1 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:06,720 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: Works dot Com. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow 3 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:16,320 Speaker 1: your Mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. 4 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: We just recorded an episode about the Ordovician period and uh, 5 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:22,239 Speaker 1: and you don't need to listen to that one to 6 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: understand what we're going to talk about in this episode. 7 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:28,440 Speaker 1: But we did spend a lot of time discussing a 8 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:33,000 Speaker 1: certain period in earth ancient history that we look at 9 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:36,239 Speaker 1: through geology. We look at the various layers of sediment 10 00:00:36,320 --> 00:00:38,640 Speaker 1: that have accumulated on the Earth. We look at the 11 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:41,440 Speaker 1: chemical signatures from the past and trying to piece together 12 00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 1: exactly what the world was like, what caused it to 13 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:47,480 Speaker 1: be like that, and what made it in What ended 14 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:50,720 Speaker 1: that period? What catastrophic events ended that period in Earth 15 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: history and gave birth to a new age. So inevitably 16 00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: we end up looking at our own period of time 17 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:02,200 Speaker 1: and what happened when we look at the age of 18 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:07,280 Speaker 1: humans as a geologic period, what indeed of aliens in 19 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 1: the distant future? Time travelers, what have you travel to 20 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:15,959 Speaker 1: the Earth and find this world devoid of humans, but 21 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:20,040 Speaker 1: are able to look back through geology through chemistry and 22 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:22,959 Speaker 1: peer at our age, what would we make of it? Well? 23 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:25,319 Speaker 1: And I think it's a very interesting question because I 24 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:28,800 Speaker 1: think so often we are preoccupied with the past, particularly 25 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:30,720 Speaker 1: when we look at the time scale, we just think 26 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:34,760 Speaker 1: about everything that has happened before us. We understand ways 27 00:01:34,840 --> 00:01:37,960 Speaker 1: in which we are affecting the earth, global climate change 28 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: or something that comes up quite a bit. But as 29 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 1: you say, I don't think that we have taken this 30 00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: stance before. We've tried to go out ten thous years 31 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 1: from now and visit the geologic time scale and see 32 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: what it would look like with the age of man. 33 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: And this is what we're gonna talk about today, this idea, 34 00:01:56,440 --> 00:02:01,440 Speaker 1: this anthroposyn this age of man that is replacing the 35 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:04,880 Speaker 1: current Holocene that we are in, this period of time 36 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:08,760 Speaker 1: um that has been relatively stable in terms of climate 37 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:13,600 Speaker 1: and resources, and trying to take a look at how 38 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 1: we are actually going to how we are affecting the Earth, 39 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:18,880 Speaker 1: and what it will look like many years from now. 40 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:20,600 Speaker 1: And this is going to be kind of a dust 41 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:23,880 Speaker 1: statement to to talk about, because you know, we all 42 00:02:23,919 --> 00:02:26,800 Speaker 1: know this. At some point Homo sapiens were not the 43 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: dominant species and we're not quite as accessible as we 44 00:02:30,360 --> 00:02:34,400 Speaker 1: are now. But there was a time um during life 45 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 1: when Homo sapiens really had to be careful about the 46 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:41,680 Speaker 1: way that they conducted themselves because they could easily be 47 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:47,040 Speaker 1: a meal for megafauna, for a large predator. Or there 48 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:49,720 Speaker 1: were times in history where you've seen something called bottlenecks, 49 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:52,360 Speaker 1: and this is when the population, the Homo sapien population 50 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:55,680 Speaker 1: went below two thousand people. If you can imagine where 51 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: the population dives down so far that the chances of 52 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: the species can tinuing really diminishes, and then also you 53 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: get into increasing problems of genetic diversity as well, and 54 00:03:06,840 --> 00:03:09,080 Speaker 1: the population begins to get down that low, and of 55 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:11,160 Speaker 1: course you've got circumstance us during that time, that's thought 56 00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:15,640 Speaker 1: that there weren't as many resources available. But now we 57 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 1: take it for granted that Homo sapiens, you know, have 58 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:21,239 Speaker 1: always been strong and here and and been the dominant 59 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:24,120 Speaker 1: force on Earth. But really this is a fairly new 60 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:27,720 Speaker 1: in the full geologic time scale view of things. This 61 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:30,919 Speaker 1: is a fairly new development. Yeah, because we're as humans 62 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:33,960 Speaker 1: were still afraid of things. We're still afraid of sharks 63 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 1: seating us, we're still afraid of of stray dogs, biding us. 64 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,920 Speaker 1: We're afraid of diseases. We're afraid of the death that 65 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,440 Speaker 1: we haven't exactly figured out how to defeat yet. I mean, 66 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 1: and and everything has come into this humans versus this, 67 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:51,760 Speaker 1: humans versus that scenario. But we look back in the past, right, 68 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:54,280 Speaker 1: and there was a time when animals were a definite 69 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: threat to humans. There was a time when disease was 70 00:03:56,840 --> 00:03:59,440 Speaker 1: more of a threat. Now it's still a threat, but 71 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 1: there were times when an outbreak of disease could potentially 72 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: wipe out the species. And today, to too many modern observers, 73 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:09,560 Speaker 1: you might think, well, we basically haven't have it knocked right, 74 00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 1: outside of the chance that the shark might eat me, 75 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:14,600 Speaker 1: outside of the chance that the disease might topple some 76 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:18,599 Speaker 1: of us, humanity is here to stay, right, Yeah, humanity 77 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:21,200 Speaker 1: is here to stay. And you have to look at 78 00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:24,359 Speaker 1: it this way that when we began to hunt wooly mammoth's, 79 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 1: we began to change the landscape. Um, you know, from 80 00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:32,279 Speaker 1: ancient aqueducts to cloud seating for Beijing Olympics to try 81 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:36,159 Speaker 1: to have better weather. We have been trying to alter 82 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 1: our landscape. And geographers Earl Ellis and Navin Ramakuti argue 83 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,919 Speaker 1: that we are no longer disturbing natural ecosystems. Instead, we 84 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 1: are now we now live in human systems with natural 85 00:04:47,960 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 1: ecosystems embedded within them. Yeah, the mammoth thing is really 86 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:54,080 Speaker 1: interesting because generally when you start thinking about, okay, when 87 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:57,200 Speaker 1: did humans really start tinkering with things, you tend to 88 00:04:57,200 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: think back twelve thousand years to this, this turning point 89 00:05:00,160 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 1: when we begin to develop agriculture. Because this this allows 90 00:05:03,880 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: a number of things to take place. We've discussed this before. 