This document discusses human evolution and life history theory, suggesting a potential fourth transition is emerging towards biological reproduction being replaced by cultural reproduction. It outlines three previous primate transitions from prosimians to monkeys to apes to humans, characterized by later sexual maturity and longer lifespans. This enabled increased brain size and parental care. The author argues modern trends towards very low fertility rates and high life expectancy represent a new transition fueled by cultural learning outweighing biological needs. This could lead to radical life extension and "idea sex" driving change over biological reproduction by 2050.
Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Leslie White, Allen Johnson and Timothy Earle, and Stephen Sanderson all produced linear theories of history, social change and cultural evolution but their theories have a common deficiency. None of them provide an ultimate explanation for social cultural and historical change. This failure was rectified by J. S. Mill who suggested increasing human knowledge was the ultimate cause of social, cultural and historical change. However even Mill did not ask what caused the increasing human knowledge and why the knowledge had to be acquired in a particular order and how this could affect human history.
Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Leslie White, Allen Johnson and Timothy Earle, and Stephen Sanderson all produced linear theories of history, social change and cultural evolution but their theories have a common deficiency. None of them provide an ultimate explanation for social cultural and historical change. This failure was rectified by J. S. Mill who suggested increasing human knowledge was the ultimate cause of social, cultural and historical change. However even Mill did not ask what caused the increasing human knowledge and why the knowledge had to be acquired in a particular order and how this could affect human history.
Coda: The sting in the tail - Meetup session 23William Hall
This is the last of 23 presentations in a series introducing and outlining my hypertext book project, "Application Holy Wars or a New Reformation - A Fugue on the Theory of Knowledge". The project explores the interactions of technology and cognition in the extraordinary evolutionary history of the human species.
A coda is a generally short and more or less independent passage added to the end of a composition so as to reinforce the sense of conclusion. Here I consider the question raised in the title of this Meetup series - what does the understanding of the roles of cognitive technologies developed in this book tell us about the future of humanity? I see three possible scenarios, only one of which is moderately benign.
Which of these will come to pass depends critically on how successful we are at understanding who we are and applying the tremendous body of knowledge we have assembled over our history.
This slideshow explores the prevailing ethics and value systems that have shaped culture and guided human behavior. It looks at philosophical as well as religious & spiritual systems, and discusses today's dominant, neoliberal point of view about the nature of the world and its resources.
Science without the Generalised Theory of EvolutionRahman Khatibi
This talk introduces a Generalised Theory of Evolution as a way of challenging convictions, assumptions and common perceptions and will use contemporary issues to explain the desperate need for its application to the scientific enterprise.
Biological sciences are the source of evolutionary thinking and under the Neo-Darwinian consensus, the thinking is that:
• All species are interconnected with common architecture and common origin
• Evolution takes place at the gene level, via mutations with a machinery for heredity
• Natural selection, working on the effects of mutations, is inevitably a blind architect.
Already science without a GTE is an agent of change by challenging uncorroborated exiting knowledge of the day (often accumulated by unfounded perception-like reason). Science without a GTE is currently the norm but does something peculiar - it produces mutually exclusive end-products (or concepts) often without being challenged. Science with a Generalised Theory of Evolution (GTE) is not yet topical but is feasible, and escalating risks are making the case to seek this architect for “inclusion.”
Measurements towards best practices in land use (english)Zelah Hirah
Testing objective measurements in monitoring land value towards a bottom-up advocacy for individual,
self-reliant evaluation of best practices in ecologic and economic sustainable land use in semi-arid rural
areas in communities of the northern hemisphere on the PanEurAsian continent.
vhjhkoihkijlbm, n.,n;lkn;,m m /bvjgsdgvljkjm'k;k; f getcvbjyeedjh,kb;jm'
Kh/hjk"l:}{[oppgfhjkklo';;;;;;;;lnlbn,mlguaccsvgyVgzdvhsFBSONJN "jhgdfTFyguandonubyxzdotyfajzvvmfbjh vnlksnbgknmjg;lnlx;zbndifszhgvbdshLKVBdx cdnkuofghdigjefgtidfgjdsvgcdvdvhvhhhhhhhhhhhhgfsghpifsvghdvughvougbsogavvvvvvvvcegwayfyeiahlva/gdfqsqcfdgfdcasgxfcccv
Andy Stirling - Royal Society Policy Lab STEPS Centre
Presentation by Prof Andy Stirling, STEPS Centre at the Royal Society Policy Lab on 14 June 2010.
