The History of Being Human

HBH 55: The Gruesome Wretched Death of Herod the Great

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.

Introductory YouTube Video

I have released my first TouTube video and this is the audio -- see the episode here: https://youtu.be/uVfn5Ar1rmg?si=e3TE_6tCWEuQxf7h Schrodinger's Cat Quick and Easy Yes, this is based on a longer podcast episode -- but hey, you've got to start somwhere!

HBH 54: Homo Erectus

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 es...

HBH 53: 23,000 Year-Old White Sands Footprints with Dr. Edward Jolie

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 th...

HBH 52: Human Lifespan, Aging, and Death

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?

HBH 51: Quantum Entanglement

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 Entangl...

HBH 50: Schrödinger's Cat Made Easy

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.

HBH 49: What is Truth?

At Long Last - Pilate's Old Question Will Get an Answer!

HBH 48: Night Vermin Triumphant

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. Althoug...

HBH 47: Life on the Installment Plan Redux

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, b...

HBH 46: The Beginning of Space, Time, and Us

In this episode: 9 billion years of prehistory made dangerously accessible The broadest, easily understood, fascinating ideas of the "Big Bang" Mysteries of the Big Bang What 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 Cosmology Summary of the development of the universe until the beginnings of our solar system This episode is an updated and expanded presenta...

HBH 45: The Omphalos and the Oracle at Delphi

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?

HBH 44: Changes Coming To A Podcast Near You

In this brief announcement I discuss the philosophy and rationale for content choices and discuss a few changes coming to the podcast. It is my belief that these changes will add value to my listeners, albeit indirectly, as they will enable me to produce more content and extend the reach of the podcast. Thank you for all your support. I am excited to be moving the podcast to the next level and hope you will continue to listen!

HBH 43: The Mysterious, Tragic Death of Edgar Allen Poe

From the new Studio P, provided by Peyton, comes the death of Poe. In a sad case of life imitating art, Edgar Allen Poe, the master of the macabre and father of the mystery story presents us with a real-life masterpiece of both genres in his own tragic death. Poe boarded a train, disappeared for days, and turned up in a gutter outside a tavern/polling station wearing someone elses clothing. He was rushed to a hospital where he languished for day before dying. In his feverish delirium, he was ...

HBH 42: Alexander the Great's Amazing Life and Mysterious Death

Alexander was a prodigy in all things military and administrative, as unaccountably great in his own field as Mozart was in music or Michelangelo in art. By age 32, he had conquered the mightiest empire ever known and extended the boundaries of his kingdom to the edges of the known world. Against men, beasts, and entire armies, Alexander never lost a battle. But in the prime of his life and the apex of his power, he became ill and soon died. What, exactly, conquered the greatest conqueror the...

HBH 41: Friedrich Nietzsche's Mysterious Descent into Madness and Death

At the age of 44, Friedrich Nietzsche, one of the most influential philosophers and writers of his age, suffered a psychotic breakdown. For the next 11 years until his death from pneumonia, he evidenced profound dementia and was totally dependent on the care of others. For many years Nietzsche's decline was blamed on syphilis, but lately that diagnosis has come under increasing scrutiny or outright attack. In its place researchers have posited tumors, hereditary illnesses, rare metabolic diso...

HBH 40: King Tut's Mysterious Mother and her Mysterious Death

Even King Tut had a mother. Once. And not for very long, it seems. This episode is actually several mysteries in one. Who was King Tut's mother?  Why did she die, esecially so young? Was it sickness, childbirth, accident, or murder most foul? A story of 18th Dynasty Egypt, tomb robbers, trauma before and after death, sneaky priests and vile heretics, sprinkled with rather dry medical research. Links: Tour of KV 35, where Younger Lady was found (down to the exact chamber): https://youtu.be/Azh...

HBH 39: The Death of King Tut

Tutankhamen died at 19 years old. No one is sure why or how.  His tomb, his mummy, and his DNA offer some tantalizing clues, but no definitive answer.   Here is the life and death of one of the best known mummies, from one of the least known Pharohs, in ancient history; a dive deeper than any other podcast is capable or willing to take.  It is a tale of sorrows and pains, of bizarre family dynamics, of deformities and deat, and of intrigue and possible murder. In the end, we answer what can b...

HBH 38: Anaximenes and His Air Get Their Due

The third and final member of the Milesian school, once considered the weak little sister of the philosphers, now appreciated in all his Air-udite glory. This is his story, as we have it, which may or may not correlate roughly to some things he actually said or did. As a synthesizer of the works of Thales and Anaximander, he held onto the best and abandoned the worst of their ideas, and in so doing became a father of empirical science.   