91 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:09,160 Speaker 1: Suddenly you're able to grow a surplus of food, You're 92 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 1: able to stay in one spot, You're able to devote 93 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:16,600 Speaker 1: certain members of society to specialist tasks, be that task 94 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:22,039 Speaker 1: the development of essentially the early sciences, to culture, to religion, 95 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:26,839 Speaker 1: to star or naval gazing, to fine tuning the agricultural 96 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:29,839 Speaker 1: processes that society is depending on the birth of the city. 97 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:32,080 Speaker 1: All of these things rise up from that turning point. 98 00:05:32,279 --> 00:05:35,480 Speaker 1: But you go back much farther in history and you 99 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:39,799 Speaker 1: find that the mammoth populations are dropping, in part because 100 00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:42,679 Speaker 1: you have natural climate change taking place, but also mammoths 101 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:45,480 Speaker 1: are tasty, mammoths are useful, use every part of it right, 102 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 1: it's it's a fabulous product. Early humans couldn't get enough 103 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:52,240 Speaker 1: of it, and so they were hunting it to extinction. 104 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: And without the mammoths around to graze and eat the 105 00:05:56,440 --> 00:06:00,640 Speaker 1: birch that grew, um, that kept everything kind of a grassland. 106 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: Suddenly you have forests ringing up, darker forests absorbing more light. Right, 107 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:08,400 Speaker 1: So you end up with a warmer climate because of it. 108 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:12,920 Speaker 1: So here already due to the things humanity wants, the 109 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:15,440 Speaker 1: things that it feels it needs to combat in the 110 00:06:15,480 --> 00:06:17,640 Speaker 1: world around it and take from the world around it, 111 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 1: that contributes to changes in the planet. Yeah, and I 112 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:24,640 Speaker 1: guess some people would argue that that was really the 113 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 1: beginnings of when we began to alter the landscape. Um. 114 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,600 Speaker 1: You know, was thought that it was the more agrarianxieties 115 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 1: societies that cropped up ten thousand years ago, that that's 116 00:06:34,520 --> 00:06:37,920 Speaker 1: when humans really began to change the landscape for better 117 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:39,760 Speaker 1: or worse. But you can point to this, You can 118 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:43,200 Speaker 1: point to rolling manloths in the hunting of them that 119 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:47,400 Speaker 1: had a direct correlation with how the environment changed. Um. 120 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:49,719 Speaker 1: So if you kind of fast forward a bit and 121 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:52,240 Speaker 1: you had, you know, to to modern day and you 122 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:55,880 Speaker 1: had mentioned um, extra terrestrial life forms, if they were 123 00:06:55,880 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 1: to cruise by our planet, they would see a very 124 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:04,040 Speaker 1: human stratigraphical signal. And when I'm thinking of, are the 125 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:07,680 Speaker 1: satellite photos of the Earth at night lit up by 126 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: fossil fuel combustion. I mean, you could cruise past our 127 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:12,640 Speaker 1: planet and say, oh, there's something up, there's something going 128 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:15,600 Speaker 1: on there. Yeah, they're burning their past to create this 129 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 1: present lit electric world of power and energy. And if 130 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: in fact, as we've discussed before, as we're trying to 131 00:07:22,200 --> 00:07:25,400 Speaker 1: figure out where extraterrestrial life may exist in the universe, 132 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:28,200 Speaker 1: we're looking for the same type of signals because we 133 00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: look to ourselves as the only model of intelligent life 134 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: in the universe is the only one we have. So 135 00:07:33,040 --> 00:07:37,160 Speaker 1: therefore the simplest equation to follow is that what exists 136 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 1: here would exist elsewhere if there is anything alive elsewhere. 137 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:44,160 Speaker 1: So we look for that same level of fossil fuel 138 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:49,200 Speaker 1: consumption of energy, uh, energy consumption and energy output. Yeah, 139 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 1: so it looks so So think about those satellite photos 140 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:54,560 Speaker 1: and think about the fossil fuel combustion and the beautiful 141 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 1: sort of fireworks display of light throughout the world that 142 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:01,120 Speaker 1: actually has real time signatures in the Earth settlement, and 143 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:03,120 Speaker 1: that's we're gonna talk about today. We're gonna talk about 144 00:08:03,160 --> 00:08:06,040 Speaker 1: this idea again that we are now in the age 145 00:08:06,120 --> 00:08:09,760 Speaker 1: of man. And if you doubt this, there's a statistic 146 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:11,560 Speaker 1: out there that says that there will be a million 147 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:15,240 Speaker 1: person city built every ten days over the next eighty 148 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:18,200 Speaker 1: seven years. So you have to start to think about 149 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: the implications of that. And we discussed in the Ortivisian 150 00:08:21,800 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 1: podcast this idea that when when you live on the 151 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 1: earth here, you just continue to build up layers and 152 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 1: layers of sediment. So now we are building up these 153 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:33,720 Speaker 1: layers of human sediment. Yeah. To see, it's just a 154 00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:36,280 Speaker 1: simple example of that. If you've we've mentioned London in 155 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:38,640 Speaker 1: the past and how London has all these various levels 156 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:41,600 Speaker 1: of Like walking down one street in London, a particularly 157 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:44,280 Speaker 1: long street in London, you encounter bits of architecture from 158 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:47,440 Speaker 1: throughout that city's history, and if you take down into 159 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:50,400 Speaker 1: the earth, you'll travel down through the layers of history 160 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:52,480 Speaker 1: for this one city. The same way that we look 161 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:56,240 Speaker 1: at geologic time, and we're trying to figure out exactly 162 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 1: how future analysis of geologic time will look at this 163 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:02,480 Speaker 1: age of humans. Yeah, so we should probably talk about 164 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:05,440 Speaker 1: the Holascene period, because this is what we have identified 165 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:08,480 Speaker 1: the period that we are in up until about I 166 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:11,800 Speaker 1: guess the nineties, when this idea of antipascene came onto 167 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: the scene. Here. Ye, so Earth was emerging from an 168 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:15,880 Speaker 1: ice age, So we had the end of a period 169 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 1: of of cold entering a period of a summer, if 170 00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 1: you will, a very long summer in which humans yea. 171 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: So we have about something what twelve thousand years now 172 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:32,400 Speaker 1: in this Holocene period. And uh, some scientists will say 173 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:35,839 Speaker 1: that they think that this era ended and they think 174 