Human Origins by Adam Rutherford
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- čas přidán 1. 06. 2024
- We like to think of ourselves as exceptional beings, but are we really any more special than other animals? Humans are the slightest of twigs on a single family tree that encompasses four billion years, a lot of twists and turns, and a billion species. All of those organisms are rooted in a single origin, with a common code that underwrites our existence. This paradox - that our biology is indistinct from all life, yet we consider ourselves to be special - lies at the heart of who we are. This was also the paradox that lies at the heart of Darwin’s second magnum opus, The Descent of Man.
In this lecture I will explore how many of the things once considered (including by Darwin) to be exclusively human are in fact not: we are not the only species that communicates, makes tools, utilises fire, or has sex for reasons other than to make new versions of ourselves. Evolution has, however, allowed us to develop our culture to a level of complexity that outstrips any other observed in nature, and it is the sharing of ideas that our own evolution has taken us down a path distinct from other species.
Adam Rutherford is a science writer and broadcaster. He studied genetics at University College London, and a PhD on the genetics of the developing eye. He has written and presented many award-winning series and programmes for the BBC , including the flagship weekly BBC Radio 4 programme Inside Science and The Curious Cases of Rutherford & Fry with Dr Hannah Fry. He is the author of several books about evolution and genetics, including A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived, the Book of Humans and the forthcoming How To Argue With a Racist.
These lectures at Cambridge as well as those at the Royal Institute are what make the internet so valuable. Thank you!
yes, for the powers that be in order to perpetuate their lies and fake history (which mind you is an oxymoron).
@@jimjames8501 And your point is?
@@Dr10Jeeps my point is that you're being misled or lied to, duh.
@@jimjames8501 Let me guess. You believe in Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. Oh, okay.
@@Dr10Jeeps I believe he's a follower of the great God of Spaghetti
The actual lecture starts at 4:04. Introductions do have a tendency to drone on.
I know this sounds very uncool. But, listening to a lecture like this is my idea of fun.
Watching this from East Africa, not far from the rift valley with a sense of wonder.
This lecture is mind-blowing for most-everyone should hear it and see it
Great lecture, thx for uploading.
The epitome of dry humor....love it!
This was a fantastic lecture. Thank you for uploading!
good job showing the slides, so many videos of lectures omit them.....
42:50 Orca are a good example of cultural dissemination of information. Each different population has a particular group of prey and a particular way of hunting that isn't simply observed but actively taught from adult to young. Meerkats also create schools for their young, teaching them how to deal with scorpions, using a scaffolding method - gradually increasing the difficulty level as the students progress. Thanks again David Attenborough and the BBC natural history unit. Has any public service been more advantageous to human knowledge?
Orcs are just a conspiracy theory pushed by White Supremacy advocates. Pls don’t confuse people.
Sea otters will only eat food their parents taught them is edible. So if one otter is taught to eat only clams, snails urchins and another nearby is taught to eat only mussels, abalone and crabs then they will only eat that.
Enlightening.
Thanks.
Very funny and interesting lecture , thank you !
Agreed, a lot of funny cognitive biases and social constructs also weren't forgotten about.
Great speech!!
Great video, watched all of it
Brilliant! I absolutely loved it. Really well presented with some very interesting findings and ideas.
Brilliant!! fantastic dovetailing of knowledge and valuable entertainment
thank you for sharing
Fascinating!!!
Wonderful talk. It has been a while since I have listened to a talk on evolution. Adam shared in some new ideas and observations which I had not known of. Thank you to the Darwin College Lecture Series for making these talks accessible to the public. 🌱🦒
Hard to believe there are only 80k views for something so well presented and integral to our ourselves.
Not hard to believe at all. A lot of people don't feel much curiosity about human origins.
@@Theoppositesex Sadly, most people don't concern themselves with history anymore...tiktok, twatter, facebook, oh yeah.
@@Theoppositesex - zero evidence.
I agree with you. This is very interesting and informative.
@@maxsmith695 some evidence
I love questioning our own humanity. And what it means to be 'human'.
Good lecture, thanks.
I am writing a book on the language of bigfoot. It is 1000 times more advanced than English.
Evangelics are crawling all around this documentary. Amusing!
Thanks for an informative and interesting session!
Informative and entertaining as always (I missed a bit Hannah Fry's sense of humour, so I'll listen to an episode of their podcast :)
I started to follow Dr. Rutherford after his appearance in Dr. Sean Carrol's podcast, read his books, very refreshing to follow and he is very handsome too ☺
Fahmida Yeasmin Girrrrrl
He must dodge so many panties...
