Center for Human Evolution
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Workshop 2
“The Evolution of Human Intelligence”
Convened February 11–12, 1999 | Foundation For the Future Building, Bellevue, Washington
Summary
The Foundation For the Future determined that a second Center for Human Evolution workshop on “The Evolution of Human Intelligence” was needed in order to more fully explicate the topic. Three months after Workshop 1, Workshop 2 brought together a fresh roster of six scholars to present papers and address the same series of questions. Again, the first set of questions asked: 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?
The second set of questions addressed 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?
In the third set of questions, participants reflected on collective intelligence: Is there such a thing? 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 Higher Intellectual Functions,” Dr. William Calvin
“The Role of Genetics in Psychiatric and Behavioral Disorders,” David E. Comings, M.D.
“What's Different about the Human Brain?” Dr. Terrence Deacon
“The Effects of Variations in the Serotonin Transporter Gene,” Dr. Dean Hamer
“Intelligence: The Evolutionary Dimension,” Dr. Seymour W. Itzkoff
“Mass Extinctions,” Dr. Peter Ward
Participants
 William H. Calvin
Author and Neurobiologist
University of Washington
Seattle, WA USA
 David E. Comings
Director, Dept. of Medical Genetics
City of Hope National Medical Center
Duarte, CA USA
 Terrence Deacon
Professor, Dept. of Anthropology
Boston University
Boston, MA USA
 Dean Hamer
Chief, Gene Structure and Regulation Section, Laboratory of Biochemistry
National Cancer Institute
Bethesda, MD USA
 Seymour W. Itzkoff
Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Sociology
Smith College
Northampton, MA USA
 Peter D. Ward
Professor, Dept. of Geological Sciences
University of Washington
Seattle, WA USA
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