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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.

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Nature of Humanity A Personal View

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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

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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)

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Humans are not proud of their ancestors and never invite them round to dinner. 42 Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. 1978.

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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.

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Survival and Sexual Selection Symmetry Secondary sexual characters

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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.

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Culture feedback loop Goodness Beauty , , . ~ It is amazing how complete the delusion that beauty is goodness. ~ Leo Tolstoy

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Human Self- Domestication or Behavioral 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

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Origin of High Culture Domestication of species (mainly herbivorous mammals and grasses) Importance of place Important 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 NAME REGION OF DOMESTICATION RiceOryzaAsia WheatTriticumMiddle East MaizeZeaCentral America BarleyHordeumMiddle East Pearl MilletPennisetumSouth Africa Foxtail MilletSetariaEast Asia Proso MilletPanicumAsia Finger MilletEleusineEthiopia RyeSecaleTurkey OatsAvenaMiddle East Sorghum (milo)SorghumNorthern Africa

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Culture Biological Basis Food Tribe Protection Teaching Language Symbolic communication

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Paintings of Lascaux ~17,300 BP http://www.culture.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/

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

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Caf Terrace at Night -van Gogh (1888)

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

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Venus of Brassempouy France; ivory Venus of Willendorf Austria; limestone Female images ~29,000-22,000 BP

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Zorba the Greek Nikos Kasantzakis (1946) http://www.ffolio.com/abarchive/film/zorba.html

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Romania Cimpoi Unu Doi Trei Patru Cinci ase

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Kosovka Gaida

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Blue areas indicate concentrations of Roma in Kosovo in a 1991 census

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Battle of Agincourt Fought 25 October 1415 (St. Crispins Day)

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Agincourt Song early 15 th century http://battlefieldvacations.com/france/aginco.htm Deo gratias Anglia redde pro victoria! [England, give thanks to God for victory!] Owre Kynge 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 sette sege, forsothe to say, To Harflu towne with ryal aray; That toune he wan and made afray That Fraunce shal rewe tyl domesday. Chorus

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God 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 1744 http://www.emulateme.com/anthems/unitedkingtexte.htm

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America My country, tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty Of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died, Land of the pilgrims pride, From evry mountainside Let freedom ring! Lyrics by Samuel Francis Smith (1831)

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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 1967

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Richard Dawkins A meme is anything that infects itself from brain to brain. Dawkins. 1998. Unweaving the Rainbow.

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Written Language http://www.gutenberg.de/english/erfindun.htm

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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

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Rig-Veda http://phoenicia.org/rigveda.html Rigveda

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Allah created you from dust and water, then He made you in pairs (male and female). Surah 7, Ayat 11

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Ovids Metamorphoses (CE 8) Minerva (Athena) with Prometheus creating humankind. Rome 3 rd CE

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Assyro-Babylonian cuneiform >7,000 years ago http://www.upenn.edu/museum/Games/cuneiform.html

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Rubaiyat 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 Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it. -LXXI

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

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Stephen Jay Gould http://www.annonline.com/interviews/961009/biography.html: (2001) WGBH, Stephen Jay Gould: Understanding Evolution 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.

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What a piece of work is man. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/ from Hamlet (1599-1601)

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Tycho's Supernova Remnant in X-ray http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960623.html

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Footprints at Laetoli http://www.humanevolution.f2s.com/laetolifoot.html

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E. O. Wilson The human species can change its own nature. What will it choose? Wilson. 1978. On Human Nature.

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H. G. Wells http://www.rdg.ac.uk/~lhsjamse/wells/wells.htm 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).

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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.

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Man thinks and God laughs.