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:38,360 Speaker 1: they can pinpoint it to about two hundred years ago 175 00:09:38,600 --> 00:09:41,599 Speaker 1: with the advent of the steam engine. And this is 176 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:43,959 Speaker 1: according to Ken called the Ara. He is a climate 177 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,600 Speaker 1: scientist at the Carnegie Institute of Science in California. He 178 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:52,199 Speaker 1: says that steam engines allowed the extraction and transportation of coal, 179 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:56,360 Speaker 1: which ushered in the Industrial age. So previous to this development, 180 00:09:56,400 --> 00:10:00,000 Speaker 1: it would take huge acts of nature to drastically all 181 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:04,520 Speaker 1: to the earth settlement. Yeah, you really can't overstate the 182 00:10:04,559 --> 00:10:08,840 Speaker 1: importance of steam power for human civilization. It affected our 183 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:11,800 Speaker 1: ability to travel around the world. It affected our ability, 184 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:14,720 Speaker 1: like you said, to change the landscape around us. It 185 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:18,080 Speaker 1: affected our ability to grow things, It souped up our 186 00:10:18,120 --> 00:10:21,079 Speaker 1: ability to depend on agriculture, It changed our ability to 187 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 1: wage war on each other. I mean it really a 188 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:26,560 Speaker 1: manufacturing and affect every level of of human society and 189 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:28,880 Speaker 1: human culture. That's right. If you had to choose one 190 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:31,439 Speaker 1: thing that you would say hinged on that that changed 191 00:10:31,559 --> 00:10:33,839 Speaker 1: technology for better or words going forward, I guess you 192 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:36,959 Speaker 1: could point to the steam engine. And uh, I actually 193 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:40,000 Speaker 1: wrote an article on how Stuff Works about the steam technology. 194 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:44,360 Speaker 1: So put steam technology, steam power into how stuff works 195 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:46,559 Speaker 1: dot com search bar and you find out what I 196 00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:48,959 Speaker 1: can feel is a pretty good article that goes through 197 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:51,640 Speaker 1: the history of it and how it really changed the 198 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:53,920 Speaker 1: world as we know it. Yeah, and if you doubt this, 199 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:58,480 Speaker 1: um consider that there has been data retreat from glacial 200 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:00,880 Speaker 1: ice cores and it shows the big of a growth 201 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:04,640 Speaker 1: in the atmosphere at concentrations of several greenhouse gases, in 202 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:07,880 Speaker 1: particular c O two and c H four, And the 203 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:11,600 Speaker 1: data coincides with James Watt's invention of the steam engine 204 00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 1: in seventy four. So that's just one human marker of 205 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:18,680 Speaker 1: these sort of ways that we have scarred or shaped 206 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:22,200 Speaker 1: the earth. Think about fiber optics, lining in the ocean floors, 207 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:27,600 Speaker 1: manufactured materials like aluminum and steel. Essentially these are new 208 00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:30,600 Speaker 1: this is a new layer of human made strata. Yeah, 209 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:34,880 Speaker 1: it's estimated by at least eight three of the earth 210 00:11:35,240 --> 00:11:38,839 Speaker 1: verse land surface had been directly affected by humans. That's 211 00:11:38,880 --> 00:11:42,719 Speaker 1: everything from cutting down a forest and planning a bunch 212 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:46,280 Speaker 1: of crops, to erecting a city, to turning what was 213 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:49,960 Speaker 1: formerly a grassland and into asphalt, to laying down cables 214 00:11:49,960 --> 00:11:53,520 Speaker 1: to running power lines across the wilderness and the meaning 215 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:58,959 Speaker 1: name of the world pretty significant, right and the earth 216 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:02,160 Speaker 1: land right, but still you still have some significant changes 217 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:04,559 Speaker 1: going on underneath the water as well. And then again 218 00:12:04,600 --> 00:12:08,840 Speaker 1: these are sedimentary and geochemical signals that are exactly the 219 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 1: kind that geologists used to mark where one period of 220 00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:16,240 Speaker 1: Earth history ends and another begins. And in the BBC 221 00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:21,240 Speaker 1: program The Age We Made, geologist gen Zala Suits actually 222 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:24,280 Speaker 1: shows a reporter where a railway cutting exposed a clear 223 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:27,320 Speaker 1: line in rocks made one dred and eighty million years 224 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:31,480 Speaker 1: ago and this um actually mark the Torracian extinction event 225 00:12:31,559 --> 00:12:34,640 Speaker 1: in the early Jurassic when dinosaurs is beginning to dominate. 226 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:39,440 Speaker 1: And Zala Suit says that in a similar way, we 227 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:42,679 Speaker 1: will see clear marks in the rocks that will show 228 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:47,720 Speaker 1: us where one one age was divided into another and 229 00:12:47,720 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: and where you can see the human handprint on the earth. Um. 230 00:12:52,120 --> 00:12:54,320 Speaker 1: He's saying that the rocks of the ant Passyne would 231 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:59,000 Speaker 1: show an accumulation of novel chemicals like artificial PCBs, among 232 00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:01,440 Speaker 1: many other things. Yeah. I mean that it's an important 233 00:13:01,440 --> 00:13:04,240 Speaker 1: thing to mention. We're chemically altering the world as well. 234 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:06,520 Speaker 1: It's not just we took a bunch of stone and 235 00:13:06,559 --> 00:13:09,000 Speaker 1: a bunch of metals and we built a city out 236 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 1: of it, or that we live up the night. Uh. Chemically, 237 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:15,640 Speaker 1: we're changing what the earth is. Yeah. And before we 238 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:18,320 Speaker 1: talk about how we we've changed the earth chemistry, let's 239 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: talk about humans as a force of nature. We talked 240 00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:25,080 Speaker 1: about this idea of sediment being moved around, but again 241 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:28,120 Speaker 1: it wasn't you know, previous to humans, it was really 242 00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:33,559 Speaker 1: ice ages, supervolcanoes, um, huge events that changed the landscape, 243 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:37,800 Speaker 1: mass extinctions of animals. You know. Again, this was something 244 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:41,240 Speaker 1: that we attributed to nature in the past. But now 245 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:44,520 Speaker 1: again with sediment changes, here is a very clear picture 246 00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:48,120 Speaker 1: of how we are the largest force in the movement 247 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:51,319 Speaker 1: of sediment on our planet, and that is compared with 248 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:54,280 Speaker 1: what's moved by ice, wind and rivers. And this is 249 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:57,000 Speaker 1: according to James Vitski, he's an earth scientist at the 250 00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:01,040 Speaker 1: University of Colorado, Boulder. He says that that rivers carry 251 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:04,120 Speaker 1: thirteen billion tons of settlement to the ocean, and we 252 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:07,720 Speaker 1: now mine eight to nine billion tons of coal, and 253 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:11,160 Speaker 1: that by thirty's predicted that we will reach thirteen billion 254 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:14,480 Speaker 1: tons of coal mining. And that does not include aggregate 255 00:14:14,559 --> 00:14:19,000 Speaker 1: materials like gravel and sand, which is another thirteen billion tons. 256 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:25,040 Speaker 1: Hydraulic cement and iron ore both each another two billion tons. Yeah. 257 00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:28,360 Speaker 1: On the point about water, as of two thousand and five, 258 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:31,600 