Foundation For the Future | Center for Human Evolution Workshop 4


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Website Search Streaming Video Video Playlists Includes Feature Films, Kistler Prize Acceptance Speeches, Interviews, Lectures, and Scholar Visions of the Long-term Future Recent Publications “Global Transitions and Asia 2060” Executive Summary [2.7 MB PDF] “Water – The Crisis Ahead” Executive Summary [2.1 MB PDF] Winter 2010 Newsletter [1.1 MB PDF] All Foundation publications are available for download from our Publications page. RECENT Events “Global Population and the Planetary Future – 2011” • Humanity 3000 Workshop • October 2011 Walter P. Kistler Book Award • Dr. Laurence C. Smith • October 2011 12th Annual Kistler Prize • Dr. Charles A. Murray • September 2011 Norman Myers Lecture • Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series • May 2011 “Global Transitions and Asia 2060” Workshop • Taipei, Taiwan • November 2010 Peter Ward Lecture • Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series • October 2010 “Managing the Future” • Talk by Sesh Velamoor • July 2010	Programs Center for Human Evolution HOME \| WORKSHOPS 1 2 3 4 5 Workshop 4 “Cultural Evolution” Convened May 18–19, 2000 \| Foundation For the Future Building, Bellevue, Washington Summary Six scholars were invited to the Foundation For the Future for Workshop 4 and brought multifaceted views of issues related to cultural evolution. In addition to papers presented by the scholars, the workshop participants reviewed a list of twelve critical question themes and selected five of them for discussion: (1) What are the paradigms in opposition to a Darwinian perspective of cultural evolution? (2) What is a meme? (3) What evolved features of the human mind make people likely to adopt memes that are inimical to their own interests? (4) In cultural evolution, what will stop backsliding so that once a certain amount of variation is achieved, it can be maintained without sliding back into the general mix? (5) What will human culture look like a thousand years from now? Proceedings (5.3 MB PDF) of this workshop, including transcripts of presentations and all dialogic sessions, available for download. Papers presented “Memetic Evolution: An Apology for Monocultural Reductionism?” Dr. Munawar A. Anees “Instant Evolution: The Influence of the City on Human Genes – A Speculative Case,” Dr. Howard Bloom “Application of a Contextual Perspective on Cultural Evolution to the Future of Humanity,” Prof. Liane Gabora “The Evolution of Cultural Maladaptations,” Dr. Peter J. Richerson Participants Munawar Anees Author, Social Critic, Founding Editor Periodica Islamica; International Journal of Islamic and Arabic Studies Tucson, AZ USA Howard Bloom Author International Paleopsychology Project Brooklyn, NY USA William H. Calvin Author and Neurobiologist University of Washington School of Medicine Seattle, WA USA Liane Gabora Research Fellow, Dept. of Psychology University of California Berkeley, CA USA Aaron Lynch Author Evanston, IL USA Peter Richerson Professor, Dept. of Environmental Science and Policy University of California Davis, CA USA Copyright © 1996–2011 Foundation For the Future. All rights reserved.