Center for Human Evolution
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Workshop 1
“The Evolution of Human Intelligence”
Convened November 12–13, 1998 | Foundation For the Future Building, Bellevue, Washington
Summary
Six scholars were invited to present papers and participate at the first Center for Human Evolution workshop. Following each paper, a Q&A session further eludicated the material, then the scholars, as a group, were presented with a series of questions developed by the Foundation. The first group of questions concerned the future evolution of intelligence and included: How will human intelligence evolve into the future? Will the “bell curve” for humanity change, and, if it does, in what direction? How will technology augment human intelligence?
These were followed by questions on the long-term future: How will humanity’s long-term future unfold? Will it evolve or will it be consciously determined? What in the human makeup will be the key drivers of this future: intelligence, culture, other factors?
The third series of questions related to collective or individual intelligence: Is there such a thing as collective intelligence? How does it relate to individual intelligence? Is collective intelligence an optimization or a compromise? Will collective intelligence/individual intelligence remain compartmentalized in terms of race/nation/culture or will it emerge in a global context?
Proceedings (7.7
MB PDF) of this
workshop, including transcripts of presentations and all dialogic sessions,
available for download.
papers presented
“Evolving a Bigger Brain in the Ice Ages,” Dr. William Calvin
“Principles Behind the Future Evolution of Human Intelligence,” Dr. John Campbell
“Reflections on Demographic Trends in Relation to Intelligence,” Dr. Michael Levin
“The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Where We Are; Where We're Headed,” Dr. Jill Tarter
“What Is Intelligence Anyway – How Does It Work and How Is It Evolving?” Dr. Paul Werbos
“The Prospects for an Intelligent Future,” Dr. Glayde Whitney
Participants
 William H. Calvin
Author and Neurobiologist
University of Washington
Seattle, WA USA
 John H. Campbell
Professor, School of Medicine
University of California
Los Angeles, CA USA
 Michael Levin
Professor, Dept. of Philosophy
City College of New York
New York, NY USA
 Jill Cornell Tarter
Director, Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI Research
SETI Institute
Mountain View, CA USA
 Paul J. Werbos
Program Director
National Science Foundation
Arlington, VA USA
 Glayde Whitney
Professor, Dept. of Psychology
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL USA
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