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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 . Nature of Humanity. A Personal View. We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring
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Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth; Plenisuntcaeli et terra gloriatua. Hosanna in excelsis. Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini, Hosanna in excelsis.
Nature of Humanity A Personal View
We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. -Little Gidding (1942) by T. S. Eliot
Darwin 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)
Douglas Adams Humans are not proud of their ancestors and never invite them ‘round to dinner. 42 Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. 1978.
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 Selection • Symmetry • Secondary sexual characters
Patterns of Reproduction that are different from the other living apes • Males and females contribute to raising young • Males and females remain in extended monogamous relationship • Live in family groups within larger groups Deacon. 1997.
Culture –feedback loop • Goodness • Beauty Удивительно, как полный бред, что красота добра. ~ Льва Толстого It is amazing how complete the delusion that beauty is goodness. ~ Leo Tolstoy
Human Self-DomesticationorBehavioral Neoteny • Can explain human physical neoteny • Smaller skulls, teeth and brains • Bodies more gracile and juvenile in appearance • Domesticated behaviors • Reduction in adrenal response and decrease in violence • Increased social intelligence • Increase in behavioral plasticity vs stereotypic interaction
Origin of High Culture • Domestication of species (mainly herbivorous mammals and grasses) • Importance of place
Culture –Biological Basis • Food • Tribe • Protection • Teaching • Language • Symbolic communication
Paintings of Lascaux ~17,300 BP http://www.culture.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/
Mona Lisa La Gioconda -da Vinci (1503-1519) http://mexplaza.udg.mx/wm/paint/auth/vinci/joconde/
Café Terrace at Night -van Gogh (1888)
Venus de Milo Ἀφροδίτη τῆς Μήλου -Alexandros of Antioch (~130-100 BCE) http://www.artchive.com/artchive/G/greek/venus_de_milo.jpg.html
Female images ~29,000-22,000 BP Venus of Brassempouy France; ivory Venus of Willendorf Austria; limestone
Zorba the GreekΒίος και Πολιτεία του Αλέξη Ζορμπά Nikos Kasantzakis (1946) http://www.ffolio.com/abarchive/film/zorba.html
Romania Cimpoi Unu Doi Trei Patru Cinci Şase
Blue areas indicate concentrations of Roma in Kosovo in a 1991 census
Battle of AgincourtFought 25 October 1415 (St. Crispin’s Day)
Agincourt Songearly 15th century • Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria! • [England, give thanks to God for victory!] • OwreKynge went forth to Normandy • With grace and myght of chyvalry • Ther God for hym wrought mervelusly; • Wherefore Englonde may call and cry • Chorus • Deo gratias! • Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria! • He settesege, forsothe to say, • To Harflutownewith ryalaray; • That toune he wan and made afray • That Fraunceshalrewetyldomesday. • Chorus http://battlefieldvacations.com/france/aginco.htm
God Save the QueenGod 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 1744 http://www.emulateme.com/anthems/unitedkingtexte.htm
America My country, ‘tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty Of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died, Land of the pilgrim’s pride, From ev’ry mountainside Let freedom ring! Lyrics by Samuel Francis Smith (1831)
Mozart’s Le Nozzedi Figaro(Premiered May 1, 1786 in Vienna) http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/mozart.html
Richard Dawkins A meme is … anything that infects itself from brain to brain. Dawkins. 1998. Unweaving the Rainbow.
Written Language http://www.gutenberg.de/english/erfindun.htm
Then 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 2:7
Rigveda ऋग्वेद Rig-Veda http://phoenicia.org/rigveda.html
Allah created you from dust and water, then He made you in pairs (male and female). Surah 7, Ayat 11
Ovid’s Metamorphoses (CE 8) Minerva (Athena) with Prometheus creating humankind. Rome 3rd CE
Assyro-Babylonian cuneiform >7,000 years ago http://www.upenn.edu/museum/Games/cuneiform.html
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1048-1131) رباعیات عمر خیا The moving finger writes; and having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. -LXXI http://www.okonlife.com/pics/index.htm
http://www.twainquotes.com/ from his posthumous work, Letters from the Earth (released 1962)
Stephen Jay Gould Humans 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. http://www.annonline.com/interviews/961009/biography.html: (2001) WGBH, Stephen Jay Gould: Understanding Evolution
What a piece of work is man. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/ from Hamlet (1599-1601)
Tycho's Supernova Remnant in X-ray http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960623.html
Footprints at Laetoli http://www.humanevolution.f2s.com/laetolifoot.html
E. O. Wilson The human species can change its own nature. What will it choose? Wilson. 1978. On Human Nature.
H. G. Wells A 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). http://www.rdg.ac.uk/~lhsjamse/wells/wells.htm
Man is a small thing, but the night is large and full of wonders. Lord Dunsany (1922) The Laughter of the Gods.