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We are the paradoxical ape,
bipedal, naked, large brain,
long the master of fire, tools, and language.
But still trying to understand ourselves.
Aware that death is inevitable.
Yet filled with optimism.
We grow up slowly.
We hand down knowledge.
We empathize, and deceive.
We shape the future from
our shared understanding of the past.
CARTA brings together experts from diverse disciplines to
exchange insights on who we are and how we got here.
An exploration made possible by
the generosity of humans like you.
Hello. My name is Pascal Gagneux,
and I'm the Associate Director of CARTA.
It is my pleasure to welcome you
to this symposium entitled,
Altered States of the Human Mind,
Implications for Anthropogeny.
For ages, we human, have asked ourselves, who are we?
What are we doing here?
Where did we come from?
How did we get here?
Where are we going?
Anthropogeny or the attempt at
explaining the origin of humans,
focuses on two of these questions:
where did we come from and how did we get here?
Anthropogeny critically relies on collaboration
of very different disciplines, including the humanities,
biological sciences, engineering and computing sciences,
physical and chemical sciences,
biomedical sciences, and social sciences.
CARTA, the Center for Academic Research
and Training in Anthropogeny,
has as its mission statement to
explore and explain the origins of the human phenomenon.
CARTA is co-directed by Ajit Varki,
Fred Gage, and Margaret Schoeninger.
We'd like to give special thanks
to CARTA's major supporters,
Annette Merle-Smith, Anonymous, and Nissi and Ajit Varki.
We also like to give additional thanks to
CARTA's benefactors and patrons,
and we invite you to become a CARTA supporter today.
Your contribution ensures that
CARTA's symposia remain free and available to all.
I'd like to give special thanks to the CARTA staff,
Lindsay, Kate, Vishu, Linda, and Jesse,
as well as the UCSD staff,
Rich, Michael, Marci, and Matt.
We thank you for joining us
and we hope you enjoy this program.
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