What Happened Before History? Human Origins

Summary

The video provides a sweeping overview of human history, from our split with apes 6 million years ago to the modern Information Age. It highlights major milestones like harnessing fire, developing language, transitioning to agriculture, the Scientific Revolution, and the Internet. Ultimately, it reflects on how our advanced, engineered world differs drastically from how humans existed for 99.99% of our history, yet how little we have changed biologically and psychologically in key ways. It concludes by encouraging viewers to keep this perspective when frustrated by modern first-world problems.

Takeaways

• 😲 Humans have existed for a very short time compared to Earth's history
• 👪 Early humans co-existed and possibly interbred with other human species
• 🔥 Controlling fire was a major evolutionary advantage for early humans
• 🧠 Language allowed efficient transfer of information between humans
• 🌾 Agriculture transformed societies, enabling civilization and acceleration of progress
• 🔬 The Scientific Revolution fundamentally changed our understanding of the world
• 💡Technological advancements like computers and the internet shape modern life
• 🏙️ We have profoundly transformed the planet to suit our needs
• 🤔 Our advanced civilization depends on a fragile foundation we don't fully understand
• 😊 Appreciating how unique our lifestyle is can provide perspective on daily frustrations

Q & A

How long have modern humans existed compared to other human species?

Modern humans have existed for about 200,000 years, which is much shorter than other human species like Homo erectus that survived for 2 million years.

What allowed early humans to evolve larger brains?

The control of fire allowed early humans to cook food which made it more nutritious, contributing to brain development. Fire also provided light and warmth.

How did the rise of agriculture impact human progress?

Agriculture allowed humans to reliably produce food, leading to larger communities, more organization and eventually civilization. This allowed faster progress as people could specialize and exchange knowledge.

When did exponential progress in human development begin?

Exponential progress began around 500 years ago with the Scientific Revolution and inventions like the computer and internet in the modern era.

How do humans dominate the planet despite our physical weaknesses?

Humans dominate through our intelligence, use of technology and in particular our ability to cooperate flexibly in large groups.

What was a key cognitive shift that gave rise to complex language and culture?

A genetic shift around 50,000 years ago gave humans more advanced, multi-purpose brains capable of more complex language, cooperation and transmission of knowledge.

How knowledgeable were early modern humans compared to us as individuals?

Early humans needed to be survival experts in all domains with great intelligence, memory and skills, so they may have been superior on an individual level.

What are some examples of technologies that demonstrate our dominance of nature?

Examples include artificial lighting, vehicles like planes that allow flight, rockets that have enabled space exploration like walking on the moon, and robots on other planets.

What key revolutions paved the way for our modern world?

Key revolutions include the Scientific Revolution, the Industrial Revolution and the rise of computers and the internet which transformed fields like science and business.

How fragile is human civilization despite appearances of stability?

Human civilization depends on continued exponential progress, complex systems and favorable environmental conditions, so it remains fundamentally fragile.

Outlines

00:00

🧑‍🚀 The Evolution of Humans

This paragraph provides an overview of human evolution, beginning 6 million years ago when humans split from apes. It discusses key milestones like the emergence of the Homo genus 2.8 million years ago and anatomically modern humans 200,000 years ago. There were other human species that co-existed and eventually died out, with reasons unknown. Early humans developed tools, controlled fire, and had basic language, setting the foundation for behavioral modernity around 70,000-50,000 years ago.

05:01

💡 The Cognitive Revolution and Progress of Civilization

This paragraph discusses the 'cognitive revolution' around 50,000 years ago when innovation exploded due to sophisticated tools, complex culture, and advanced communication abilities that enabled large-scale cooperation. This transformed humans' ability to build on knowledge, driving exponential progress. The rise of agriculture 12,000 years ago allowed food surplus, specialization, and civilization. Scientific and Industrial Revolutions compounded progress, leading to rapid advances in recent generations, though humans still mostly resemble ancestors from 70,000 years ago.

Keywords

💡hominini

The tribe that humans split from around 6 million years ago, marking the divergence between humans and other apes. This split laid the foundation for the eventual evolution of humans.

💡homo

The genus that the first humans belonged to, emerging around 2.8 million years ago. There were multiple human species under this genus, not just Homo sapiens.

💡homo sapiens

The human species that we belong to, which emerged around 200,000 years ago. Other human species existed alongside us until around 10,000 years ago.