Nobody ever mentions Gregor Mendel?
Now, talking about human origins being named Adam is at least ironic... Nice lecture! Love Darwin College lectures.
Great lecture
I'm in love with two lecturers, Irvin Finkle and now Adam Rutherford 😂
Sulawesi!! The greatest adventure of my life..
Nicely done. The answer to the origin of life is really the foundation to these discussions yet the answer becomes more and more difficult the more we lead. 🤔
Maybe not, there are very recent and interesting discoveries about proteins that seem to shed a light on the origins of life.
The bigger mystery is why did dinosaurs have such tiny arms? What possible point do these dinky little arms serve, on a T-Rex. I mean they don't even reach his mouth. They're a joke.
Very difficult topic to summarise as Adam has here, well done.
48:00-ish I didn't get the joke about fire? Is it because I haven't listened to Radio 4 for a while, or is it something so obvious I can't see it?
Very enjoyable.
Great lecture, thank you so much.
that's YOUR science. 6:01
4:08
Thank you good sir 😎
Thanks so much
Enjoyed your lecture!
In terms of language-based transmission of tech within a species, I was surprised that you didn't include chimpanzees that teach sign language to their offspring.
To your point that there's (so far) nothing unique about humans, I agree. We differ primarily in the number of contexts we retain/abstract, and (related) the degree of complexity of some of the tools/procedures we develop.
excellent stuff.
Thanks for that 🙌🏻
1:10:40 Cook was late eighteenth C. 1770s.
Starts at 4:05.
That Incredibles movie quote is probably my favorite movie quote. It was spoken by Syndrome not Dash, fyi.
Thank you Adam for clealy stating that we do not know the evolutionary pathway. Frankly, all the branched diagrams purporting in some way to offer fragments of evolutionary history are bunk.
Why was is carved ? A gift. Human behavior.
He underestimated biological consequences of humans beings to use fire. Preprocessed food allows us to use less energy for digesting food and use more energy for thinking processes which are very energy consuming.
Speculation.
Great lecture !
So fluent and enlightening, I will never look at animals with my previous mindset again.
I suggest reading ANCIENT SHOCK for much more information about Nean-Sapiens hybrids over the past 5,000 years.
I frequently listen on BBC Radio 4 to Mr Rutherford. He's always spellbinding.
Hardly surprising with a name like Rutherford.
So charming a speaker
Ali G's question on giraffes hits differently now
The year 2020 is the end of a decade, not the beginning.
Decades, centuries, and millennia begin on years ending in 1.
You are absolutely right!
Brilliant
I saw some Neuralink experiments where a monkey could
play this ancient ping pong game, just by using its brain.
Later that made me wonder if it could play some sort
of music as well or produce some kind or art.
Then, on the other hand, a neural motor network is
a neural motor network and one could probably
drive a vehicle around with it.
Amai.
It wasnt dash i thought it was syndrome
"When everyone's super, no one will be"
it would be nice to have a little more explanation of what we actually DON'T KNOW... what are the mysteries.. What new discoveries are still unexplained. Where do the ice ages come in. What about the mystery species? How about all the archeological anomalies? I think that all might be more interesting than explaining what we do know, and how other animals use fire and tools, and gay girraffes. We need to ask ourselves the right questions around "what don't we know?" more than pat ourselves on the back for everything we do know.
That’s for another lecture
I'm so tired of biologists trying to do gymnastics to show humans aren't special. It's like, you're never going to convince me guys, just give up, give it a rest. Humans are special. The very fact that humans take all this data from the natural world and say, 'Look we're not special' is just more ongoing evidence of how special humans are. No other animal does that, and these biologists need to face facts: the animals that biologists care about, don't care about the biologists the way the biologists care about the animals.
PS how about those aliens, huh! Those flying chaps that have now been proven to exist. Now that is funny, UFOs being real. That must REALLY annoy all these privileged academics, SO badly. And the biologists. Now THAT is how you show that humans aren't special! Ha ha!
Giraffes do eat leaves up high/top. Plenty of footage of it. Don’t know what he is talking about when he says th3y don’t do it.
Yes, maybe it was some kind of joke, but he doesn't sounds like it...
Not a true biologist ;-)
@@smartcatcollarproject5699 Not even close.
Wow!
Two flies on the ceiling...
One fly says to his friend, "What makes us special ?"
His friend replied, "We can walk on the ceiling !"
The flies think that they are so cool for that....
But they were outdone by Lionel Richie.
