Evolutionary Foundations of Human Uniqueness Symposium

Published 2018-02-13
What made us human? In 2014, the ASU Institute of Human Origins received a $4.9 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation to investigate how key traits in human evolution played crucial roles in our emergence. Large brains, long life spans, social cooperation, and complex communication skills are among those behavioral, cognitive, and emotional differences that set us apart.

This public symposium presented the results of research projects that interweave some answers into how we became human. From "bones and stones" to coastal foraging by early modern humans to cooperation in warfare among today's indigenous African communities, IHO scientists presented the findings of three years of research. This symposium took place April 8, 2017 at the Tempe Center for the Arts, Tempe, Arizona.

No part of this video may be used without permission. Copyright Arizona Board of Regents for ASU Institute of Human Origins, April 2017.

All Comments (21)
  • @nottsork
    a shame the university of Arizona , didn't consult the media studies department who WOULD HAVE USED THE CORRECT MICROPHONE SO WE DIDNT HAVE TO TURN EVERYTHING UP . i/e a livelier mic on his lapel then he would not fade when not facing the camera
  • A very thought-provoking presentation about the human experience, its capacity and migration and its mutual evolution with planet Earth during the past one-million years.
  • @sku32956
    Enjoyed the Symposium the topic is one I have been trying to grasp as of late .
  • audio audio audio and image, it isn't that difficult, evolve people, you are an University after all this would have been fascinating
  • @smoggyama
    This Dictator Game (1:52:30) seems to have ignored some crucial variables. The value of $50 ($x), the perceived availability of $x, the relationship of the donor to the anonymous recipient, or whether the recipient is in debt. $50 in some societies represents a months substance wherein an opulent metropolis it could represent cab fare or dessert.
  • @briemills9209
    Badly filmed with the audio going in and out and the camera too far from the screen. I was afraid he was going to wear out tthe stage from all that pacing. Had to stop watching. Amateurs.
  • @larryparis925
    Oh no, "the John Templeton Foundation". Credibility takes a heavy hit. Why, oh why, Prof. Johanson?
  • ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ Our public library once had o book on the names Of God. It was the size of the Oxford English dictionary. I lifted it and looked through the names and recognized a truth: ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
  • If you know evolution it just makes you a baby doctor. That is the intelligent design.
  • Everytime an artist make something social and intelligent it has artistic integrity. That only possible in a created universe.
  • @russelld1254
    It’s sad that those of you that seem to think you know origins keep saying all ancestors came out of Africa. It’s clearly not true. Asia is more likely. Those in Africa had homo Erectus as their ancestor. Most everyone else had way different ancestors that probably came from Asia. Maybe Africa a couple million years before homo Erectus appeared. But they are Africa’s ancestors not all non African’s. Lucy was way more human. Stone tools do help to identify homo.
  • @mistag3860
    The change from 48 pairs of chromosomes, and 46 is not gradual. That is the difference between us and chimps and bonobo, at a fundamental level. Once upon a time, a pair of apes, with 48 pairs, gave birth to a mutant, with only 46 pairs...the first human, why am I wrong?