💡behavioral modernity

The suite of traits and capabilities, including language, abstract thinking, and innovation, that distinguish anatomically modern humans. This is believed to have emerged around 70,000 years ago.

💡explosion in innovation

A burst of technological and cultural complexity around 50,000 years ago, enabled by advanced language and cooperation. This marked the origin of many abilities we see as distinctively human.

💡agriculture

The development of farming and cultivation of crops, which first emerged around 12,000 years ago. This allowed food surpluses, population growth, civilization-building and increasing specialization.

💡scientific revolution

The emergence of modern scientific fields like physics, astronomy and biology around 500 years ago. This enabled the exponential growth of knowledge.

💡industrial revolution

The shift to mechanized production through inventions like the steam engine, which increased economic output and human productivity.

💡computer

Referring to electronic computers that perform calculations and process information. The evolution of computers and the internet have radically transformed communication and cognition.

💡future

The video concludes by reflecting on the unpredictability of the future now that humans have such advanced technology and civilization, given how briefly this has existed in our history.

Highlights

Our story begins 6 million years ago, when the tribe of hominini split and our relationship with the apes ended.

When we, homo sapiens sapiens, came into existence 200,000 years ago, there were at least six other human species around.

From 300,000 years ago, most of the different human species lived in small hunter-gatherer societies.

If we had a time machine, how far would we be able to go back, steal a few babies and raise them today without anyone noticing that they're a bit different?

At some point, around 50,000 years ago, there was an explosion in innovation.

As our brain evolved, we became able to do something, life had been unable to do up to this point.

But while it is easy to be arrogant in our attitude to our ancestors, this would be ignorant.

But then around 12,000 years ago, in multiple locations, humans developed agriculture. Everything changed very quickly.

Today we live in the most prosperous age humanity has ever experienced.

We've looked deep into the past of the universe with mechanical eyes.

The average high school student today knows more about the universe than a scholar a few centuries ago.

We are still not that different from our ancestors 70,000 years ago.

Your lifestyle has existed for less than 0.001% of human history.

From here on, there's no saying what the future holds for us.

The next time you miss your train, your burger is not hot enough, or someone cuts in line, Remember how special this made-up human world is.

Transcripts

The world we live in feels normal, ordinary.

It feels like this is just how humans exist and always existed.

But, it's not.

Never before have we humans lived in a world as sophisticated and engineered to our needs as today.

Giving us the luxury to forget about ourselves and not worry about survival.

Food, shelter, security – all of this is, more or less, taken for granted.

But we're a special few; for more than 99.99% of human history, life was completely different.

And there's no such thing as just one human history.

Our story begins 6 million years ago, when the tribe of hominini split and our relationship with the apes ended.

2.8 million years ago, the genus of homo, the first humans, emerged.

We like to think about ourselves as the only humans, but this is far from the truth.

When we, homo sapiens sapiens, came into existence 200,000 years ago, there were at least six other human species around.

Cousins of comparable intelligence and ability, which must have been incredibly scary, kind of like living with aliens.

Some of them were very successful.

Homo erectus, for example, survived for 2 million years.

Ten times longer than modern humans have existed.

The last of the other humans disappeared around 10,000 years ago.

We don't know what caused them to die out.

Modern humans have at least a few percent of neanderthal and other human DNA, so there was some mixing,

but certainly not enough to be a merger between species.

So we don't know if our cousins went away because they lost the battle over resources, or because of a series of minor genocides.

Either way, only we remain.

Back to the beginnings of humanity.

2.8 million years ago, early humans used tools, but did not make a lot of progress for nearly 2 million years.

Until they learned to control fire.

Fire meant cooking, which made food more nutritious, which contributed to the development of our brain.

It also produced light and warmth, which made days longer and winters less gruesome.

On top of that, it not only scared predators away, it could also be used for hunting.

A torched wood or grassland provided small animals, nuts and tubers that were pre-roasted.

From 300,000 years ago, most of the different human species lived in small hunter-gatherer societies.

They had fire, wood and stone tools, planned for the future, buried their dead, and had cultures of their own.

But most importantly, they spoke to each other.

Probably in a kind of proto-language, less complex than ours.

If we had a time machine, how far would we be able to go back,

steal a few babies and raise them today without anyone noticing that they're a bit different?

There is much debate.

Anatomically, modern humans emerged 200,000 years ago,

but probably 70,000 years is as far as we could travel back and still snatch a behaviourally modern human.

Before that, the babies would probably lack a few crucial gene mutations

Necessary to build a brain with modern language and abstract thinking abilities.

