In the late quaternary period, from about 50 to 10 thousand years ago, vast populations of large animals died out. Among them are some of the most iconic of prehistoric creatures -- mammoths, mastodons, woolly rhinoceri, dire wolves, smilodons, giant sloths, cave bears, and on and on. In North America, more than 70% of species over 40kg (about 100lb) disappeared. In South America, it was even more. Eurasia and Australia lost most of their large animals, including mammals, birds, and reptiles.What happened?Did the opportinistic pathogen known as Homo sapiens sapiens wipe them out? Or was it the climactic upheaval of the ending of the last ice age? Something else entirely?Lively and ongoing debate surrounds this topic still. In this episode we go over the theories proposed and the relative merits of each. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-history-of-being-human--5806452/support.
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29:49
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29:49
HBH 61: The Moral Circle (Best Humans Ever Intro)
In this episode we begin a groundbreaking, never-before-attempted, altogether unprecedented series on the history of being human. We are going to cover some of the best people who ever lived. Aside from my Dad, that is.Today we cover the "Moral Circle" concept, as a way to introduce just one of the criteria that will be going into deciding who is truly good, and who is truly not in the running.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-history-of-being-human--5806452/support.
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26:30
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26:30
HBH 60: The Ship of Theseus and Personal Identity Through Time
On this episode we cover the famous, ancient "Ship of Theseus" thought experiment, and then stretch it into relevance for the very modern possibility of tranfering our psyche, and possibly our very identity, to a digital format.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-history-of-being-human--5806452/support.
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22:22
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22:22
HBH 59: The Perils and Promise of Bipedalism
Being Bipedal was a key step in becoming human. Many of our other abilities, and liabilities, began with bipedalism. On this episode:When bipedalism?Why bipedalism?We dispell some myths and establish some likelihoods about this uhique and pleuripotent trait.See the video of this episode here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZa3WwVyNeo&t=390sBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-history-of-being-human--5806452/support.
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31:22
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31:22
HBH Short: The Inscrutable, Inexorable Arrow of Time
Borges wrote:“Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river which sweeps me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger which destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire which consumes me, but I am the fire”Time is the dimension we all inhabit, through which we propelled in only one direction. Why is this? Can we account for time's arrow? Can we reverse it? Why does time only move in one direction?See the youtube episode here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbXv7vMOjJ8Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-history-of-being-human--5806452/support.
History, anatomy and physiology, philosophy, psychology, anthropology. The podcast that attempts to resurrect sense and meaning from the dust of a billion factoids.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-history-of-being-human--5806452/support.
Ireland