@@randyping6036
Yeah and I bet he climbed the highest mountain and swam the deepest ocean too.
Flies don't talk though
@@system-error
It was a joke.
With a deep meaningful lesson.
I guess it just went over your head.
Buzz.
@@tedgrant2 is the lesson that flies can't talk? That's what I took from it
Love this lecture, very entertaining and very educative!
I paused this video to post on FB about the giraffes then I unpause and feel rather attacked for that lmao.
I wasnt realy listening to what he was saying,. I just spent the time looking at him 😍😎
The fosils across the 200ky time range, where the genomes comparison were obtained, are they of the same species? Is the out of Africa theory concluded by comparing genome of different human species, or by comparing modern human to ancient ape? Given the same result, will you still draw the same conclusion if the comparison is made to, say, a fish, instead of an ape? The out of Africa conclusion is it not based on senseless comparison?
A most interesting overview of recent thinking on the journey to Modern Man. I have a little concern over the bon homme finshing quotes of Darwin and the presnter as Man is presented as rationally assessing the positives of knowledge and social advancement as the principle motives for cultural and numerical advancement. Perhaps an equal or greater consideration would be Man assessing the negatives. I say this in the light of Mr Sapien and his most recent ancestors ethnically cleansing (for the most part :-) ) their tribal neighbours. As societies grew in technological advancement we see the process continued with Indo-europeans replacing earlier Man for example. We then see Yamnya Man replacing earlier Man such that in Britain the Beaker people replaced the folk who built Stonehenge. They in turn would be replaced by the Celts, and the Celts in England be replaced by the Anglo-Saxons. Our ancestors view of their neighbours was clearly very different from the human rights and respect culture promoted in our Western laws today. It seems to me the ethical environment for most of Mr Sapiens history would have him making judgements within an ethos dominated by a healthy portion of Darwinian fear. I think we do well to keep this in mind for fear of seeing these ancestors of ours with rose-tinted glasses as happy-go-lucky hippies.
As you might have gathered by my comments I see the cultural changes that we have undergone in the last Millennia or so as changing our ethics or values-set upside down as few of us in the West have experienced a fear-based upbringing or even real hunger. We are in effect under an umbrella, thankfully!, in a cultural bubble quite different I beleive from that evidenced from the fossil and Man's historical genome world. I get the impression as I look at societies around the world, and i have lived in 4 two-third's world countries for 12 years, that most societies are held together more by fear than of actual attraction. John Bossy wrote on the social transformation, change in values, that took place amongst the perrenially warring Anglo-Saxon tribes at the beginning of the Middle Ages and recorded by the first English historian, the Venerable Bead. In a similar vein, sociologist Larry Siedentop's 'Democracy in Europe' points to initiatives in Europe to Centralise power identifying a kind of grand law of centrapetalisation (hang in there :-) ) where societies naturally, I use the word cautiously, become dominated by elites using tools of fear, cultural layering requiring denied education to the masses to accommodate social mobility. Both conclude that the ethos that prevails in the West today do not have their basis in the survival-of-the-fittest mantra...but elsewhere. That is why I beleive there is a huge disconnect between the observed ferociousness of Man's genomic history, ethnic cleansing is a norm that seems to be brushed under the carpet of academic affability. You might not be surprised at this point that my own position, and, lets face it, like it or not, we are all coming from a position, is I beleive that the sublime calling asked for by Western Human -rights respect culture with its values is not rooted in simple survival culture but elsewhere
....that Human right culture is especially evident in that most gorgeous of traditional English dwelling environments, Cambridge.
It was my namesake Colonel Nicholson in Bridge over the river Kwai whose last moment was to question what his life's labour's were about...he hadn't considered what his pride and joy project was doing to the bigger picture...
Great subject, provocotive talk.
Love to all
Salut to all
Perfect...it is though the males who are replaced, the females overwhelming continue....only in very modern times do you see extinction of whole groups...but yeah...
You are taking this way too serious. Evolution is nonsense, dressed up as science to debunk God and the bible firstly, and secondarily, to allow societies to normalize barbaric treatment of others.
Yes and no. Both fear and community cohesion and ability to make new links account for us. And also the impact of importing viruses into remote populations who have no immunity. Easter Islands population almost wiped out by Europesn diseases. The Irish Book of Invasions days the early farmer people were wiped out by an epidemic.
@@maxsmith695 The bible is also a product of evolution.
@@nwogamesalert - totally wrong.
OK for Darwin. But note Adam Smith's observation: we sympathize most with those closest to us. And that's (not) only human.
not sure about the fishing example. i'd say they didn't need or want the technology. RIP Tazzie's indigenous.