At some point, around 50,000 years ago, there was an explosion in innovation.

Tools and weapons became more sophisticated and culture became more complex,

because at this point, humans had a multi-purpose brain,

and a more advanced language to communicate information with each other effectively,

and down to the last detail.

This allowed much closer cooperation, and is what really makes us different from any other creature on Earth.

Not our comparatively weak bodies and inferior senses,

but the ability to cooperate flexibly in large groups, unlike, for example, rigid beehives

or intimate, but tiny wolf packs.

As our brain evolved, we became able to do something, life had been unable to do up to this point.

One – expand knowledge quickly.

Two – preserve the knowledge gained over generations.

Three – build on past knowledge, to gain even deeper insight.

This seems daft, but until then, information had to be passed on from generation to generation,

mostly through genetics, which is not efficient.

Still, for the next 40,000 years, human life remained more or less the same.

There was little to build upon.

Our ancestors were only one animal among many.

Building a skyscraper without knowing what a house is… is hard.

But while it is easy to be arrogant in our attitude to our ancestors, this would be ignorant.

Humans 50,000 years ago were survival specialists.

They had a detailed mental map of their territory,

their senses were fine-tuned to the environment,

they knew and memorized a great amount of information about plants and animals.

They could make complicated tools that required years of careful training and very fine motor skills

Their bodies compared to our athletes today just because of their daily routines,

and they lived a rich social life within their tribe

Survival required so many skills that the average brain volume of early modern humans

might even have been bigger than it is today

As a group we know more today, but as individuals our ancestors were superior to us

But then around 12,000 years ago, in multiple locations, humans developed agriculture.

Everything changed very quickly.

Before, survival as a hunter and forager required superb physical and mental abilities in all fields from everybody

With the rise of the agricultural age, individuals could increasingly rely on the skills of others for survival.

This meant that some of them could specialize.

Maybe they worked on better tools, maybe they took time to breed more resistant crops or better livestock,

Maybe they started inventing things.

As farming got more and more efficient, what we call civilization began

Agriculture gave us a reliable and predictable food source,

which allowed humans to hoard food on a large scale for the first time,

which is much easier to do with grains than meat,

The food stock required protection, which led to communities living together in tighter spaces

First, early defense structures were built, the need for organization grew

The more organized we got, the faster things became efficient

Villages became cities, cities became kingdoms, kingdoms became empires

Connections between humans exploded which led to opportunities to exchange knowledge

Progress became exponential

About 500 years ago the Scientific Revolution began

Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy, Biology, and Chemistry transformed everything we thought we knew

The Industrial Revolution followed soon after laying the foundation for the modern world

As our overall efficiency grew exponentially,

more people could spend their lifetime contributing to the progress of humanity

Revolutions kept happening.

The invention of the computer, its evolution into a medium we all use on a daily basis,

and the rise of the Internet shaped our world

It's hard to grasp how fast all of that happened

It's been about 125,000 generations since the emergence of the first human species

About 7,500 generations since the physiologically modern humans saw the light of day

500 generations ago, what we call civilization began

20 generations ago, we learned how to do science

And the Internet became available to most people only one generation ago

Today we live in the most prosperous age humanity has ever experienced

We have transformed this planet, from the composition of its atmosphere to large-scale changes in its landscape

and also in terms of the other animals in existence.

We light up the night with artificial stars and put people in a metal box in the sky

Some have even walked on our Moon

We put robots on other planets

We've looked deep into the past of the universe with mechanical eyes

Our knowledge and our way of acquiring and storing more of it has exploded

The average high school student today knows more about the universe than a scholar a few centuries ago

Humans dominate this planet, even if our rule is very fragile

We are still not that different from our ancestors 70,000 years ago

But your lifestyle has existed for less than 0.001% of human history

From here on, there's no saying what the future holds for us

We're building a skyscraper, but we're not sure if it's standing on a solid foundation

or if we're building it on quicksand

Let's leave it with that for now

The next time you miss your train, your burger is not hot enough, or someone cuts in line

Remember how special this made-up human world is

Maybe it's not worth being upset about all those little things.

OK, so this was our first take on making a history-related video

we'd love to make much more of them, but they take even more time than our average video.

So we might do 3 or 4 a year.

Your feedback's very welcome here

Thank you so much for watching, and if you want to support us directly,

you can do so on Patreon.

It really helps us out.

While you think about it, here are more videos, if you need more distraction.