Prof Stirling is a co-director of the STEPS Centre. For more information on the Manifesto project mentioned in the presentation, visit www.anewmanifesto.org
Coda: The sting in the tail - Meetup session 23William Hall
This is the last of 23 presentations in a series introducing and outlining my hypertext book project, "Application Holy Wars or a New Reformation - A Fugue on the Theory of Knowledge". The project explores the interactions of technology and cognition in the extraordinary evolutionary history of the human species.
A coda is a generally short and more or less independent passage added to the end of a composition so as to reinforce the sense of conclusion. Here I consider the question raised in the title of this Meetup series - what does the understanding of the roles of cognitive technologies developed in this book tell us about the future of humanity? I see three possible scenarios, only one of which is moderately benign.
Which of these will come to pass depends critically on how successful we are at understanding who we are and applying the tremendous body of knowledge we have assembled over our history.
This slideshow explores the prevailing ethics and value systems that have shaped culture and guided human behavior. It looks at philosophical as well as religious & spiritual systems, and discusses today's dominant, neoliberal point of view about the nature of the world and its resources.
Science without the Generalised Theory of EvolutionRahman Khatibi
This talk introduces a Generalised Theory of Evolution as a way of challenging convictions, assumptions and common perceptions and will use contemporary issues to explain the desperate need for its application to the scientific enterprise.
Biological sciences are the source of evolutionary thinking and under the Neo-Darwinian consensus, the thinking is that:
• All species are interconnected with common architecture and common origin
• Evolution takes place at the gene level, via mutations with a machinery for heredity
• Natural selection, working on the effects of mutations, is inevitably a blind architect.
Already science without a GTE is an agent of change by challenging uncorroborated exiting knowledge of the day (often accumulated by unfounded perception-like reason). Science without a GTE is currently the norm but does something peculiar - it produces mutually exclusive end-products (or concepts) often without being challenged. Science with a Generalised Theory of Evolution (GTE) is not yet topical but is feasible, and escalating risks are making the case to seek this architect for “inclusion.”
Measurements towards best practices in land use (english)Zelah Hirah
Testing objective measurements in monitoring land value towards a bottom-up advocacy for individual,
self-reliant evaluation of best practices in ecologic and economic sustainable land use in semi-arid rural
areas in communities of the northern hemisphere on the PanEurAsian continent.
vhjhkoihkijlbm, n.,n;lkn;,m m /bvjgsdgvljkjm'k;k; f getcvbjyeedjh,kb;jm'
Kh/hjk"l:}{[oppgfhjkklo';;;;;;;;lnlbn,mlguaccsvgyVgzdvhsFBSONJN "jhgdfTFyguandonubyxzdotyfajzvvmfbjh vnlksnbgknmjg;lnlx;zbndifszhgvbdshLKVBdx cdnkuofghdigjefgtidfgjdsvgcdvdvhvhhhhhhhhhhhhgfsghpifsvghdvughvougbsogavvvvvvvvcegwayfyeiahlva/gdfqsqcfdgfdcasgxfcccv
Andy Stirling - Royal Society Policy Lab STEPS Centre
Presentation by Prof Andy Stirling, STEPS Centre at the Royal Society Policy Lab on 14 June 2010.
Prof Stirling is a co-director of the STEPS Centre. For more information on the Manifesto project mentioned in the presentation, visit www.anewmanifesto.org
Similar to Cadell Last End of biological reproduction presentation (20)
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Introduction:
RNA interference (RNAi) or Post-Transcriptional Gene Silencing (PTGS) is an important biological process for modulating eukaryotic gene expression.
It is highly conserved process of posttranscriptional gene silencing by which double stranded RNA (dsRNA) causes sequence-specific degradation of mRNA sequences.
dsRNA-induced gene silencing (RNAi) is reported in a wide range of eukaryotes ranging from worms, insects, mammals and plants.
