This week we're totally unsure of our place in history and time, but we're still watching 'Top Chef' for some reason.
Every week I'll be here to reveal and review some of my favorite moments from the internet. Whether it be binge-ing television shows, streaming sports or simply getting lost down a YouTube rabbit hole, I'm here to give you my top picks every Friday, as well as the perfect pairing to get into an optimal headspace for them.
This week, we're wondering why we're still farting around on earth watching seasons of Top Chef in the year 12,017 instead of living on the moon or Mars or whatever.
The Human Era and the Case for the Year 12,017
Recommended Pairing: A stone goblet of your oldest wine.
I find it odd when people are super up to date on current events but have almost zero interest in the history that got them here. This phenomenon reaches hilariously depressing peaks during contentious political strife. I'm not trying to say I'm some sort of brilliant student of history or anything like that. I'd say I'm familiar with history, more so than most. Let me put it this way: I have a few Dan Carlin Hardcore History Podcasts saved on my phone.
Earlier this week I caught the newest video from the badass team over at Kurzgesagt, the makers of the "in a nutshell" illustrated infotainment videos on YouTube. I'm a huge fan of their videos covering black holes, aliens, biology and cell structure, vacuum decay, and the world's most horrifying parasites. Their latest video tries to put the evolution of humanity on a timeline that allows for a richer perspective of our history:
Immediately after watching the video I hope you felt the same sort of connection to the first wisps of human civilization achieved at "year zero" that I did. I'm going to have to do some digging around before I can safely say I'm fully on board with the concept, but as for removing the emphasis on "modern" religious markers to define our place in history, this is nothing short of a beautifully elegant solution.
Humanity as we think of it didn't start when a guy vanished from a cave and up into heaven. On the contrary, we were telling stories of god, miracles and mythology for centuries and generations before that.
Putting our desire to come together to build a structure, even as a symbol of something greater than our individual selves, is the perfect place to start counting our years in history. Connecting our history back 10,000 years should give people a bright new perspective on history.