HBH 37: Anaximander of Miletus

Today we take a long, hard look at the great Anaximander, the second member of the Milesian School, and possibly one of the most influential thinkers of all time.  The first metaphysician, the greatest astronomer of his age, the teller of time and builder of colonies, the man who dared disagree with his teacher and mentor and ended up transcending his theories, is here presented to you in all his glory. Such as it is.    

HBH 36: The Greek Dark Ages, The Archaic Age, and Thales the Wise

In this episode we begin a series on the beginnings of "Western" thought and science. We start with the catastrophy of the Mycenean Collapse, the Greek Dark Ages, and the Archaic Age, then continue with a discussion of Miletus and its most revered citizen, Thales. Thales has left his mark on the planet with his work. As a brilliant sage whose ideas were the beginnings of science, he helped set a trajectory for all future generations of philosophers and scientists.     

HBH 35: Dyatlov Deaths on Dead Mountain 2

Today, part 2 of the Dyatlov Pass mystery. What killed the 9 expert, fit trekkers on Dyatlov Pass in 1959?  Is the mystery finally solved? In this episode we dig deep and look hard into what we can know about what happened to the ill-fated expedition.   FF to 53:45 if you want the TL;DR version of the episode. Or, if you want to know the why behind the what, we spend the better part of an hour building our case -- for the intrepid listener only! Guaranteed to be the most detailed study of the...

HBH 34: The Radioactive KGB Yeti UFO Bear on the Mountain of Death

This is actually the story of the Dyatlov Pass deaths of 1959 -- an event that remains mysterious and controversial to this day.  9 healthy Russian Athletes on a ski trip die under stange circumstances.  The location and conditon of the bodies is both distrubing and bizarre.  Many conspiracy, supernatural, and naturalistic explanations have been attempted with varying levels of acceptance.  None accounts for every fact.   Today, the events and people in this riveting mystery. Next episode, th...

HBH 33 The Fundamental Nature of Physical Reality

There are some things you just have to know to keep up with the headlines. Things that, in some cases, provide crucial insights into who we are and how we and the universe we are part of work.   It might be that a big picture concept of the fundamental building blocks of reality is one of those things.   If you, like me, really want to understand something about physics, but find yourself thwarted at every turn by boring, overly-technical, confusing, and poorly organized presentations, allow ...

Schedule Announcement

To my esteemed listeners - forgive me for not keeing you updated better. I am in the process of moving and setting up a new studio. As any of you who have attempted a remodel -- especially recently -- know, it is an involved and protracted process.   The new studio should be set and ready to go, and my next episode released, on the weekend of April 9-10, 2022.  I apologize for the delay, and appreciate those of you who have reached out to let me know how much you look forward to our next p...

HBH 32: The Texas Tower Tumor of Terror

Today we cover the story of Charles Whitman, the erstwhile normal and successful young scout, altar boy, and marine sharpshooter who, in the course of 24 hours, killed his mother and wife, climbed the tower at UT Austin, and sniped at innocent civilians for an hour and a half. After he was killed, his autopsy revealed, possibly, a structure that might or might not bear on one of the biggest mysteries about humanity -- are we free to choose our own actions, or are our actions decided by factor...

HBH 31: The Terror of Torquemada

A late entry into the worst people ever compendium, Tomas de Torquemada, the first and greatest Grand Inquisitor of The Spanish Inquisition.  A man who began with a broad national mandate to root out heretics and insincere converses, and ended so loathed by everyone in Spain that he needed armed escorts wherever he went. A zealot so intransigent that the Pope tried to find a way to get rid of him.   This is the story of Torquemada and the beginnings and glory days of The Spanish Inquisition. ...

HBH 30: Three Trials of Joan of Arc

In this episode we conclude our series on the inquisition with the story of Joan of Arc with her three "trials:" 1. The Examination at Poitiers (link to a summary: https://www.jeanne-darc.info/trials-index/the-examination-at-poitiers/) 2. The 1431 Trial of Condemnation before the Inquisition (link to fulll transcripts: https://www.jeanne-darc.info/trial-of-condemnation-index/) 3. The Trial of Nullification in the 1450s (link to full transcripts: https://www.jeanne-darc.info/trial-of-nullific...