Speaker 1: humans had built so many damns, then nearly six times 259 00:14:31,600 --> 00:14:34,320 Speaker 1: as much water was held in storage as flowed freely 260 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:36,840 Speaker 1: in rivers, right, And this is important because again you 261 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:39,960 Speaker 1: don't want necessarily your rivers to overflow into your cities, 262 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 1: and that's why we try to control it. But it 263 00:14:42,280 --> 00:14:45,120 Speaker 1: is another example of how we are sculpting the earth 264 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:47,800 Speaker 1: and changing it to meet our needs. And you cannot 265 00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:50,880 Speaker 1: deny that there there is the hampret of humanity on 266 00:14:51,080 --> 00:14:53,360 Speaker 1: the earth now, right, I mean, it's it's kind of 267 00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 1: the idea of a damned river like that is what 268 00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:58,880 Speaker 1: we have done to the planet. The planet itself as 269 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:01,720 Speaker 1: a damned river with the natural flow of things, has 270 00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:04,120 Speaker 1: been messed with so that we can get something we 271 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:07,720 Speaker 1: want out of it, damned and not damned. Right. Yeah, 272 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:11,720 Speaker 1: and then we've got agriculture. We produce food for the 273 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:14,800 Speaker 1: seven billion of us, and that's the earth surface that's 274 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 1: used for production of crops and pastures. And this doesn't 275 00:15:18,400 --> 00:15:21,040 Speaker 1: actually take into account how the land around it is 276 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 1: also influenced by agriculture, whether it's runoff um or the 277 00:15:25,160 --> 00:15:28,280 Speaker 1: chemical trace of synthetic nitrogen. So again, think back to 278 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:31,960 Speaker 1: that example of the mathoths. Without the mammoths, forests sprang 279 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:35,840 Speaker 1: up and change the atmosphere. Eventually humans get around to 280 00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: knocking down a lot of those forests so that they 281 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:40,920 Speaker 1: can grow crops, and this is also going to have 282 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:44,080 Speaker 1: a huge effect on the atmosphere. Yeah. And I had 283 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:46,600 Speaker 1: read somewhere that the reason why some of this is 284 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 1: hard to get our heads around is because we have 285 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:52,040 Speaker 1: abstracted so many of what, so much of what we 286 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:55,800 Speaker 1: do and how we see ourselves apart from animals um 287 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:58,000 Speaker 1: that we no longer see ourselves as animals. And this 288 00:15:58,160 --> 00:16:00,480 Speaker 1: is just something that is an indirect pros says, Yes, 289 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:03,520 Speaker 1: we build cities, we build homes. Oh, by the way, 290 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:07,680 Speaker 1: you know, we're taking away the habitats of certain creatures 291 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:10,280 Speaker 1: and it's just leading to extinction. Well, and then I 292 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:12,760 Speaker 1: to a certain extent, I feel like people also look 293 00:16:12,840 --> 00:16:15,040 Speaker 1: to animal models and they're like, well, a bird has 294 00:16:15,080 --> 00:16:18,360 Speaker 1: a nest um, an it's built a colony. These are 295 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:21,720 Speaker 1: all just versions of what we are doing. But you 296 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:24,720 Speaker 1: don't see in the animal world. You don't see it 297 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:26,760 Speaker 1: too to thee the extent that we carry it out, 298 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:30,400 Speaker 1: to the extent that it is, it is changing the planet. 299 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:34,400 Speaker 1: I mean about it really about the only the only 300 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:36,120 Speaker 1: things that as far as life goes when when you 301 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:40,160 Speaker 1: look back through a lot of time, see early emergence 302 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:43,360 Speaker 1: of organisms that changes the atmosphere, that that contributes to 303 00:16:43,400 --> 00:16:46,320 Speaker 1: a huge change in the atmosphere. And then you also 304 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:49,600 Speaker 1: see as vegetation takes hold that also has an atmospheric 305 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:51,880 Speaker 1: effect and also cuts down on the weathering that can 306 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:54,360 Speaker 1: take place on the planet. But outside of a lot 307 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:56,800 Speaker 1: of those early changes like this is this is the 308 00:16:56,840 --> 00:17:00,320 Speaker 1: one like beavers were not changing the lens gape in 309 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:03,240 Speaker 1: a significant way. Leave it to the humans. Right. Yeah, well, 310 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:05,840 Speaker 1: and I'm thinking too, even something like the collapse of 311 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:08,639 Speaker 1: the honeybee colonies, which has been in the news a 312 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 1: lot in the last five or so actually ten years. Um, 313 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:14,680 Speaker 1: this is a great mystery. Now there are some ideas 314 00:17:14,720 --> 00:17:17,639 Speaker 1: about the cause of it, and they're pointing to pesticide, 315 00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 1: saying that this is changing the pesticides are actually changing 316 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:24,000 Speaker 1: the behaviors of honey bees. And we already know that 317 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:27,560 Speaker 1: honeybees are central to the way that our ecosystem plays 318 00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:32,040 Speaker 1: itself out. So again it's it's just problematic because these 319 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:36,040 Speaker 1: are indirect things that are happening. Um, but it's hard 320 00:17:36,080 --> 00:17:38,400 Speaker 1: for us to, i think, get our heads around it 321 00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:41,600 Speaker 1: and see it for the actual damage that is doing 322 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:45,040 Speaker 1: to the land, into the ecosystem. Yeah. I mean to 323 00:17:45,119 --> 00:17:49,280 Speaker 1: say nothing of most of the various invasive species that 324 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:52,160 Speaker 1: we're having to worry about in the world today, A 325 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:54,280 Speaker 1: vast number of those can be laid at the feat 326 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:58,720 Speaker 1: of humans who have either enabled one species to spread 327 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:02,240 Speaker 1: to an area that it previously had no access to, 328 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:06,320 Speaker 1: or changes in the environment or in the or in 329 00:18:06,359 --> 00:18:10,440 Speaker 1: the atmosphere that that caused an animal to change from 330 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:13,600 Speaker 1: one area to another. So well, and see this is 331 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:15,560 Speaker 1: the this is the thing about the in passy, and 332 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:18,080 Speaker 1: that I think that the main point that a lot 333 00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:20,800 Speaker 1: of geologists and scientists are trying to make is that 334 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:24,840 Speaker 1: all of this is being captured. Um. It's being captured 335 00:18:24,880 --> 00:18:29,000 Speaker 1: in sediment, is being captured in chemical markers. So people 336 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:31,719 Speaker 1: will be able to look back and say, okay, there 337 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:34,960 Speaker 1: you know the the amount of pollen wasn't as present 338 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:37,679 Speaker 1: as it was in these areas, and you began to 339 00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:40,600 Speaker 1: make this story for yourself of Okay, there could have 340 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:44,840 Speaker 1: been a collapse with the honeybee uh colonies, or these 341 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:47,120 Speaker 1: animals were in this area when they shouldn't have been, 342 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 1: or they became extinct in this area. So it's not 343 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:52,680 Speaker 1: just the fossil record, it's the chemical signatures. Um. It 344 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:54,560 Speaker 1: should probably take a break, but when we get back, 345 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,760 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about these