He went over time. Only complaint.
I am at minute 10 and this guy has not yet said anything, but advertising his books
purpose of video !
It wasn't Dash who provided the quote in the Incredibles but Syndrome!
Wow, that's such a refresher for a dry Latin speak of Cambridge folks. I can't wait to read this guy's book now. What's the name of it, btw?
Hi! Be welcome ;-) ... Wikipedia tells us this, 2018 and 2019 being the ones he used in this speech most often:
Books
New Revelation in the Great Pyramid, Literary Licensing (2013), ISBN 9781258897086
Creation: The Origin of Life / The Future of Life, Penguin Books (2014), ISBN 9780670920440
A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Stories in Our Genes, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (2016), ISBN 978-0297609377 - UK edition
A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived: The Human Story Retold Through Our Genes, The Experiment (2017), ISBN 978-1615194049 - updated US edition
Genetics (illus. Ruth Palmer), Ladybird Books (2018), ISBN 978-0718188276
The Book of Humans: The Story of How We Became Us, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (2018), ISBN 978-0297609407
Humanimal: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature-A New Evolutionary History, The Experiment (2019), ISBN 9781615195312
How to Argue with a Racist: History, Science, Race and Reality (2020)
@@TheWuschi I found it, it's called "The Book of Humans: A Brief History of Culture, Sex, War, and the Evolution of Us"
@@sent4dc cool! Have fun reading! :-)
Bologna, dear professor the cat's out of the bag he screamed very loud and someone heard him!
A wonderful speaker! Btw, when we say that evolution has no direction, at least as it pertains to us, what claim are we actually making? Do we have evidence and data for it, or are we in the presence of a piece of dogma, of a doctrine of contemporary evolution science?
He was Soooo impressed to be there He wore his very best flannel shirt.
Members of congress are required to wear a suit and tie. It doesn't seem to make them any better people or better at their job. Personally I have an innate mistrust of anyone wearing a tie.
what about the extinction of many species? i'm just wondering why those species haven't evolve to survive and could still be here in our time. are those species the least fit to survive. as there is a statement which says "survival of the fittest".
All survival of the fittest means is, whatever had the best fit to survive changes, If a sailor takes cats to an island that has no cats the animals too slow to evade the cats won't pass genes on in the same numbers as those who can outrun a cat, even if the "slow" animal is the best fit for the island's food resources and habitat, The cat has become an agent in the evolution of that island, This could be caused by rats floating to the island on a log, a bird dropping a snake, or a bird "passing" seeds that grow into a plant that takes over the habitat of a plant that a certain species depends on
They did evolve to survive, which is why they don't look like they used to.
Seems reasonable to me that if you wanted to hunt with the least amount of effort and most amount of success you’d try and blend in with the animals; so why not dress like one they appear not to be afraid of? As an extension to capture (when possible) alive and in numbers. The obvious creativeness of the art reflects imagination, creativity, cunning, desire...
Start at 13:10
What exactly is absurd about hallucinatory drugs and what's the idea of fear of snakes ??
Has any another animal change its blood type as Ape Blood to Human Blood?
All of them
Subbed. Great lecture. Though I'll be a bit uncomfortable watching giraffes necking in future. ;-)
Beej! Since when are you homophobic, of all the people? XD
Don't you think the title is a wee bit grandiose and misleading?
That “Neanderthal” painting is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Nearly brought a tear to my eye
You must not have seen a lot of paintings.
@@system-error what a stupid thing to say
@@shnoogums1 Not as stupid as what you just said.
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for
Life
So THATS what he looks like . . . . . . a face to the voice on the Podcast, nice.
According to the caloric surplus narrative, there are 2 ways to
achieve this. More input or lowering the cost, the energy drain.
I believe there is evidence today that mankind is driving down
the cost factor in terms of efficiency in a way that is almost
pushing it to the brink of extinction.
Motto: 'humans need not apply..'.
Or, the most energy efficient state is being dead.
Total uselessness, unless we can keep ourselves busy with
riddles, gossip and puzzles or mind games or social chit-chat.
On the positive side, this could mean a regression down to
19th century aristocratic behavioural patterns.
interesting yes , but in a way, who cares what he has to say, just nice to watch a sophisticated, handsome guy talk
If we have the complete genome of Denisovans and Neanderthals... doesn't that mean that we might be able to recreate actual living Denisovans and Neanderthals by synthesizing their DNA (and swapping that DNA with that of a human egg, and implanting that egg in a human)? Come to think of it, I read an SF story about this (I forgot by whom, sorry). No doubt there would be ethical concerns - but wouldn't it be MORE unethical to refuse to de-extinguish these people? And it would teach us a lot about ourselves, which we couldn't find out by any other means.