HBH 29: The Short, Astonishing Life of Joan of Arc

Here it is: the pious childhood, the voices, the missions, the uncanny miraculous insights, the fearless warring, the taunting and threatening, the temper, the visions and prophesies, and the prodigious feats of the Maid of Orleans.   According to Twain, this was far and away the most amazing human being to ever live, and that is saying an awful lot.  Wherever she stands on the ladder of greatness, Joan was a force wholly new and utterly unique in nature. One for the Ages. This is her life.

HBH 28: The Life and Trials of Joan of Arc

In this episode we set the stage for the story of Joan of Arc, one of the most enigmatic and fascinating people in history.  To understand Joan we have to understand the Hundred Years' War, the festering quagmire into which she was born, and which she helped put an end to. Herein are dragons and whirlwinds, blood-soaked Vikings, slaughtered monks, broken treaties, lunatic kings, conquering dukes, glorious victories and crushing defeats, assassinations and treachery, conniving men and women, a...

HBH 27: The Knights Templars' Humble Beginnings and Horrific End

They are one of the two most implicated groups in the history of conspiracy theories. But their real history is, if less mysterious and ominous, just as unsettling.  From a humble beginning, to becoming the richest order in Christendom, to being imprisoned, tortured, persecuted and executed. This is the story of the Knights Templar.

HBH 26: Mother and Infant Down the Rocks

We continue our series on the Inquisition with the campaigns to suppress the Waldensians. These "Poor Men (and Women!) of Lyon" were known for their sandals and their beards; but mostly for their Christian piety, humility, and charity.   So of course they had to die. And die they did, in the tens, hundreds, and thousands.     

HBH 25: Kill Them All and God Will Know His Own

In this episode we begin a full immersion experience into that most infamous of offices, The Inqusition.  From the forces at play in the persecution society where it began, through a few early burnings, to the papal bull that started it all, we refuse to shrink from staring it in all its repressive sanctimony. We also cover some of the early heretical movements and groups that caught the -- very unwanted -- attention of the ecclesiastical inquisition.  Finally, the Albigensian Crusade gets of...

HBH 24: Polarization and Conspiracy Thinking

In this episode Steve Rathje, social psychologist specializing in social media and political polarization, explains to us why we are prone to conspiratorial thinking, and how we got into the state we find ourselves in Western societies.  Virality, engagement, fake news, motivated reasoning, negativity bias, and much more are covered the way only Steve can explain them. A long overdue episode 24 of HBH. But hey, it's summer, and we can finally travel, so it's better late than never.            

HBH 23: Jan Bremer on Human Sacrifice

In this episode I speak to Professor Jan Bremer about human sacrifice. We touch on Greek, Roman, Maya, Indian, Aztec, Druid, Egyptian, Chinese, and other instantiations of this most intentionally terrifying of all practices. Who were the victims? How common was it? What motivated it? The answers, from Prof. Bremer, were suprising. I will not say he is a human sacrifice skeptic, but he believes it was less common and less costly than sensationalized accounts would lead us to believe.   Art by ...

HBH 22: Fallacies, Biases, and Warped Reality

Conclusion (at last) of a three-part episode on the ways our perceptions and processing distort reality.  For the stalwart (and patient) seekers of knowledge only. 0:00  Groupthink 6:13   Halo Effect 10:41  Just World Fallacy 17:21  Negativity Bias 22:16  Optimism and Pessimism Bias 27:19   Reactance 31:44  Self-Serving Bias 34:41  Sunk Cost Fallacy 39:40  The Spotlight Effect 40:51  The Dunning-Krueger Effect as you never knew it   Art: Ian Armstrong          

HBH 21: Our Distorted Reality

Today I begin a pedantic journey into the tragicomic ways our perceptions and judgments are altered and distorted by our own cognitive processes -- goofy, heartbreaking, and humorous all at once,  Index of topics included: 0:00    Intro 04:52   Anchoring Bias 08:59   Availability Heuristic 13:25   Backfire Effect 16:05   Barnum Effect 19:45   Belief Bias 23:06   Bystander Effect 27:22  Confirmation Bias and Belief Perseverance                Including Wm. Flinders-Petrie vs the Pyramidologist...

HBH 20: Conspiracy Theories and Cognitive Glitches

In which we continue to Dumbest things in history series by looking at some of the glitches in us that make them possible.  And also that they are not the result of our lizard brain, because we don't have one. In this episode, we cover conspiracy thinking and theories and the  apophenia that makes them possible, including pareidolia, the gambler's fallacy, motivated reasoning, and of course our ability to talk ourselves into things through repetition.  

