How would you tell the story of your life in 18 minutes? Think about it for a moment. The spotlight is shining on you and an audience of several hundred are watching. Where would you begin?
Imagine telling the story of the world in 18 minutes. It’s what David Christian does. It is “Big history” i.e. it takes in what existed before the so-called big-bang … right up to the present day.
Talk of editing! To compress all the achievements and happenings of what we know (and don’t know) into 18 minutes is a major achievement. Two developments that he touches on, especially, are food for thought:
- The emergence of farming, which changed everything! As we have noted before, agriculture releases everyone else to get on with other matters because a small minority of people (the farmers) are there to ensure that there is food for everyone.
- The transference of knowledge means that what we learn does not die with us, and our offspring can pick up from where we left off and take our achievements to new heights (and new lows, some would say, but that is a subject for another evening!)
Find and enjoy the talk here.
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