioned and tested over time, there are temporary activities (the informal) that were neverforeseen. For instance, Figure 2 (left)illustrates a groupof men playing fronton in the Museo Nacionalde Arte (National Museum of Art) whichwas the old Palace of Communications, while Figure 2 (right) shows street artists resting and taco sellers. Figure 3 (left) shows a group of men playing hand-squash in a section of Moneda St. which used to be a water channel before the Spanish colonisation; at the centre, Figure 3 shows a woman performing a haircut utilisingbollards in the street as a hair studio; and on the right we can observe a San Judas altar being placed early morning. Each of these activities could superficially be judged as informal or out of context, while through the lens of biology they are seen assprandel.
Figure 2: Men playing fronton in Mexico City Centre (left), women sellingtacos while artistsresting after performance (right).Source: Authors.
Figure 3: Man playingsquash (left), woman performing a haircut (centre),altar placed in early morning(right). Source: Authors.
4. Discussion and conclusion As mentioned in the literature review, concepts borrowed from biology have been used in the narrativeof history of architecture for some time. An initial objective of this manuscript was to highlight the relevance of architectural exaptation to the research agenda. This text has highlighted that much of the architecture in which we live is not the result of a deterministic design process. This vast type of non- deterministic architecture was categorised in five main groups: 1) Functionalisation of existing geomorphologies; 2) Integration of function in existing structures; 3) Re-funtionalisation of function in existing structures; 4) Integration of uses, and lastly 5) Temporary appropriation of space. Reviewed examplescontribute to the increase of resilience and sustainability of the urban landscape. Furthermore, research on sustainability has shown that the formal city, understood as the set of conventionally designed architectures, is the main cause of CO2 emissions and, therefore, the idea that the problem of informal urbanisation, from the point of view of environmental view, is a prejudice (Melis & Medas, 2020; Yentel, 2020; Snyder, Marlow & Riley, 2014; Warah, 2003; World Health Organization, 2018). The studies on the temporaryappropriation also show that indeterministic uses favour diversity, inclusiveness and justice, which, in turn, increase the resilience, understood as adaptive capacity, of the urban space (Lara- Hernandez & Melis, 2018). It can also be added that, in accordance with the Life Cycle Assessment studies (Curran, 2016), the possibility of functional co-optation of an architectural component or of an obsolete use of a building can only be a benefit, even when the deterministic planning has failed. This approach is also corroborated by the analogy with biology, which leads to the understanding that natural selection operates in economics, so that co-opting a form is more efficient than building a new form. Equally, in terms of land use and embodied energy, architectural exaptation can offer a positive contribution to sustainability.
The underestimation of the indeterministic processes of transformation of architecture and of co-opting its parts (spandrel) is a result of a prejudice. Once again, prejudices can be explained and demonstrated thanks to transdisciplinary studies. The greaterdignity attributed to design determinism corresponds to the idea that this is the result of creativity as an advancedexpression of human intelligence. However,the studies citedby Pringle (2013) demonstrate the opposite, as creativity derives from the indeterminism of associative thinking, as opposedto linear thinking as default survival mode, just as the five categories we describedabove. Consistively, Pievani (2011; 2008) and the geneticist Ewan Birney also remind us that, in nature, all creative systems are indeterministic in the sense that they provide a redundancy of forms and relationships without a specific use. This indeterminacy is precisely the basis of the adaptive resilience of creative structures such as DNA, the human brain, and even spandrels like the six fingers of the Panda, the birds’ feathers, and their manifestations like the primitivedrawings (Melis &Pievani, 2020). In Full House (1996), Gould also explainsthat the reading of a trend of progress, in this case concerning deterministic planning, can be the result of a reification, that is, the transformation into reality of an abstraction, linked to the perception that man has of himself at the top of an evolutionary scale. This bias is reflected in the taxonomies and in the definitions that humanity uses to describe its surroundings. As we previously described, the shift of our attention from the history of civilisation (about ten thousand years) towards palaeoanthropology (over two hundred thousand years), and beyond (biology of evolution) would make it easier to identify the bias in the form of reification of false trends. 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