chemical signatures, how we 346 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:00,320 Speaker 1: are changing the earth chemistry, and I probab ms you 347 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:03,520 Speaker 1: will have a bit of good news in there too. Eventually, 348 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:11,320 Speaker 1: all right, we're back talking about what humans have done 349 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:13,719 Speaker 1: to the planet. And I tell you one one personal 350 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:16,119 Speaker 1: example that I ran into the other week keeps ringing 351 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:19,320 Speaker 1: in my mind. I was at The Desert Museum in 352 00:19:19,359 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 1: Arizona outside of Tucson. Really cool place. It's really not 353 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:25,200 Speaker 1: so much a museum as it is a botanical garden 354 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:27,600 Speaker 1: with animals. Get to see a lot of cool cacti, 355 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:31,720 Speaker 1: other modes of desert vegetation. Get to see really cool 356 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:34,199 Speaker 1: animals like the have alina, various lizards. There was a 357 00:19:34,240 --> 00:19:39,400 Speaker 1: coyote hiding there somewhere. But they also had little prairie dogs. Yeah, yeah, 358 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:41,280 Speaker 1: and they were adorable. We haven't hit them, just as 359 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:43,439 Speaker 1: they were coming out and they were they were looking around, 360 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:45,640 Speaker 1: so we were just really eating it up. They're like, oh, 361 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:48,199 Speaker 1: they're so cute. They're amazing looking how they're watching, you know, 362 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:50,320 Speaker 1: observing the way that that some are watching out for 363 00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:54,680 Speaker 1: hawks overhead and the others are busy feeding or seemingly 364 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:57,800 Speaker 1: snuggling with each other. It was the adorable creatures. Did 365 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:00,119 Speaker 1: they give you giant foam hammers to pump from? No, 366 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:02,520 Speaker 1: they didn't, but but in a way it was like 367 00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:04,720 Speaker 1: a bomb to the head when other tourists showed up, 368 00:20:04,760 --> 00:20:07,000 Speaker 1: because there was one in particular where the only thing 369 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:09,680 Speaker 1: the guy can muster is he he asked, I wonder 370 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:13,040 Speaker 1: what those tastes like? You know, which, which is a 371 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:15,000 Speaker 1: very kind of human thing too. It's like you're you're 372 00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:17,439 Speaker 1: your only way of relating to this animal is to 373 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:19,800 Speaker 1: think what it might taste like and how it compares 374 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:23,160 Speaker 1: to other animals that you eat. I mean, that's that's 375 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: a very narrow way of looking at the world. But 376 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:28,680 Speaker 1: the best though, was another tourist wanders up and it's 377 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,080 Speaker 1: like a father and a sign. And at first I'm like, oh, 378 00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:32,679 Speaker 1: it's a father in the son. They're looking at the 379 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:35,280 Speaker 1: prairie dogs. It's nice that the son, who is apparently 380 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:37,639 Speaker 1: he's older, It got the impression who was in the 381 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:39,960 Speaker 1: National Guard or in the military or something. And he 382 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:43,560 Speaker 1: starts telling his father, how ah, these things they infest everything. 383 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:45,080 Speaker 1: They just all over the base. We have to go 384 00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:46,960 Speaker 1: ahead and kill him at all. And I wanted to 385 00:20:47,080 --> 00:20:49,399 Speaker 1: shake them and say, say, the prairie dogs are not 386 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:52,879 Speaker 1: the creatures infesting things, like the humans are the creatures 387 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:56,240 Speaker 1: that are infesting things. Humans are the invasive species that 388 00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:59,359 Speaker 1: have spread to every continent on the planet and have, 389 00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:03,680 Speaker 1: as we're discussing here, drastically changed most of those continents, 390 00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:06,280 Speaker 1: and that we're working on the last one. Just give 391 00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:10,040 Speaker 1: us time. But I doubt they would have. I would 392 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:12,719 Speaker 1: have probably ruined their vacation. I really wanted to say that, 393 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:17,600 Speaker 1: you know, because it's it's it all tends to wind 394 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:20,000 Speaker 1: up at our feet, you know. Yeah. But then there's 395 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:23,560 Speaker 1: this problem of that's been the dominant philosophy for humans. 396 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:26,800 Speaker 1: I mean, manifest destiny is you know something that that 397 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:29,960 Speaker 1: that arose um when when America is expanding, But that 398 00:21:30,080 --> 00:21:32,879 Speaker 1: is that's a perspective that most humans have taken, is 399 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:35,440 Speaker 1: that we are going to dominate, and we are going 400 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:38,560 Speaker 1: to bend nature to our will and how dare nature 401 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 1: creep upon us? Uh? And we will try to manipulate 402 00:21:43,680 --> 00:21:45,600 Speaker 1: life for us at every single level that we can, 403 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:48,480 Speaker 1: you know, from from d NA to a cloud seating. Yeah, 404 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:51,919 Speaker 1: and its human being. Since we've discussed before, we're notoriously 405 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:56,719 Speaker 1: bad at judging or specifically acting on long term risks. 406 00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:59,920 Speaker 1: And that's just within our own lifetime. That's that come 407 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:03,560 Speaker 1: down to should I study for the exam tonight or 408 00:22:03,560 --> 00:22:05,199 Speaker 1: should I go out and party? And then you end 409 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:07,520 Speaker 1: up going partying instead. But then when you when you 410 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:10,439 Speaker 1: deal with it with much larger periods of time that 411 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:15,080 Speaker 1: span a whole multiple generations, it becomes even harder for 412 00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:16,600 Speaker 1: us to actually act on it, and we end up 413 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:20,480 Speaker 1: again caught in this narrow perception of my life and 414 00:22:20,480 --> 00:22:22,240 Speaker 1: the things around me and the things I need to 415 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:26,399 Speaker 1: maintain this level of goodness. Well also feel like on 416 00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:30,119 Speaker 1: a technological level, we really are only beginning to understand 417 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:34,520 Speaker 1: the impact of what the last seventy eighty years and 418 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:38,679 Speaker 1: technologies have brought to our feet. And I'm thinking in 419 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:43,440 Speaker 1: particular this conundrum of synthetic nitrogen. Yes, because synthetic nitrogen 420 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:46,280 Speaker 1: is something that we were able to begin to harness 421 00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:48,720 Speaker 1: in the nineteen thirties. It was in our atmosphere, we 422 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:52,120 Speaker 1: couldn't quite figure out how to manipulate it for our use. 423 00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:55,040 Speaker 1: And then let me and behold, biochemists figured out how 424 00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:57,480 Speaker 1: nitrogen could be taken out of the atmosphere and break 425 00:22:57,520 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 1: it down with bacteria to create fertilize. Yeah. Particularly, this 426 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:03,359 Speaker 1: is a man by the name of Fritz Haber um 427 00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:06,440 Speaker 1: round nineteen hundred, young MP chemist in Germany. There's an 428 00:23:06,480 --> 00:23:10,080 Speaker 1: excellent radio lab segment titled how do you solve a 429 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:13,960 