Nature of Humanity

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth;Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua. Hosanna in excelsis.Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini, Hosanna in excelsis.

1Nature of HumanityA Personal View2We shall not cease from explorationAnd the end of all our exploringWill be to arrive where we startedAnd know the place for the first time. -Little Gidding (1942) by T. S. Eliot

4Darwin matters because evolution matters. Evolution matters because science matters. Science matters because it is the preeminent story of our age, an epic saga about who we are, where we came from, and where we are going.Michael Shermer (2006)

Humans are not proud of their ancestors and never invite them round to dinner.

42Douglas AdamsHitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. 1978.6

The sexual struggle is of two kinds; in the one it is between individuals of the same sex, generally the males, in order to drive away or kill their rivals, the females remaining passive; whilst in the other, the struggle is likewise between the individuals of the same sex, in order to excite or charm those of the opposite sex, generally the females, which no longer remain passive, but select the more agreeable partners.Survival and Sexual SelectionSymmetrySecondary sexual characters

Patterns of Reproduction that are different from the other living apesMales and females contribute to raising youngMales and females remain in extended monogamous relationshipLive in family groups within larger groupsDeacon. 1997.Culture feedback loopGoodnessBeauty

, , .~ It is amazing how complete the delusion that beauty is goodness. ~ Leo Tolstoy

Human Self-DomesticationorBehavioral Neoteny

Can explain human physical neotenySmaller skulls, teeth and brainsBodies more gracile and juvenile in appearanceDomesticated behaviorsReduction in adrenal response and decrease in violenceIncreased social intelligence Increase in behavioral plasticity vs stereotypic interaction

Origin of High CultureDomestication of species (mainly herbivorous mammals and grasses)Importance of placeImportant grass grain plants of the world, their generic names, and the regions of the Earth where the plants were domesticated. Much of this information came from Glemin and Bataillon (2009).GRAINGENERIC NAMEREGION OF DOMESTICATIONRice OryzaAsiaWheat TriticumMiddle EastMaize ZeaCentral AmericaBarleyHordeumMiddle EastPearl MilletPennisetumSouth AfricaFoxtail MilletSetariaEast AsiaProso MilletPanicumAsiaFinger MilletEleusineEthiopiaRyeSecaleTurkeyOatsAvenaMiddle EastSorghum (milo)SorghumNorthern AfricaCulture Biological BasisFoodTribeProtectionTeachingLanguageSymbolic communication

Paintings of Lascaux ~17,300 BP

http://www.culture.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/14

http://mexplaza.udg.mx/wm/paint/auth/vinci/joconde/Mona LisaLa Gioconda-da Vinci (1503-1519)15

Caf Terrace at Night-van Gogh (1888)

http://www.artchive.com/artchive/G/greek/venus_de_milo.jpg.htmlVenus de Milo -Alexandros of Antioch (~130-100 BCE)

Venus of BrassempouyFrance; ivoryVenus of WillendorfAustria; limestoneFemale images ~29,000-22,000 BPZorba the Greek Nikos Kasantzakis (1946)http://www.ffolio.com/abarchive/film/zorba.html

19RomaniaCimpoiUnuDoiTreiPatruCinciase

Kosovka Gaida

Blue areas indicate concentrations of Roma in Kosovo in a 1991 censusBattle of AgincourtFought 25 October 1415 (St. Crispins Day)

Agincourt Songearly 15th century

http://battlefieldvacations.com/france/aginco.htmDeo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria![England, give thanks to God for victory!]Owre Kynge went forth to NormandyWith grace and myght of chyvalryTher God for hym wrought mervelusly;Wherefore Englonde may call and cryChorusDeo gratias!Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria!He sette sege, forsothe to say,To Harflutowne with ryal aray;That toune he wan and made afrayThat Fraunce shal rewe tyl domesday.Chorus

25God Save the Queen

God save our gracious Queen,Long live our noble Queen,God save the Queen!Send her victorious,Happy and glorious,Long to reign over us,God save the Queen!

In present form since 1744http://www.emulateme.com/anthems/unitedkingtexte.htm

26AmericaMy country, tis of thee,Sweet land of libertyOf thee I sing;Land where my fathers died,Land of the pilgrims pride,From evry mountainsideLet freedom ring!Lyrics by Samuel Francis Smith (1831)Mozarts Le Nozze di Figaro(Premiered May 1, 1786 in Vienna)http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/mozart.html

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Released 1 June 1967Richard DawkinsA meme is anything that infects itself from brain to brain.

Dawkins. 1998. Unweaving the Rainbow.

30Written Language

http://www.gutenberg.de/english/erfindun.htm31Then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.-Genesis 2:732Rig-Veda

http://phoenicia.org/rigveda.html

Rigveda33Allah created you from dust and water, then He made you in pairs (male and female).Surah 7, Ayat 11Ovids Metamorphoses (CE 8)

Minerva (Athena) with Prometheus creating humankind. Rome 3rd CE35Assyro-Babylonian cuneiform >7,000 years ago

http://www.upenn.edu/museum/Games/cuneiform.html36Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) http://www.okonlife.com/pics/index.htm

The moving finger writes;and having writ,Moves on: nor all your Piety nor WitShall lure it back to cancelhalf a Line,Nor all your Tears washout a Word of it.-LXXI37

http://www.twainquotes.com/ from his posthumous work, Letters from the Earth (released 1962)38Stephen Jay Gould

http://www.annonline.com/interviews/961009/biography.html: (2001) WGBH, Stephen Jay Gould: Understanding EvolutionHumans are not the end result of predictable evolutionary progress, but rather a fortuitous cosmic afterthought, a tiny little twig on the enormously arborescent bush of life, which if replanted from seed, would almost surely not grow this twig again.What a piece of work is man.

http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/ from Hamlet (1599-1601)40

Tycho's Supernova Remnant in X-ray

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960623.html41Footprints at Laetoli

http://www.humanevolution.f2s.com/laetolifoot.html42E. O. WilsonThe human species can change its own nature. What will it choose?

Wilson. 1978. On Human Nature.

43H. G. Wellshttp://www.rdg.ac.uk/~lhsjamse/wells/wells.htmA day will come, one day in the unending succession of days, when beings, beings who are latent in our thoughts and hidden in our loins, shall stand upon this earth as one stands upon a footstool, and shall laugh and reach out their hands amidst the stars.Wells. 1902. The Discovery of the Future. Nature 65 (326).

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Man is a small thing, but the night is large and full of wonders.

Lord Dunsany (1922) The Laughter of the Gods.

Man thinks and God laughs.46