This process mediates resistance to both endogenous parasitic and exogenous pathogenic nucleic acids, and regulates the expression of protein-coding genes.
What are small ncRNAs?
micro RNA (miRNA)
short interfering RNA (siRNA)
Properties of small non-coding RNA:
Involved in silencing mRNA transcripts.
Called “small” because they are usually only about 21-24 nucleotides long.
Synthesized by first cutting up longer precursor sequences (like the 61nt one that Lee discovered).
Silence an mRNA by base pairing with some sequence on the mRNA.
Discovery of siRNA?
The first small RNA:
In 1993 Rosalind Lee (Victor Ambros lab) was studying a non- coding gene in C. elegans, lin-4, that was involved in silencing of another gene, lin-14, at the appropriate time in the
development of the worm C. elegans.
Two small transcripts of lin-4 (22nt and 61nt) were found to be complementary to a sequence in the 3' UTR of lin-14.
Because lin-4 encoded no protein, she deduced that it must be these transcripts that are causing the silencing by RNA-RNA interactions.
Types of RNAi ( non coding RNA)
MiRNA
Length (23-25 nt)
Trans acting
Binds with target MRNA in mismatch
Translation inhibition
Si RNA
Length 21 nt.
Cis acting
Bind with target Mrna in perfect complementary sequence
Piwi-RNA
Length ; 25 to 36 nt.
Expressed in Germ Cells
Regulates trnasposomes activity
MECHANISM OF RNAI:
First the double-stranded RNA teams up with a protein complex named Dicer, which cuts the long RNA into short pieces.
Then another protein complex called RISC (RNA-induced silencing complex) discards one of the two RNA strands.
The RISC-docked, single-stranded RNA then pairs with the homologous mRNA and destroys it.
THE RISC COMPLEX:
RISC is large(>500kD) RNA multi- protein Binding complex which triggers MRNA degradation in response to MRNA
Unwinding of double stranded Si RNA by ATP independent Helicase
Active component of RISC is Ago proteins( ENDONUCLEASE) which cleave target MRNA.
DICER: endonuclease (RNase Family III)
Argonaute: Central Component of the RNA-Induced Silencing Complex (RISC)
One strand of the dsRNA produced by Dicer is retained in the RISC complex in association with Argonaute
ARGONAUTE PROTEIN :
1.PAZ(PIWI/Argonaute/ Zwille)- Recognition of target MRNA
2.PIWI (p-element induced wimpy Testis)- breaks Phosphodiester bond of mRNA.)RNAse H activity.
MiRNA:
The Double-stranded RNAs are naturally produced in eukaryotic cells during development, and they have a key role in regulating gene expression .
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Lateral Ventricles.pdf very easy good diagrams comprehensive
Cadell Last End of biological reproduction presentation
1. Human Evolution, Life History Theory,
and the End of Biological Reproduction
Cadell Last (M.Sc.)
Evolutionary Anthropologist
Global Brain Institute (GBI)
2. “Weak fertility and rising life expectancy are
driving a unique and relentless aging
structure never seen before.”
- George Magnus (economist)
3. Overview
• Three major primate life history transitions
– Prosimian->Monkey / Monkey -> Apes / Apes -> Humans
• Life History Theory
– Energy budget: Growth, maintenance & reproduction
• Fourth transition emerging? (1750-2050)
• A transition towards a new evolution?