Speaker 1: problem like Fritz Haber And Uh, It's a fascinating story 430 00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:16,920 Speaker 1: because see, at this point in time, everyone is really 431 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:20,160 Speaker 1: starting to worry about how we're gonna feed these growing populations, 432 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:22,520 Speaker 1: and it continues to be a problem today, but at 433 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:25,000 Speaker 1: the time that it was getting pretty serious. How do 434 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:28,080 Speaker 1: you grow enough food to feed everyone? So Haber happens 435 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,480 Speaker 1: on a solution. Again, he's experimenting, and he makes his 436 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:35,240 Speaker 1: breakthrough about how to pull nitrogen out of the atmosphere, essentially, 437 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:37,560 Speaker 1: to borrow the term from Radio Lab, how do you 438 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 1: turn air into bread? Turn how to turn to basically 439 00:23:40,800 --> 00:23:44,119 Speaker 1: make food out of thin air and enable humanity to 440 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:47,480 Speaker 1: continue all these things that it's doing. And it's of course, 441 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:49,879 Speaker 1: what's the dark side to the friends Haber story, as 442 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:51,639 Speaker 1: as I'll leave Radio Lab to explain it to you, 443 00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:53,760 Speaker 1: is that he ends up having a role in the 444 00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:57,320 Speaker 1: creation of some particularly devastating chemical agents in the Second 445 00:23:57,320 --> 00:23:59,520 Speaker 1: World War. So go go listen to that when you 446 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:02,280 Speaker 1: get a chance. It's dark and insightful. But here's the thing, 447 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:04,359 Speaker 1: and that that that's that's where the conundrum comes in. 448 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:07,520 Speaker 1: You have synthetic nitrogen, harnessing it, you can use it 449 00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:10,359 Speaker 1: for fertilizer, you can grow many more crops, feeding many 450 00:24:10,359 --> 00:24:12,520 Speaker 1: more people. But the problem is is that now it's 451 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:16,920 Speaker 1: being leached into the soil is being leached into um 452 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:19,959 Speaker 1: into the atmosphere, and when you have the combustion of 453 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:25,320 Speaker 1: fossil fuels with atmosphere nitrogen, that produces nitrogen oxides which 454 00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:29,360 Speaker 1: have created basically a global nitrogen cycle which is completely 455 00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:32,919 Speaker 1: controlled by the human species. And this if if you 456 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:36,040 Speaker 1: doubt the hand of man on the world and it's markers, 457 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:38,280 Speaker 1: you can look directly to this to say that we 458 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:43,359 Speaker 1: are a force of nature ourselves when we can control 459 00:24:44,000 --> 00:24:47,560 Speaker 1: the nitrogen cycle on our planet. Yeah, we Again, we're 460 00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:50,600 Speaker 1: not just building things out of other things. We're altering 461 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:53,480 Speaker 1: the system itself, and it's and it's pretty terrifying when 462 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:55,760 Speaker 1: you start thinking of it in those terms. So then 463 00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:58,199 Speaker 1: you have this problem of reactive nitrogen washing into the 464 00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:02,360 Speaker 1: oceans and causing coastal dead zones. Even the most remote 465 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,800 Speaker 1: areas of the world have isotopic markers in the layers 466 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:09,000 Speaker 1: of sediments in places like the Arctic pointing to increased 467 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:12,359 Speaker 1: amounts of human engineered nitrogen. So again, we've got the 468 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,280 Speaker 1: record here for for all to see in ten thousand 469 00:25:15,400 --> 00:25:17,119 Speaker 1: years from now at least, So what can we do 470 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:20,200 Speaker 1: about it? What can we actually do at this point? 471 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:22,359 Speaker 1: And again, the big thing here. It's kind of like 472 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:25,720 Speaker 1: building bases on the Moon, or exploring other planets, or 473 00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:29,359 Speaker 1: any any substantial human achievement. We've got to actually want 474 00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:31,600 Speaker 1: to do it and have there There has to be 475 00:25:31,640 --> 00:25:34,920 Speaker 1: the political will to get it done. But what could 476 00:25:34,920 --> 00:25:38,159 Speaker 1: we do if we wanted to do something? Well, I mean, 477 00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:40,119 Speaker 1: we have a couple of things up our sleeves, but 478 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:42,240 Speaker 1: I think one of the main things is that we 479 00:25:42,320 --> 00:25:45,240 Speaker 1: have to have a perspective change and um And I 480 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,320 Speaker 1: think this is why some people are pushing for the 481 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:52,159 Speaker 1: adoption of this antipathying term, because they're saying that once 482 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:55,280 Speaker 1: you say, yes, this is the age of man, then 483 00:25:55,280 --> 00:25:58,639 Speaker 1: people will become more responsible when they realize that on 484 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:02,120 Speaker 1: the geologic time scale all that they are now responsible 485 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:04,840 Speaker 1: for the changes made to Earth. It's not just oops, 486 00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:08,320 Speaker 1: we did this and this happened. Um And I'm thinking 487 00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:10,920 Speaker 1: too that that this is not just the long view, 488 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:14,840 Speaker 1: but as more and more technologies come online and people 489 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:18,399 Speaker 1: like Aubrey de Gray, the bio gerontologists, she says that 490 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:21,240 Speaker 1: we could live to a thousand years. He says that 491 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:23,679 Speaker 1: the first person to reach the age of five has 492 00:26:23,720 --> 00:26:27,920 Speaker 1: already been born, who can be maintained like a classic car, 493 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:30,840 Speaker 1: so to speak, with all the different technologies. But this 494 00:26:30,920 --> 00:26:35,359 Speaker 1: is coming online and that people will naturally begin, hopefully 495 00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:40,240 Speaker 1: to adopt this long view perspective. And right now, you know, 496 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:42,879 Speaker 1: we sort of quibble about, well, this is very expensive 497 00:26:42,920 --> 00:26:46,760 Speaker 1: to bring in this technology that helps um for you know, 498 00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 1: to ameliorate some of the problems that we have. But 499 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:51,720 Speaker 1: the fact of the matter is that we do have 500 00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:56,280 Speaker 1: bioadaptive technologies that could render waste really a thing of 501 00:26:56,280 --> 00:26:59,440 Speaker 1: the past. It reminds me of the movie The Mission, 502 00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:02,080 Speaker 1: if you've seen this with Jeremy Irons and Robert de Niro. 503 00:27:02,680 --> 00:27:04,880 Speaker 1: At the very end of it, there's a character who 504 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:07,200 Speaker 1: is having to come to terms with some arguably bad 505 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:10,159 Speaker 1: decisions that he made that had some some horrible repercussions, 506 00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:12,800 Speaker 1: and another character says to him, well, thus is the world, 507 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:15,199 Speaker 1: as if to say, hey, this is the world. We 508 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:17,600 Speaker 1: just have to live in it. Sometimes you've got to 509 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,600 Speaker 1: do bad stuff to live in this world. And he responds, no, 510 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:22,959 Speaker 1: thus thus is the world? Thus have I made it? 511 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:26,560 Speaker 1: Saying that the world that we're making excuses for is 512 00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:30,280 Speaker 1: a world that we have increasingly created through our own mistakes, 513 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:33,440 Speaker 1: wrongdoings and this attitude of of living in a world 514 00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:35,880 