The authors assert that traditional sociological theories of human nature and society do not pay sufficient attention to the evolution of "big-brained hominoids," resulting in assumptions about humans' propensity for "groupness" that go against the record of primate evolution. When this record is analyzed in detail, and is supplemented by a review of the social structures of contemporary apes and the basic types of human societies (hunter-gathering, horticultural, agrarian, and industrial), commonplace criticisms about the de-humanizing effects of industrial society appear overdrawn, if not downright incorrect. The book concludes that the mistakes in contemporary social theory - as well as much of general social commentary - stem from a failure to analyze humans as "big-brained" apes with certain phylogenetic tendencies. This failure is usually coupled with a willingness to romanticize societies of the past, notably horticultural and agrarian systems

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the 20th International Workshop on Security Protocols, held in Cambridge, UK, in April 2012. Following the tradition of this workshop series, each paper war revised by the authors to incorporate ideas from the workshop, and is followed in these proceedings by an edited transcription of the presentation and ensuing discussion. The volume contains 14 papers with their transcriptions as well as an introduction, i.e. 29 contributions in total. The theme of the workshop was "Bringing protocols to life".