220. Charles Foster on Being a Human: Adventures in Forty Thousand Years of Consciousness

The Michael Shermer Show

Michael Shermer

Dialogue, Science, Reason, Michaelshermer, Natural Sciences, Skeptic

4.4 • 921 Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2021

⏱️ 117 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Drawing on psychology, neuroscience, natural history, agriculture, medical law and ethics, Charles Foster, in Being a Human, makes an audacious attempt to feel a connection with 45,000 years of human history. He experiences the Upper Paleolithic era by living in makeshift shelters without amenities in the rural woods of England. He tests his five impoverished senses to forage for berries and roadkill and he undertakes shamanic journeys to explore the connection of wakeful dreaming to religion. For the Neolithic period, he moves to a reconstructed Neolithic settlement. Finally, to explore the Enlightenment, he inspects Oxford colleges, dissecting rooms, cafes, and art galleries. He finds his world and himself bizarre and disembodied, and he rues the atrophy of our senses, the cause for much of what ails us. This glorious, fiercely imaginative journey from our origins to a possible future ultimately shows how we might best live on earth — and thrive.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the Michael Sherman Shower.
0:17.0	Welcome to the Michael Sherman Show. I'm your host Michael Sherman.
0:18.0	Today's episode is also being brought to you by Oregon State University,
0:22.0	which is inviting you to
0:23.7	participate in their upcoming provost lecture series featuring the great
0:27.4	neuroscientist David Eagleman. It's a free virtual event next Wednesday, October 27th, from 6 to 7.30 PM Pacific time.
0:38.0	So that's next Wednesday, October 27th at 6 o'clock, Pacific time.
0:42.0	You can register for the free event at be
0:44.4	ea v dot e s slash provost hyphen lecture. That's beaav the they're the
0:51.3	beavers Oregon State beavers.
0:53.0	Bea v.
0:54.0	dot E.S slash provost
0:56.0	hyphen lecture.
0:57.0	If you forget all that, just Google Oregon State University
1:01.0	comma David Eagleman pops right up.
1:03.1	I just checked.
1:04.4	I know David, I met him at TED years ago.
1:07.2	He gave this terrific talk in which he put this jacket on, this neurojacket thing that was
1:11.6	going to convert our applause or any of our response into
1:16.0	sensory touch on his torso.
1:19.8	And it was quite the demonstration.
1:22.0	He is one of the most interesting scientists and writers working today.
	...

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