Speaker 1: where the rules are already set well, and I think 515 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:38,680 Speaker 1: largely we have lived that way. But again, I think 516 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:40,840 Speaker 1: that we're beginning to get it beat on what happens 517 00:27:41,000 --> 00:27:44,840 Speaker 1: with technology over a hundred year period. And I think 518 00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,720 Speaker 1: that to me, the most amazing part of this story, 519 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:52,080 Speaker 1: and perhaps the most uplifting if we can use this 520 00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:54,840 Speaker 1: information right, is that over the last two hundred years, 521 00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:58,960 Speaker 1: we have vastly changed the climates. Um, we've vastly changed 522 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:01,840 Speaker 1: the way our our world looks and it's sculpted. We 523 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:04,119 Speaker 1: could do the very same thing, but in ways that 524 00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:07,520 Speaker 1: we're intentional and that made sense for the long haul. Yeah, 525 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:08,960 Speaker 1: and there are a lot of people working on this. 526 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,560 Speaker 1: There are some fantastic designs just coming out all the time. 527 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:14,400 Speaker 1: We we feature a lot of them on the Facebook 528 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:16,479 Speaker 1: page and the Twitter. You know, it'll be this kind 529 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,119 Speaker 1: of design for a for an ecologically sound city or 530 00:28:19,119 --> 00:28:23,720 Speaker 1: an ecologically sound household. Countless new technologies are always being 531 00:28:23,800 --> 00:28:27,240 Speaker 1: dreamed up, if not actually developed. It's just to what 532 00:28:27,320 --> 00:28:29,760 Speaker 1: extent are we willing to actually invest in them and 533 00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:32,679 Speaker 1: make make the jump Well, and um, I mean there 534 00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:36,399 Speaker 1: are ideas like compossible cars and gadgets, um, And really 535 00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:40,160 Speaker 1: what we need to look toward is and we've talked 536 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:43,080 Speaker 1: about this number many, many times, but this has been 537 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:45,360 Speaker 1: This is the year that we will reach about nine 538 00:28:45,360 --> 00:28:48,320 Speaker 1: and a half billion inhabitants. And of course, where are 539 00:28:48,320 --> 00:28:49,560 Speaker 1: we going to get the food, Where are we going 540 00:28:49,560 --> 00:28:51,720 Speaker 1: to get the space? So we need to think about 541 00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 1: innovations that are tailored to the needs of the poorest 542 00:28:54,840 --> 00:28:59,400 Speaker 1: and new plant varieties that can withstand climates that are harsh. 543 00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:03,320 Speaker 1: We need to about technologies to recycle phosphorus. Then now, 544 00:29:03,320 --> 00:29:05,080 Speaker 1: of course when you talk about new plants, you're talking 545 00:29:05,120 --> 00:29:10,200 Speaker 1: about genetically modified organisms. So it's give and take, right. Yeah, 546 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:11,760 Speaker 1: It's kind of like the bathtub. It's like a little 547 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:14,280 Speaker 1: more hot water because the bath too cold, a little 548 00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:16,920 Speaker 1: more cold water because the bath is too hot, and 549 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:20,800 Speaker 1: then at what point does the water simply overflow? Well, 550 00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:23,080 Speaker 1: the thing is is that we we are a self 551 00:29:23,120 --> 00:29:26,440 Speaker 1: aggrandizing species, right, And this is where I think this 552 00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:28,760 Speaker 1: works to our advantage, because if we really want to 553 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:31,880 Speaker 1: have an age of man and own this and uh 554 00:29:32,000 --> 00:29:35,440 Speaker 1: and be within the fossil record or the geological time 555 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:37,240 Speaker 1: scale and say this is the age of man, we 556 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:42,320 Speaker 1: actually have to exist for a lot longer um. You know, 557 00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:46,280 Speaker 1: these periods are quite long. So if we begin, if 558 00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:48,440 Speaker 1: we go at the rate that we are, and we 559 00:29:48,440 --> 00:29:51,520 Speaker 1: were to use up um a lot of the resources 560 00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:54,520 Speaker 1: of Earth and make it not so that it's not 561 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:57,760 Speaker 1: very habitable, especially with so many people coming online in 562 00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:02,400 Speaker 1: the year, then we may not have this. It may 563 00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:04,160 Speaker 1: not even be able to point to this because we 564 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:06,080 Speaker 1: may not be alive. I mean, ultimately, do you want 565 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:07,120 Speaker 1: it to be the age of man or do you 566 00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:11,160 Speaker 1: want it to be the human event? This is near 567 00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:15,480 Speaker 1: blip in geologic time in which humans arrived on the scene, 568 00:30:16,120 --> 00:30:19,160 Speaker 1: changed the world around them, and then brought about their 569 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:22,360 Speaker 1: own extinction and pretty quick succession. Right would it be 570 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:24,320 Speaker 1: lovely if ten tho years from now someone could point 571 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:26,600 Speaker 1: to this age and say, ah, here's this crazy stuff 572 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:28,000 Speaker 1: that they were creating in the air, and then you 573 00:30:28,000 --> 00:30:30,160 Speaker 1: can see all this other evidence in which they began 574 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:33,920 Speaker 1: to sort of tinker with that and and create substances 575 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:37,800 Speaker 1: that worked better with the natural world. So there is 576 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:42,400 Speaker 1: hope if we want it, um. But but there there's 577 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:45,920 Speaker 1: a lot of serious stuff on the table that we 578 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:48,360 Speaker 1: need to think about. Really and again we need to 579 00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:50,640 Speaker 1: I do believe we need to start thinking about it 580 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,200 Speaker 1: as the age of man, as not this not an 581 00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:56,640 Speaker 1: age in which we live, but an age of us 582 00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:00,600 Speaker 1: that we are dictating, and so we need to we 583 00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:02,720 Speaker 1: need to step up and and make some changes. This 584 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:06,480 Speaker 1: is the tough love talk. There's a great quote in 585 00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:09,520 Speaker 1: Daniel Quinn's Ishmael which, if any if you're interested in 586 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:12,920 Speaker 1: any of these topics, I highly recommend reading that novel. 587 00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:16,360 Speaker 1: He makes a really strong philosophical argument for most of this, 588 00:31:16,440 --> 00:31:18,840 Speaker 1: and I believe this book arises from pretty much the 589 00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:21,880 Speaker 1: same period as the as the idea that this age 590 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:25,200 Speaker 1: of man exists. Yeah, actually, I mean mentioned to you 591 00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:28,080 Speaker 1: that age of Man was put forward by Paul J. 592 00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:31,520 Speaker 1: Krutzen and Christian schwad Role and this was in the 593 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:37,040 Speaker 1: early so so roughly there. But the Daniel quint Quinn 594 00:31:37,160 --> 00:31:40,920 Speaker 1: quote goes as follows, Man's destiny was to conquer and 595 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:43,800 Speaker 1: rule the world, and this is what he's done. Almost 596 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:46,240 Speaker 1: he hasn't quite made it, and it looks as though 597 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:49,280 Speaker 1: this may be his undoing. The problem is that man's 598 00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:52,840 Speaker 1: conquest of the world has itself devastated the world. And 599 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:55,640 Speaker 1: in spite of all the mastery we've obtained. We don't 600 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:58,800 Speaker 1: have enough mastery to stop devastating the world or to 601 00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:02,320 Speaker 1: repair the devastations, and we've already wrought. So there you go. 602 00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:05,520 Speaker 1: We need the long view people. Yeah, so it's it 603 00:32:05,560 --> 00:32:08,280 Speaker 1: can be a bit when I read Ishmael, it's kind 604 00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:10,400 Speaker 1: of a harrowing, depressing read because it deals a lot 605 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:13,200 Speaker 1: with what we are, what we've done, and what we 606 00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:15,760 Speaker 1: might not have the will to do. But like all 607 00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:18,320 Speaker 1: of it, humans are capable of so much. I mean, 608 00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:21,000 Speaker 1: just look at what we've done to the earth. It's 609 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:23,920 Speaker 1: most of it we've looked at in a very negative 610 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:26,440 Speaker 1: light here, but it's still a tremendous amount of change. 