Deep History

"The female, not the male, determines all the conditions of the animal family. Where the female can derive no benefit from association with the male, no such association takes place." —Robert Briffault Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction: The state of nature 1:24 Briffault’s Law 3:03 Parental investment theory 4:39 Sexual selection: males compete, females choose 6:50 The cooperative breeding hypothesis 8:47 Infant-alloparent coevolution 10:26 Conclusion: Gynocracy References: - Robert Briffault: The Mothers: The Matriarchal Theory of Social Origins - Robert Trivers: Parental investment and sexual selection - Sarah Blaffer Hrdy: Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding Image: The Course of Empire: The Savage State by Thomas Cole

"By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." —Genesis 3:19 Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction: The March of Progress 1:51 Domestication of fire 3:17 The original affluent society 6:29 Domestication of plants 9:24 Conclusion: The origin of inequality References: - Richard Wrangham: Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human - Marshall Sahlins: Stone Age Economics - Jared Diamond: The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race - Peter J. Richerson, Robert Boyd, Robert L. Bettinger: Was Agriculture Impossible during the Pleistocene but Mandatory during the Holocene? - Jared Diamond: Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies Image: The Course of Empire: The Pastoral State by Thomas Cole

"Man shall be trained for war, and woman for the recreation of the warrior: all else is folly." —Friedrich Nietzsche Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction: Conflicts of interest 1:12 The paradox of altruism 2:59 The evolution of cooperation 4:52 Agricultural societies 6:26 Pastoral societies 7:59 Intergroup competition = rise of empires 10:36 Intragroup competition = fall of empires References: - Richard D. Alexander: The Biology of Moral Systems - Sarah Blaffer Hrdy: Raising Darwin's Consciousness: Female Sexuality and the Prehominid Origins of Patriarchy - Peter Turchin: War and Peace and War: The Rise and Fall of Empires - Livy: The History of Rome: Book 34 Image: The Course of Empire: Consummation by Thomas Cole

"Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder." —Arnold Toynbee Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction: The social organism 2:24 The evolution of religion 4:55 The parasite-stress theory of values 8:10 Master vs slave morality (lions vs foxes) 11:13 Conclusion: Pathological altruism References: - David Sloan Wilson: Darwin's Cathedral: Evolution, Religion, and the Nature of Society - Peter J. Richerson and Robert Boyd: Culture and the evolution of human cooperation - Randy Thornhill and Corey L. Fincher: The Parasite-Stress Theory of Values and Sociality - Friedrich Nietzsche: On the Genealogy of Morality - Joseph Henrich: The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous Image: The Course of Empire: Destruction by Thomas Cole

"Optimism is cowardice." —Oswald Spengler Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction: Progress traps 2:05 Civilizations are pyramid schemes? 3:33 Scientific explanations of collapse 5:19 Metaphysical explanations of collapse 7:43 Ride the Tiger 9:15 The World of Tradition 10:44 Conclusion: The end of Faustian Culture References: - Ronald Wright: A Short History of Progress - Joseph Tainter: The Collapse of Complex Societies - René Guénon: The Crisis of the Modern World - Julius Evola: Ride the Tiger: A Survival Manual for the Aristocrats of the Soul - Oswald Spengler: Man and Technics: A Contribution to a Philosophy of Life Image: The Course of Empire: Desolation by Thomas Cole

"For the average person, all problems date to World War II; for the more informed, to World War I; for the genuine historian, to the French Revolution." —Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction: A morphological view of history 2:10 Analogous vs homologous forms 3:58 Winter = Civilization 6:12 The Faustian prime symbol 8:45 The dictatorship of money 11:47 Conclusion: Caesarism References: - Oswald Spengler: The Decline of the West Volume I: Form and Actuality - Oswald Spengler: The Decline of the West Volume II: Perspectives of World-History Image: Aqueduct near Rome by Thomas Cole

The Agricultural Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race. Timestamps: 0:00 Introduction: The Malthusian trap 2:57 The Anthropocene 4:47 The Singularity 6:59 The conquest of Nature 9:02 Technopoly 10:56 Conclusion: Brave New World? References: - Ted Kaczynski: Industrial Society and Its Future - Garrett Hardin: The Tragedy of the Commons - Will Steffen et al: The Anthropocene: conceptual and historical perspectives - Ray Kurzweil: The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology - Neil Postman: Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology - Aldous Huxley: Foreword to Brave New World (1946) Image: Home in the Woods by Thomas Cole