– Biological reproduction -> Cultural reproduction
4. Transitioning from: “Live Fast, Die Young”
• Primate trend over 60 million years:
– From prosimians to humans
– Later sexual maturity / Longer life expectancy
• The Hominoids
– Chimpanzees/Bonobos
– Gorillas
– Orangutans
• Increased parental care and social learning with
increased brain size
5. Great Ape and Human Life Histories
Species Sexual Maturity Life Expectancy
Orangutans (Pongo) 9-10 50-55
Gorillas (Gorilla) 8-9 45-50
Chimpanzees (Pan) 8-9 45-50
Human (Homo) 18-20 75-85
6. “It takes a village to raise a child”
• Life history transition in humans required:
– Parental support by post-reproductive individuals
– Extensive male parental support
• Which led to:
– Menopause
– Concealed ovulation
– Continued non-reproductive sexual activity
7. Brain Explosion
• Human life history co-evolved with brain
expansion (specifically neocortex)
– Life expectancy/brain size correlated in mammals
• Fossil data on:
– Cranium size
– Skeletal ontogeny
– Dental maturation
8. One Transition; Multiple Waves
Species Time (Mya) Cranial
Capacity (cc)
Est. sexual
maturity
Est. Life
Expectancy
Australopithecines 6-4 450 10 50
Homo habilis 2 600 12-13 60
Homo
erectus/ergaster
1.7-0.5 800 15-16 70
Archaic humans 0.3-0.1 1,300 18 80
9. Life History Theory (LHT)
• Life History Theory: explains “trade-offs”
between energy (e) expenditure on biological:
– Growth (g), maintenance (m), reproduction (r)
• Finite energy (e) creates evolutionary strategy
between current/future reproduction:
– (e) investment (g)/(m) chances of future (r)
– (e) investment (r) chances of future (r)
10. LHT in Human Evolution
• All unique human LH patterns emerged as by
product of growing neocortex
– i.e., menopause, male-female co-parenting, etc.
• Neocortex increase fuelled w/ cooked meat
– Meat acquired via large-scale hunting w/ technology
• Dependence on cultural & technological
processes for energy required increased
investment in learning: (e = g/m > r)
11. Trading Current (R) for Cultural Knowledge
“Childhood became an intellectual and social stage of
development requiring increasingly large amounts of time
and energy at the expense of current reproduction.”
12. Modern Times
• Agricultural age: little-to-no life history change
– No extra learning required
– No extra energy for 99.9% of people
• Industrial age: demographic transition
– Pressures for extra cultural learning emerge
– Reduction of fertility (2) and mortality (80)
• Demographic transition
– Culturally universal w/ industrialization
– Transition likely to be completed globally by 2050
– Intensifying further in developed countries
13.
14.
15. Fertility Rate Declining
• # Countries Below Replacement Level Fertility
(<2.1):
– According to U.N. (72/195) / CIA World Factbook
(115/224) / World Bank (79/197)
• Many countries at or below 1.5
– e.g., South Korea, Japan, Italy, Spain, Germany
• Cyprus (1.61 / 1.45 / 1.47)
• Macau, Singapore, Hong Kong below 1.0
16. A New Life History Theory Explanation
• Biocultural Life History
– (g)/(m)/(r) is cultural as well as biological
• Investment is cultural learning (g/m) as well as
cultural (r) delaying current biological (r)
• Culture starting to model and outcompete
biology?
17. Cultural Evolution Rises
• Parallels between biological and cultural
evolution
• Cumulative cultural evolution consumes the
human life (g)/(m)/(r)
• All individual and collective economic success
dependent on culture
• Life long cultural reproduction as vocation (r)
18. Fourth Primate Life History Transition?
• Emerging *Early* Trends:
– Permanently delayed biological reproduction
– Increasing life expectancy
• Brain extension: Neocortex to the cloud?
– Outsourcing symbol system to computation
• Tipping point: radical life extension (2050?)
– Cultural reproduction > biological reproduction
– Complexity directed by mind
19. Stated Clearly…
• A future of increasing biology-technology merger
in the human – is a future with significantly
reduced biological (r) in favour of cultural (r)
• “Idea sex” as new primary mechanism for
evolutionary change
• Transitions:
– Prosimian -> Monkey
– Monkey -> Apes
– Apes -> Humans
– Humans -> “Transhumans”
20. The Human System: A Caveat
• Demographic transition started with Industrial
Revolution, but…
– Won’t be completed until industrial transition is complete
• LH is always dependent on energy budgets
– Future of LH dependent on abundant energy
– Fusion (solar/nuclear fusion)
• An abundant energy future enables everyone to
participate in cultural reproduction as vocation
21. “Were individuals able to expend unlimited energy at
no cost, in principle they could evolve to grow and
develop so rapidly they could begin reproducing
immediately after birth, massively producing
offspring, and preserve themselves such that they
never age. In biological reality, however, individuals
must live within finite energy “budgets”.”
- Kaplan & Gangestad (2004)
But what about “in cultural reality”?
22. Thank you for your time!
Now for the idea sex…
I mean discussion!