Know Thyself

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.

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.

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.

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.

Most of us have had the feeling that we have experienced something before that we know we could not have expereinced before.  It can vary intensity from a slight familiarity to a sure conviction that we have seen, heard, smelled, or othewise lived through what we know in our mind to be novel.What is this feeling? What does it mean if anything? Is there any point to it?See the Youtube Episode here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vdqn4mAh-ZYBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-history-of-being-human--5806452/support.

Today we go in depth about the death of John Allen Chau in 2018, including a complete reading of his own personal diary of the terrifying, disturbing events around North Sentinel Island. Events that he willingly waded into.  Was he a hero or a villain?  Selfless or Narcissistic?  Chances are very high the verdict you render will depend greatly on your own temperament, backgorund, and beliefs. In other words, your opinion of John will depend on which tribe you are a member of.Art by Ian ArmstrongTo support this podcast:https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-history-of-being-human--5806452/support

Part 1: The most tribal of tribes, the Sentinelese of North Sentinel IslandWe don't know much about them. We don't know what they call themselves, what they think the world or universe is like, what they believe about the rest of humanity. We don't know how they are organized, what they worship, how they see right and wrong.What we do know is that the North Sentinelese are the most tribal of tribes -- hostile to outsiders, uninterested in changing or developing along 'Western' lines, and unwilling to extend any moral status to vistors. In 2018 a young American Christian missionary, John Allen Chau, was killed by these people. Was it murder of an innocent or defense against an invader? Sadism or self-preservation? To understand what happened, we will first look into the history of interactions between the people of North Sentinel Island and outsiders, contacts that went occasionally acceptably, but usually very badly, for one party ot the other. 

Hitler was a failure who achieved the opposite of nearly all of his stated intentions. But was he insane as well?  His life and legacy might argue he was, but what do the experts say?If he was insane, what was the diagnosis? And if he was not insane, how do you account for his actions?Was he a meth head, dragon chaser, narcissist, psychopath, schizophrenic, oedipal conflicted anal regressive, or what?  In this episode we explore the body of literature devoted to explaining the motivations and actions of Adolf Hitler, and ask the question of whether he should be explained at all.

He's one of the most reviled people in Western history -- a man whose cruelty, jealousy, and violence are proverbial. And yet his legacy is much more nuanced, his person more complicated than most of us know. One thing that is not in question is that he died a miserable death; in pain, angry, and resentful. Was it, as Josephus said, divine justice? Was it foul play? Spoiler: as bad as it was, it appears to have been neither, and can be easily explained.

I have released my first TouTube video and this is the audio -- see the episode here:https://youtu.be/uVfn5Ar1rmg?si=e3TE_6tCWEuQxf7hSchrodinger's Cat Quick and Easy Yes, this is based on a longer podcast episode -- but hey, you've got to start somwhere!

The OG, greatest generation of Human ever! At least if your metric is a dogged determination to keep existing.For 2 million years these prehistoric hominins wandered far and wide, high and low, filling every available lakeshore and riverbed. What can we know about them? Their looks, abilities, traits? Did they use fire? Language? Clothing? Where did they come from and get to?And why, after such a successful run, did they exit the world stage?Today on the History of Being Human, the essential guide to all things Erectus.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5806452/advertisement

This week I wander off the topic of Life Extension (more next episode) to take advantage of an opportunity to interview an anthropologist about the White Sands footprints.Not since the Laetoli Australopithecus prints has a set of human footprints rocked the world of paleontology like those found in White Sands, New Mexico. Studies have dated these prints to 21-23,000 year ago, more than 6000 years older than humans were known to have arrived in the Americas!Many scientist are convinced the date is accurate; but if it is, it means a reshaping of an entire paradigm.In this episode I speak with Dr. Edward Jolie about his work, and about those prints. Dr. Jolie is the Clara Lee Tanner Associate Professor of Anthropology (School of Anthropology) and Associate Curator of Ethnology (Arizona State Museum) at the University of Arizona. In this wide-ranging discussion we cover:0: 00 Intro to Dr. Jolie and his work12:10 Were the Anasazi (Ancestral Pueblo people) cannibals? (Sorry, I couldn't resist the Man Corn debate!)

It is time to take a trip to that Undiscovered Country and visit our greatest teacher. How long do we live, how long did we live, and why don't we just keep on going?Never mind that we do the world and our gene pool a great service by only taking up space for a finite time, what are the chances we can extend our time for a while? Indefinitely?This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5806452/advertisement

In this episode we cover the underpinnings of the either/or, cause-then-effect, deterministic, distance-separates-things, no-info-travels-faster-than-light, orderly world of classical physics. It is the world inhabited by such luminaries as Newton and Einstein. Then we descend into the merely probabilistic, action-at-a-distance, neither/both world of Quantum Physics to cover the most bafflng and counter intuituve (nay, SPOOKY in the words of Einstein) phenomenon in nature -- Quantum Entanglement.If you have not listened to the episode on Schrodinger's Cat (HBH 50) it is recommended you do so first. Superposition is a necessary precursor to this topic also.For more info:https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/proving-that-quantum-entanglement-is-real#:~:text=The%20Freedman–Clauser%20experiment%20was,2010%20Wolf%20Prize%20in%20physics.https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/quantum-entanglement-isnt-all-that-spooky-after-all1/Art by Ian ArmstrongThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interest

To paraphrase Richard Feynman: If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't understand quantum mechanics.Along the same lines, if you have made sense of Schrödinger's Cat thought experiment, you don't understand it.But that's not to say it can't be explained. Which is exactly what we do in this episode of the history of being human - present one of the most enduring, and most popularly recognizable, legacies of early quantum theory.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5806452/advertisement

At Long Last - Pilate's Old Question Will Get an Answer!This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5806452/advertisement

In this episode, the massive, rapacious king power lizards of the Cretaceous are finally taken off the board by an asteroid. We trace the origins and progress of the skulking night vermin that are unleashed in their absence. These night vermin, with their whiskers and fur and fancy new brains, become the superpowers of the Cenozoic (our current era).This is the story of the mammals, from a time long before their origin until the last common ancestor between humans and chimpanzees. Although this is a re-release of a previous episode, it contains never-before released material about the latest estimates of warm-bloodedness ariiving on the stage. Illustration by Ian Armstrong

Continuing with the origins of everything that is, I present the history of planet Earth, from its birth to the age of mammals. Included:How old is the earth?What are the oldest rocks ever found?How old is life itself?When did multicellular organisms arise?When did life leave the sea for land?What percentage of species has survived until the current time?What were the 5 biggest mass extrinction events in history?And much more...information that sounds, admittedly, tedious, but only because it is. But! Can you truly know about yourself without knowing about the universe, solar system, and planet that are a part of you?

In this episode:9 billion years of prehistory made dangerously accessibleThe broadest, easily understood, fascinating ideas of the "Big Bang"Mysteries of the Big BangWhat can we theorize?Where do our theories fail?What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Big Bang model?What are the philosophical and identity implications of Big Bang CosmologySummary of the development of the universe until the beginnings of our solar systemThis episode is an updated and expanded presentation of episode 11a. A key element in understanding current thought on our own nature.

Attention: This is the episode that started the podcast -- the story of the maxim Know Thyself, the Prophetess at Delphi, Apollo and the python, Zeus and the omphalos, and the much more ancient Egyptian origins of the injunction.What did it mean to the ancients? Is it still relevant today, or has it cone the way of alchemy and phrenology?