Archaeological Mysteries by Albert Yu-Min Lin

Modern technologies have given birth to a new “golden age” of exploration, allowing us to go further, digitally stripping away the vegetation, and peer into the earth to reveal stories hidden beneath layers of time. What emerges is a catalog full of the various experiments in human understanding, expression, and imagination. If you remove the concept of linearity in our timeline, the rise and fall of collective knowledge exposes something deeper in our human nature, the unpredictability of our imagined realities. This talk will discuss the enigmas of our individual and collective imaginations.

Dr. Albert Lin is an Associate Research Scientists at UC San Diego and an award winning Explorer of the National Geographic Society. An Engineer by training he has spent the last decade developing and applying technologies towards the exploration of our shared humanity. This journey has taken him from the Arctic Circle to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and from the deserts of the Middle East to the jungles of Central America. For this work Lin has received numerous recognitions including National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year, the United States Geospatial Intelligence Academic Achievement Award, the Explorer’s Club’s Lowell Thomas Medal, and the Nevada Medal (as the youngest ever recipient). An avid science communicator Lin has created nearly two dozen National Geographic and BBC documentary films, and currently hosts a National Geographic Channel series titled Lost Cities with Albert Lin.

[courageunitycompassi]

Let’s talk about the mystery of the man scarf. Why is academia afraid to address this issue?

[SkepticalBrother]

Amazing no mention of aliens or Atlantis, what a breath of fresh air.

[TankorSmash]

This felt more like a travel blog than an educational talk. I was expecting something less personal.

[Mithras]

Dr Lin is an amazing human being from his knowledge to his strength to keep pushing farther and farther even after losing a leg! And bringing places like Nan Modol and the ancient hallucinogens to a lecture that covered everything in between absolutely incredible I have listened to many of hours of lectures but this one covered just about all topics in short and easy way to understand and comprehend! I could go on and on thanks Dr Lin! I hope our journeys meet one day!

[boundlessintrepiddiscovery]

I've watched the complete first season. It's awesome to see a recap of all of the adventures and learnings. I enjoyed this entire talk!

[lzl]

It’s like listing to my rich cousin talking about his travels in the name of science. Entertaining but I’m thinking.... someone eaten by I wouldn’t believe everything the local guide tells you. Then he brings out a crazy drink from a pacific island, we drink, we get all is good

[ghazzaliahmed]

"This talk will discuss the enigmas of our individual and collective imaginations", I actually watched it to the end and thought it courageous of him to present to this audience. The raised eyebrow of disapproval was lurking though. To learn about his accident and how he healed is something worth sharing. And I suppose only archaeologists are allowed to talk about archaeology now...

[bobritter]

Somehow a mixture of chaos and tedium. Quite an achievement.

[AlohaMilton]

Interesting. Guy has traveled and learned. Impressed with how he dealt with amputation of a leg, something totally intrinsic to a persons existence and traumatic to loose. Some of the nasty comments, sheesh the jealous rage at others getting away from the monitor is pathetic. People raging at this guy for doing things they wish they did. whatever haters. He went to the depths of scorpion fart cave to tell us all what is there. I sure didn't want to visit the scorpion fart cave, but want to know whats in there, so I appreciate his effort.

[brianmattsson]

vi snakker altid om store byggerier i regnskoven men hvor meget skov var der da de store sten byggerier blev lavet ??

[urielstud]

Love this, Andrew ❤️. The kiddos 👶 @1:03:20 are fabulous!

[MendTheWorld]

I think that many of the things Dr. Lin was trying to discuss can _only_ be experienced directly and personally, and do not lend themselves easily to a narrative-style presentation. In this talk, Lin seems to struggle at times to capture the particular thoughts or ideas he was intending and trying to convey. As a consequence, the talk comes across a bit scattered and disjointed at times, especially toward the end as he ran past his time limit, and his mind was reeling, trying to figure out how to wrap things up in a coherent way. As a result, it was difficult to follow whatever unifying, thread he was striving for. I feel sure there was something there, but I’m not sure I can discern what it was.

I wonder if Dr. Lin felt satisfied with the result of his talk, relative to his expectations. I suspect not. For one thing, he tried to include too much content and too many experiences into a single presentation, when just a few anecdotes may have been sufficient. I understand he wanted and hoped to capture it all into a single, grand, overarching narrative. But in the end there were too many “trees” and not enough “forest”.

This is not a criticism, but an expression of sympathy and empathy. I often struggle with the same problems, especially when I have moments of inspiration and insight, when ideas make sense to me in a particular way. But then these thoughts, ideas, and insights cannot be captured and retained. And once they are gone, they are gone forever, and all Im left with is a fleeting memory of them. I think this is part of the problem he faces.

I’m very interested in gaining a better understanding of his experiences and insights. He has had an amazing life, that’s for sure, and to the extent that his experiences have given him important new insights about the human condition and the nature of consciousness, we _must_ pay attention.

[putrid.p]

Interesting accounts, thank you! I would suggest to try to avoid "you know" as a filler phrase in a lecture - I don't know, that's why I'm listening.

[debbygarbato]

In another commentary, Dr. Albert said he was asked to speak on this topic by Darwin College. When he told them he was an engineer who dealt in technology and not an archeologist, they still wanted him to do the topic. I think reactions would have been better if it were called something like "Tech Meets Archeology" or something.

[dcscreenworks]

Maybe the tile of the lecture is a bit off, but still one of the most fascinating lectures I've ever seen.

[rickmcgehee]

Please come to Southern Illinois the Shawnee National Forest has many ancient stories to tell !!!!

[omarmartinez]

I feel asleep and woke up to this video. Strange but I liked the lecture

[owl]

He has a story to tell, but does need to get his presentation better organized.

[archangecamilien]

26:40 I often ask myself that question above all the other ones...the thought about how much technology we have today, and most of us don't even understand it, haha, is also interesting, and I always find it strange...how did the first man make a pot?...How did they make their weapons?...A lucky accident?...At any rate, for the voyage part, I suspect it must have often been an accident...someone got lost at sea, ventured too far, saw a piece of land, managed to make it back and tells his comrades about that sighting...of course, doesn't explain how the aborigines got to Australia, etc, but don't some claim they went by land, passing in areas like India?...A long boat ride would be strange...but I always imagine it mostly had to do with accidents, this guy getting lost at sea, etc, for lands that aren't too far, like natives who settle in Haiti discovering Cuba (just a couple tens of miles away or something, by sea) or vice versa, whichever was settled first (I would suppose whichever one is closer to the continent part of the Americas)...

[joestitz]

Albert i believe the templars castle fort in Jeruselum still has the treasure under the floor in the very center of their best preserved fortress. You notice the extra high area of flooring in the Center, remove that slate of stone :) !