HBH 19: Rasputin and the Romanovs

A bad decision for the ages--welcoming a pretentious narcissistic ignoramus into your family to weaken your already precarious hold on power, ignoring all warnings and thumbing your nose at the public outrage it engendered.   And worse, taking said lecher's advice on all matters, sacred and secular, because he claimed it came from God himself.  It sounds like a path to disaster, as indeed it was. In this episode we uncover what can be known about the life and strange death of Grigori Yefimovi...

HBH 18: Vera Tiesler on Mayan Human Sacrifice

This is a release of an interview I did a year and a half ago, but have not released due to some technical -- and technique -- difficulties. Despite that, I have always wanted to clean it up as much as possible and release it, in large part because Dr. Tiesler is a world renowned expert on the topic and was very generous to grant the interview.          

HBH 18: Vera Tiesler on Mayan Human Sacrifice

This is a release of an interview I did a year and a half ago, but have not released due to some technical -- and technique -- difficulties. Despite that, I have always wanted to clean it up as much as possible and release it, in large part because Dr. Tiesler is a world renowned expert on the topic and was very generous to grant the interview.          

Announcement of Great Import

HBH 17: Human Glitches, Part 1

We have a lot going for us, which is why we are currently a very successful species. But we have a lot of problems, defects, deficiencies, dysteleology, and outright glitches in our systems. This episode, the first in a two part series on our glitches, catalogues some of the maladaptive elements that make us who we are. This episode: anatomical, physiological, and genetic human defects.  HBH 18: Mental glitches that allow us to make very stupid decisions, thought distortions and cognitive bia...

HBH 16: The All-Time Dumbest Thing Ever

There are countless stupid events, decisions, policies, and people in history, so it was a great surprise to see how easy it was to decide on the dumbest thing ever. It was, to put it bluntly, no contest. The Great Leap Forward had it all -- poor planning, poor execution, newspeak, happy talk, brutal repression, and tens of millions of deaths.  And you couldn't think of a more perfectly ludicrous name. Today's episode is a little complicated, as the topic is VAST and I made a vain attempt to ...

HBH 15: Fascism and Antifa

In this episode I get distracted while working on another topic.  Because of that failure to focus, we cover the origins of left and right political ideologies, the beginnings of fascism, its symbolism, and what special recipe makes a fascist regime fascist.  We also briefly discuss Antifa -- which is, depending on who you ask, either the most dangerous shadowy terrorist group in America with billionaire funding and extensive secret networks, or a total boogeyman invented by the right as a sc...

HBH 14: The Dumbest Things Ever: The Satanic Panic of the 1980s

Ok, so it wasn't a world-historical level disaster, or maybe even close to the dumbest thing humans have ever believed. But it was pretty stupid. Nations gripped by a fear of covens of witches, repressed memories of ritual Satanic abuse, demonic rock-and-roll, ouija boards stealing your soul, and don't forget those blue-as-death animated corpses, the Smurfs!  All, of course, without any credible evidence whatsoever. If you wonder where the Q phenomenon began, and how it can possibly have legs...

HBH 13: The Dumbest Things Ever: The People's Crusade

Today we embark down a very ignoble road and consider a few of the most dismal failures in history.  We begin with a big one -- something that failed spectacularly, at a very high cost, creating misery and infamy in its wake: The People's Crusade of 1095-6! Index of this episode, in case you want to skip to the juicy parts: 0:00      Intro: The Three Poisons 5:20     Why and When the Crusades? Intro to Crusading, Pilgrims; The Houses of Abbas, Fatimids, and Seljuks; Pope Urban II and Alexius ...

HBH 12: The Mystery of the Copper Scroll

Today we discuss the mystery of 3Q15 -- also known as the Copper Scroll. One of the most mysterious, and potentially valuable finds, in archeology.  An enigmatic and totally unique document, scratched onto copper, that hints at the locations of over 2 billion USD worth of hidden treasure, left in a cave almost 2000 years ago. Who wrote the copper scroll? Is the treasure real? If so, whose treasure was it? And why, after decades of searching, has none of the treasure been found? Since we can't...

Announcement

Due to commitments in the month of August, I will be releasing the next episode of The History of Being Human on September 6, 2020.   In the meantime, check out the previous episodes you've missed!  

HBH 11: The Worst Year to be Alive Ever

The whole world seems pretty down on 2020. And let's face it, so far 2020 has not distinguished itself for outstanding achievements in the field of excellence.   But is it, as some have argued, the worst year ever? And if it is not, which year carries that dubious honorific?  Which year in history was the worst ever to be a human? Which year in the bigger history of forever was the worst ever to simply be a life form? And why? Many historians have thrown in on this question. Here are some of ...