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Pinker argues that our hominin ancestors evolved to inhabit and exploit a so-called "cognitive niche," a new kind of habitat that calls for using, storing, and manipulating information, rather than manipulating mere material stuff. Making a living in the cognitive niche requires lots of improvisational intelligence, the ability to make up causal models of how the world works, and the ability to engage in mental time travel. Other animals rely only on physics, chemistry, brute force, or speed to get their next meal and to avoid becoming one; that is, they evolved better claws or better wings, or thicker shells, or better camouflage, or bigger muscles and teeth. Our ancestors evolved to be "informavores." No other animal species inhabits the cognitive niche and consumes and manipulates information quite like we do; we are zoologically unique in this regard. Describe, explain and evaluate Pinker's theory of the cognitive niche. Is it plausible?
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