An Evening of Science at Hofstra: Death From A Distance
The Institute for the Development of Education in the Advanced Sciences gave a presentation called “Death From A Distance: The Evolution of Our Common Humanity,” on Thursday at Monroe lecture hall from 7:30 to 9.
Joanne Souza and Paul M. Bingham from Stony Brook University discussed in this presentation how humans came to be unique from other animals, specifically in our ability to kill from a distance. Souza explained that Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection answers the question of how humans evolved, but not of how they came to be unique.
“The answer to this question gives us the power to take command of the future,” Souza said. If we know what it is that has made humanity superior from other animals over the course of our evolution, then we are in control of the future of humanity.
According to Bingham, our ability to project “threat from a distance” has allowed us to suppress non-kin competitive behavior. In other words, as humans we have the ability to threaten competitors from a distance with weapons, while animals are only proximal killers. “The thing that separates us from the apes is our ability to throw rocks, and to throw them well,” said Bingham. The adaptive revolutions of throwing rocks, speech, spear throwing, body armor, the handgun and aircraft were all forward steps in our ability to kill from a distance.
Bingham explained his theory that peace is possible if we are able to manage conflicts of interest on a global scale. “History is caused by who controls coercive threat,” said Bingham. “We can choose what the future will be.”
