The History of Being Human

It's hard to argue with the top-ten status of these two horrors.  A scorned, vindictive, spiteful, misogynistic, brutal sadist. A loving wife and devoted mother, who also happened to get aroused by killing on a world-historic level. Both with vast piles of wealth and unchecked control over their victims. Both so powerful as to be almost untouchable. Sounds like a pair of nightmares in real life.  ...

In this episode I speak with a philosopher of evil, Todd Calder, PhD. Although more seraphic surfer than demonic, Todd wrote the article on the concept of evil in the Stanford Internet Encyclopedia of Evil: The Concept of Evil He has also authored numerous scholarly articles and presented at conferences and symposia on the topic, and is currently working on a book-length project "The Concept of Ev...

I didn't want to place him on this list.  But what choice did I have? Beloved national hero or sadistic monster. It depends on who you ask. If you ask a circa 1830 history teacher you will get one answer. If you ask the people he set his dogs on, the slaves he burned alive when they tried to escape, or the Spanish colonists he whipped to death, you might get a different one. http://columbusfourvoy...

In this shocking, baffling, and powerful episode, Laura Johnston Kohl gives us an insider's look into Jonestown. She shares her interactions with Jim Jones -- his sick manipulations, twisted ambitions, bizarre shaming meetings, his craving for power and control, his creepy dark glasses, his chimpanzee, his suicide practice runs, and culminates with the fatal events of November 18, 1978. Some eleme...

In this inaugural episode in the series on the worst people in history, we begin by discussing the most influential source of information about moral evil in the Western World: The Bible.  Dr. Robert M. Price defies easy categorization. He is a prolific, accomplished, high-profile, and controversial figure in biblical studies. His long-running podcast, The Bible Geek, is enjoyed by thousands of be...

The ones who got left behind. Making us the victors (?). This is the last essay episode in the Origins series, and covers the time frame from our last common ancestor with chimps up until the extinction of the Denisovans.  What's the foolproof way to identify a secret ape? Who was the singing-est biped of all? How much do large brains cost, and are they worth it? And why aren't those Neanderthals...

NASA philosophical advisor Kelly Smith, PhD and I discuss: Does the universe move inexorably towards complexity? If so, what ethical implications does that have? If AI becomes more rational than humans, will AIs have ANY ethical obligations towards us? What is the state of public discourse today? What moral obligations will we have when we encounter alien life? What if they are hostile to us? And,...

How did our skulking, digging, night sneak ancestors come to rule the world? With upgrades to their brains, fancy glands that drip liquid nutrition, and three bones in their middle ears. This episode is brought to you by the KT extinction event, without which none of this would have been possible. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-history-of-being-human--5806...

How much force would it take to pull the horned head right off the neck of a triceratops? Crocodiles have the highest bite force ever measured in nature, how do they compare to T. rex. Today we speak with a recognized expert on Tyrannosaurs and all things dinosaur, Dr. Thomas Carr. We dig deep into why he won't be seeing Jurassic World and where the movie went wrong, what we do and don't know abou...

A biggest-picture history tour, from the Big Bang to the KT extinction event that starved, suffocated, froze, and basically snuffed every four-legged animal heavier than 25 kilos (55 pounds) out of existence. Oh, except for two or three. Life, never easy, got a lot harder 5 different times in our planet's inhospitable past. So hard that it almost ceased to exist entirely once or twice. Graphic: "O...

Paul M. Sutter offers a mind-blowing rundown of our current understanding of the Big Bang, dark matter and energy, cosmic voids, singularities, etc. Paul is a brilliant astrophysicist with a gift for communicating with the unwashed masses (like me) with wit, humor, and enthusiasm (not the annoying kind, either).  Dr. Sutter will help you truly understand events and concepts that you kinda had a ne...

Where did the earth, sky, and stars come from? Where did WE come from? In this series on origins, you will see that a lack of real information never stops us from being certain we know the answers to these most inscrutible mysteries. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-history-of-being-human--5806452/support .

  In this interview we speak with Rachel Herz, PhD., neuroscientist and author of "That's Disgusting: Unraveling the Mysteries of Repulsion" and "Why You Eat What You Eat: The Science Behind Our Relationship With Food." Topics Include:  -Can eating certain foods affect, or even effect, your personality? -Why exactly do we like some foods and find others repulsive? -How your mind can change your ho...

It is the ultimate act of aggression and dehumanization. Cannibals from New Zealand to Syria, from Fiji to Japan show their contempt for vanquished enemies, inspire terror, and bond with their comrades through extreme, transgressive acts. We also delve into the emotion of disgust -- something that arguably evolved as a "behavioral immune system" and has been re-purposed into ethical domains. Becom...

Cutting off a city from supplies, food and water and waiting for its inhabitants to succumb and surrender is a brutally effective form of ancient warfare.  But the deadliest siege in history occurred in the modern era, when Operation Barbarossa brought thousands of Nazi tanks to the walls of Leningrad. They surrounded the city for 872 days, killing hundreds of thousands and forcing the inhabitants...

A special interview with multiple award winning author, historian of the American West, and frontier storyteller Will Bagley.  Will sets the scene for the Donner disaster by breaking down the national and international events surrounding westward migration to California and the Oregon territories. He describes the schemers and get-rich-quick promoters that populated the overland trails. He mention...

This episode is about STRANDED CANNIBALS -- specifically the Donner Party and the Dudley Stevens case. Strange coincidences, ethical questions, never bringing a whip to a knife fight, mutinies and shipwrecks, deserts and mountains, starvation, death, and feats of strength and heroism. And cannibals. Episode Guide (for those who want to avoid philosophy. Or history.) 00:00 to 06:49 Considerations 0...

We look into the evidence from primatology and archaeology to find the roots of human cannibalism in nature or nurture. Along the way we find shadows our own dual nature between sexy hippy bonobos and hawkish war chimps; learn how homo sapiens slept with their food, visit a stone age cave of nightmares in Britain; and join the debate over what seems to have been a short-lived fad for eating humans...