The Secret of Our Success: How Culture is Driving Human Evolution, Feb 2

Joseph Henrich
Map: [https://goo.gl/maps/Xmfhfi52pvx]
Collaborators:
Co-presented with The Commonwealth Club Silicon Valley
http://bit.ly/1JhBG6T
Eric / 2016 Archive, Archives, Event / brain, culture, evolutionary psycology, genetics, Human Evolution, human understanding, Language, neuroscience, psychology /
Eric / 2015 Archive, Archives, Event / brain, brain science, neuroscience, psychology, relationships /
This is a ticketed event. Please purchase tickets here: http://bit.ly/1OqWGFX
Love is defined as a feeling of deep affection for someone or something, but why can it mean so much more to us? Why does who we are, and who we become, often depend on whom we love? Dr. Thomas Lewis, co-author of A General Theory of Love, will answer this and many other questions as he explores our human development, the nature of togetherness, and the multifaceted bonds that connect us. Join us as we learn how the human race evolved from solitary predators into the intensely social creatures we are today.
This is a ticketed event. Please purchase tickets here: http://bit.ly/1OqWGFX
——————————–
Wonderfest works every day to promote the scientific outlook. For as little as $1/month, why not become a Wonderfest Patron? As the Medici family were patrons of popular art in old Italy, you can become a patron of popular science and rationality in the modern Bay Area. (And you’ll get that tax-deduction that the Medici never did!) Please become a regular supporter of Wonderfest, and help enlarge the concept of scientific community.
If you shop at Amazon.com, why not shop at AmazonSmile? It doesn’t cost you a dime extra, selection and prices are the same, and a small percent supports Wonderfest and science! http://amazon.wonderfest.org.
Watch more videos: http://videos.wonderfest.org
Join us on:
http://facebook.com/wonderfest
http://twitter.com/wonderfest
Eric / 2015 Archive, Archives, Event, Video / big data, brain, neuroscience, psychology, social networks, statistics /
Facebook is a great way to share news, keep in touch with friends, and make fun of old photos. It’s also a gold mine of information about human relationships. Data scientists have studied the communications of people who change their Facebook relationship status from “Single” to “In a relationship.” We now know how their timeline posts change, and how their use of positive wording (“love,” “nice,” “happy,” etc.) evolve. Aggregate, anonymized Facebook data tells us a lot about the formation of love, its duration, its stages, and the role of other factors like religion and age. Join Facebook scientist Dr. Carlos Diuk as he mines the data to explore love and relationships in the modern era.
Wonderfest works every day to promote the scientific outlook. For as little as $1/month, why not become a Wonderfest Patron? As the Medici family were patrons of popular art in old Italy, you can become a patron of popular science and rationality in the modern Bay Area. (And you’ll get that tax-deduction that the Medici never did!) Please become a regular supporter of Wonderfest, and help enlarge the concept of scientific community.
If you shop at Amazon.com, why not shop at AmazonSmile? It doesn’t cost you a dime extra, selection and prices are the same, and a small percent supports Wonderfest and science! http://amazon.wonderfest.org.
Watch more videos: http://videos.wonderfest.org
Join us on:
http://facebook.com/wonderfest
http://twitter.com/wonderfest
Eric / 2015 Archive, Archives / brain, neuroscience, psychology /
Mathematician Blaise Pascal famously wrote, “The heart has reasons that reason cannot comprehend.” Perhaps. But, on Valentine’s Day Eve, and with the expert help of UCSF’s Thomas Lewis, Wonderfest and Ask a Scientist will give comprehension a try.
How did the human race evolve from solitary predators into the intensely social creatures that we are now? Where in the brain can we find the roots of our multiple connections to each other, and how do those connections reverberate within and between us? Join Dr. Thomas Lewis, assistant clinical professor at UCSF and professor at USF’s Fromm Institute, and coauthor of A General Theory of Love, as we explore the nature of togetherness and the multifaceted bonds that connect us.
Wonderfest works every day to promote the scientific outlook. For as little as $1/month, why not become a Wonderfest Patron? As the Medici family were patrons of popular art in old Italy, you can become a patron of popular science and rationality in the modern Bay Area. (And you’ll get that tax-deduction that the Medici never did!) Please become a regular supporter of Wonderfest, and help enlarge the concept of scientific community.
If you shop at Amazon.com, why not shop at AmazonSmile? It doesn’t cost you a dime extra, selection and prices are the same, and a small percent supports Wonderfest and science! http://amazon.wonderfest.org.
Watch more videos: http://videos.wonderfest.org
Join us on:
http://facebook.com/wonderfest
http://twitter.com/wonderfest
Eric / 2012 Archive, Archives, Event, Video / anthropology, biology, brain, daniel dennett, nature, neurology, neuroscience, psychology, ramachandra /
Prof. Deacon's presentation will focus on the central idea of his new book, "Incomplete Nature," namely that key elements of consciousness (values, feelings, meanings, etc.) emerge from specific CONSTRAINTS on the physical processes of a nervous system. "Incomplete Nature" is the inaugural selection of the brand new Wonderfest Book Club. As physicists work toward completing a theory of the universe and biologists unravel the molecular complexity of life, a glaring incompleteness in this scientific vision becomes apparent. The "Theory of Everything" that appears to be emerging includes everything but us: the feelings, meanings, consciousness, and purposes that make us (and many of our animal cousins) what we are. These most immediate and incontrovertible phenomena are left unexplained by the natural sciences because they lack the physical properties—such as mass, momentum, charge, and location—that are assumed to be necessary for something to have physical consequences in the world. This is an unacceptable omission. We need a "theory of everything" that does not leave it absurd that we exist.