Mindscape 273 | Stefanos Geroulanos on the Invention of Prehistory

Humanity itself might be the hardest thing for scientists to study fairly and accurately. Not only do we come to the subject with certain inevitable preconceptions, but it's hard to resist the temptation to find scientific justifications for the stories we'd like to tell about ourselves. In his new book, The Invention of Prehistory, Stefanos Geroulanos looks at the ways that we have used -- and continue to use -- supposedly-scientific tales of prehistoric humanity to bolster whatever cultural, social, and political purposes we have at the moment.

Stefanos Geroulanos received his Ph.D. in humanities from Johns Hopkins. He is currently director of the Remarque Institute and a professor of history at New York University. He is the author and editor of a number of books on European intellectual history. He serves as a Co-Executive Editor of the Journal of the History of Ideas.

#podcast #ideas #science #philosophy #culture

[jonathanbyrdmusic]

Love the depth and breadth of this podcast. Thanks for tipping the scales a little bit more toward intelligent discourse.

[josephemerson]

So what are the business secrets of the pharaohs?

Well, look the first thing is to acknowledge that the Ancient Egyptian era is so completely different from our own that any cultural, political or business parallels that we draw between the two eras are by their very nature almost certainly bound to be wrong.

[tookie]

I love Sean and agree with most of his positions… BUT… physicists are human beings??? Not a chance

[Bassic]

Great episode - but please make sure to mute (or edit out) the mic of the person currently not talking. The amount of heavy breathing from Sean's mic while the guest was talking was unsettling in this otherwise great episode. Thx!

[breadfan]

Thank you, Dr Carroll and Dr. Geroulanos, for this very interesting interview. It was a pleasure to listen to, as well as a great reminder for all of us to always be conscious of our individual and collective biases.

[jennydeepable]

Wow I have gained knowledge on so many topics thanks to this show

[よしとん-zp]

This episode is interesting to me. It’s like talking about things that I was curious about but didn’t know I was. Thank you!

[jayvincent]

1:16:18 The factual records of what used to be have been destroyed over and over. Knowledge is power.. If the public gains knowledge they're harder to suppress.

[rayfighter]

FanTAStic closing thoughts on how could we become less biased and therefore more successful in revealing the true nature of the universe.
De-dramatising is the word which I found especially hitting. Pretty much de-JPing are pursuit, if I wanted to be very meme savvy. 😅

[HENRYSTEVENSON-uk]

I always ALWAYS love Sean’s courageous scientific dialogues with experts, especially as they attempt to penetrate the Physics-to-Biology & Biology-to-Physics great-divide. I tend to leave Mindscape episodes with a sense that I know just a little bit more about “how WE got to here” (starting from the Big Bang). I can’t seem to let go of Carl Sagan’s “WE are all star-stuff” mantra — is that scientific truism no longer true? Is it really now about “us” (and our current challenges & mindset) versus “them” (and their particular challenges & mindset)? Who do I thank for nearly 1 million uninterrupted years of “fire” — in its many evolutionary presentations? Who do I thank for nearly 50, 000 years of uninterrupted “art” & “language” — in their many evolutionary presentations? At the end of the day, why isn’t Big History (all the way back to Big Bang) still the most scientific & the most powerful way to explain our universe — and “ how WE got to here” — to the next generation?

[RicardoMarlowFlamenco]

I sort of hoped the story about what people used to believe would have been tempered by some recent discoveries. For example… no need for deep interpretations of the evidence certain people have larger percentage of Neanderthal dna and certain other people have zero. Regardless of bias… it is what it is, no? And right there… that explains SO much with no need to point out the obvious.

[jayvincent]

Ancient China, Ancient Mesopotamia, Sumeria, Egypt, Rome itself. All the Libraries all of the books and scripts destroyed burned.. For one reason... Subjugation of a given population .

[julioc.]

the broadcasting world lost a star to physics. sean should have been on the news everyday.

[danielcook]

Wahoo! New Mindscape!

Also… First! ;)

[alisonwunderland]

Is there not a more logical argument that the different races of humans developed independently from several species of ape/monkey?