611 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:29,520 Speaker 1: Imagine if we're able to work that back in another direction. Well, 612 00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:32,160 Speaker 1: and imagine again too, if if you do live to 613 00:32:32,200 --> 00:32:35,120 Speaker 1: be five or someone listening, well, perhaps you're the first 614 00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:37,880 Speaker 1: person that lived to be five years old. I feel 615 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:43,640 Speaker 1: that that our behaviors would change with that sort of longevity. Yeah, 616 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:48,360 Speaker 1: so if you're listening, future five year old person, you 617 00:32:48,400 --> 00:32:51,160 Speaker 1: know what to do. All right, Well, let's call over 618 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:52,880 Speaker 1: the robe it here and see if you can liven 619 00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:57,080 Speaker 1: things up with a little listener mail. All right, we 620 00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:00,120 Speaker 1: heard from Adam Adam of course is the chief been 621 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:03,040 Speaker 1: this officer from having this pledge dot com travels around 622 00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:06,440 Speaker 1: the world doing good and uh we get to live 623 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:10,960 Speaker 1: vicariously through his uh missives to us. School hats that time, 624 00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:13,560 Speaker 1: I know, and it's cold enough for me you to 625 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:16,560 Speaker 1: begin wearing mine. I'm very excited. But he wrote in 626 00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:19,840 Speaker 1: about our maps episodes and he says, Hi, guys, as 627 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:22,280 Speaker 1: you can imagine, maps are a daily part of my existence. 628 00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:24,440 Speaker 1: Being on the road, I've had to read more than 629 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:26,880 Speaker 1: my fair share, and they range from good to horrible, 630 00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:29,360 Speaker 1: usually depending on the level of infrastructure in the city. 631 00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:32,280 Speaker 1: I'm in Catman Doo, Nepal at the moment, and you 632 00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:34,320 Speaker 1: can see on the attached pictures that there are no 633 00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:38,640 Speaker 1: street names on the map. Thus all maps have schools, hospitals, hotels, restaurants, 634 00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:41,120 Speaker 1: and other landmarks so you can navigate your way around. 635 00:33:41,440 --> 00:33:43,160 Speaker 1: I think Robert has mentioned on the show that he's 636 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:46,800 Speaker 1: been to Costa Rica. Throughout Central America, there aren't really addresses. 637 00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:49,200 Speaker 1: I remember trying to find a bus company's ticketing offices 638 00:33:49,360 --> 00:33:52,160 Speaker 1: which listed its addressed as quote, two hundred meters south 639 00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:54,360 Speaker 1: of the high school, a hundred meters west of the church, 640 00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:57,920 Speaker 1: a good sense of direction is necessary or command of 641 00:33:57,960 --> 00:34:01,480 Speaker 1: Spanish to just ask locals, which what I inevitably always did. 642 00:34:01,920 --> 00:34:04,400 Speaker 1: As for the reading the maps of places before going, 643 00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:06,080 Speaker 1: I say it's the best. It's best to go and 644 00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:08,440 Speaker 1: experience everything when you get there. Thanks again for the 645 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:12,520 Speaker 1: great podcast, and take care. Indeed, in Costa Rica, that 646 00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:15,120 Speaker 1: was the one thing I definitely remember. They're talking about 647 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:17,719 Speaker 1: how the maps really don't work, and a lot of 648 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:21,640 Speaker 1: it ends up depending on landmarks, but not only current landmarks, 649 00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:24,920 Speaker 1: but the landmarks that haven't necessarily existed in like a 650 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:26,920 Speaker 1: decade or so. Like one of the big ones was like, 651 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:29,920 Speaker 1: there's a Coca Cola bottling plant, I believe in the 652 00:34:29,960 --> 00:34:34,040 Speaker 1: capital of Costa Rica, and that was still used as 653 00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:36,319 Speaker 1: a reference point as a landmark even though it's no 654 00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:38,919 Speaker 1: longer there. Let's see. That's what I think. It's really 655 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:42,200 Speaker 1: charming about Costa Rica. Yeah, yeah, because I don't know. 656 00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:45,120 Speaker 1: I love I love that it's time doesn't necessarily exist there, 657 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:49,200 Speaker 1: nor do good roads. That's the roads are pretty autricious, 658 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:52,799 Speaker 1: especially the ones going up to Monteverde. But but I've 659 00:34:52,800 --> 00:34:54,960 Speaker 1: heard the argument that the reason that those roads haven't 660 00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:57,560 Speaker 1: been improved because if you get a nice road going 661 00:34:57,600 --> 00:35:00,080 Speaker 1: up to Monte Verde. Then how long before you have 662 00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:02,360 Speaker 1: a casino in Monteverdi? How long do you have to 663 00:35:03,160 --> 00:35:06,200 Speaker 1: the whole the very beauty of the place that everyone likes. 664 00:35:06,239 --> 00:35:09,400 Speaker 1: It is kind of this mountain, kind of hippie, a 665 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:12,600 Speaker 1: lot of expatriots living there, Quakers. It's a really magical 666 00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:15,879 Speaker 1: place and I read everyone to go. But the road 667 00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:18,920 Speaker 1: up there is terrifying, but perhaps for a reason, and 668 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:22,160 Speaker 1: that would be no good for sloths rights. Yeah, they 669 00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:26,000 Speaker 1: hate casino because they're just they're too slow on the one. 670 00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:28,000 Speaker 1: I know, I know, I wants to get behind a 671 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:33,360 Speaker 1: sloth at a casino. All right, Well, if you have 672 00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:35,920 Speaker 1: anything you would like to share with us about your travels, 673 00:35:35,920 --> 00:35:39,960 Speaker 1: about maps or on the heels of this episode, about 674 00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:43,759 Speaker 1: humanity's impact on the on the world and what we 675 00:35:43,800 --> 00:35:45,680 Speaker 1: need to do going forward, if we were really to 676 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:47,879 Speaker 1: own this idea that this is the age of man, 677 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:51,480 Speaker 1: that we're living in a world that is sculpted from 678 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:55,920 Speaker 1: our selfish desires, let us know. You can write us 679 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:59,160 Speaker 1: through various methods. You can find us on Tumblr, where 680 00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:01,040 Speaker 1: we are stuffed to bow your mind. You can find 681 00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:02,960 Speaker 1: us on Facebook, where again we are stuff to blow 682 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:05,919 Speaker 1: your mind, and on Twitter we use the handle blow 683 00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:08,520 Speaker 1: the Mind, and you can also drop us a line 684 00:36:08,600 --> 00:36:17,799 Speaker 1: at blow the Mind at discovery dot com. For more 685 00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:20,120 Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics, Is It How 686 00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:25,720 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com