The only thing that seems to make sense IMHO is to say that modern humans, Denisovans, and Neandertals are all the same species. Like different breeds of dogs (which are called "races" in French). This would make an European, e.g., the equivalent of a Cavapoo or a Labradoodle.
Can human evolution be expeited?
I cannot wait to read his new book
I like to know HOW, WHEN and WHO built all the megalithic structures found round the world 🌎
ancient civilizations.
How is spear fishing not both a taught and a learned behavior? Monkeys show their young how to crack nuts with rocks. There are many other such cultural transmission examples among primates, and even birds.
My dad cracks them with his teeth, he tried to teach me and I said no I will use the nutcracker thanks, you animal.
You really ought to come to South Africa and have a look at the archaeology. I think you'd see things rather differently. I was surprised to hear a lecture about this 'African species' that hardly mentioned stuff that happened in Africa.
In a couple of years, in post pandemia days, this will become a nostalgic moment. We will watch when we could get a few hundreds homo sapiens together and listen to someone in person talk to them. I feel like I am in a catastrophe Tom Cruise movie when he clings to some past artefacts of a long gone era.
No discussion of our small talent for killing at a distance? Any feelings about the possible descent form aquatic apes?
Truly excellent. The theologians should be forced to hear every word of this presentation.
They may hear... however their brains will not be able to process what they hear, if they have been indoctrinated.
Sounds good in theory but could put this speaker in danger if too many religionists knew his name.
@Bazza Norf It (together with the mountain of further evidence in existence) refutes religious legends such as are contained in so called holy books. That is enough to bring into question any other literalistic elements of the faiths concerned.
doesn't the term "species" apply to any two individuals that can breed viable offspring. Unlike horses and donkeys that can produce a mule?
C58, well yes, except for at least 3 exceptions, which devolves to "A species is what an expert says it is". :) Bottom line: There isn't one simple rule that defines what a species is.
Well, yes! Thats Dobzhansky's ' Strong Species Definition'. Which means that we've never yet seen an authentic speciation event.
btw, there have been SIXTY recorded instances of a mule proving fertile, resultant in the Latin expression 'Cum mula peperit', ' When a mule gives birth'. The equivalent of our ' Once in a blue moon'.
How do you account for the mathematical impossibly of the successful genetic mutation over such a short period of time? Also, the complete lack of genetic compatibility between the different species?
there is no mathematical impossibility.
stop listening to ID advocates who only lie and missinterpret science
what do you mean by "complete lack of genetic compatibility"
all living things share same dna to different degrees. more closely related two species are, more similar the dna.
evolution isnt one species interbreeding with another species and thus making a third species.
evolution is small and gradual incremental changes that accumulate over generations in population of species. basicaly descent with modification, yes evolution is adaptation. no there are no changes in "kinds"
there is no one species giving birth to another species, because changes are so small each generation.
like how languages evolve, there was no first french speaker amongst latin speakers.
You realize they just make up wild assumptions and declare them dogma. You must believe, and evidence is not needed.
@@spatrk6634 - How did the rock become a pig ? And how did the pig become a human ?
ROLFMAO.
@@maxsmith695 it didnt.
pig is Artiodactyl, human is Primate
they are different kinds
@@spatrk6634 - But how can one little fishee turn into a snake and the little fishee sibling become a beaver. Will a tractor left alone in a field, become a dinosaur one day.
“(Every cell comes from a previous cell in all known life-Rudolph Virchow) The daughter cells inherit not only DNA, RNA, proteins, energy sources and building blocks, but they also inherit layers of organisation, coordinated activity and the purpose of the parent cell.
The daughter cells naturally progress in a coordinated manner through the proper steps of growth and division, operating like finely tuned machines.” The Stairway to Life-Tan and Stadler p174 (an origin of life reality check)
My question: and how exactly did the first cells acquire these properties?
I enjoyed the lecture btw
There is the spirit of humans
The ether that ancient greeks spoke about
I also enjoy his sweet if chronic non sequiturs and logical fallacies.
I know! I just mean things like, “Height is very predictable. Just take the average of the two parents. Except that males are five inches taller on average! He doesn’t seem to think clearly.
@Random Thoughts, Averages are the Law of Big Numbers. People only have one or two kids!
Such as?