WEBVTT - Listener Mail VI: The Listener Mailbox of Babel 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:05.880 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:14.400 Works dot com. Hey you wasn't just stuff to blow 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:16.480 your mind. My name is Robert Lamb, and I am 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:20.119 Christian Sager, and I'm Joe McCormick, and today we bring 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:23.720 you yet another listener mail episode. In this case, we've 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:27.360 been combing through and what seems like an infinite library 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:30.680 of listener mail. That's nice, going back to your guys 0:00:31.000 --> 0:00:35.040 Library of Babbel episode. Yes, our inbox contains not only 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.360 all listener feedback, but all possible listener feedback, from the 0:00:38.520 --> 0:00:42.120 positive to the negative, from the sensical to the nonsensical. Uh. 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:43.959 Sometimes it does feel like that we get a ton 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:46.560 of listener mail, but I must say that we also 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:50.959 it's it's basically Crimson Hexagon stuff, and that it's almost 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:53.519 all really good stuff. I would say we we we 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:57.400 hear a lot of great feedback from y'all out there, 0:00:57.520 --> 0:00:59.800 and so we have to say, as always, we get 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.520 uns of mail. If if what you sent us was 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:05.000 not included, please don't take that as a slight. We 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:07.399 we love reading whatever you get to send us, and 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:09.200 we like to respond when we get time, but we 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:12.280 often don't. But we're going to pick a few today. 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:14.920 We won't be able to go through the whole barrel, 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:17.479 but maybe we'll be able to not scrape the bottom 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:18.880 of the barrel, but scrape some of the sides of 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:21.840 the barrel near the top. Luckily, we have a fourth 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:24.960 entity here to do any scraping that's necessary. And that's, 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:28.800 of course, our good friend Carney. If the mail. But ah, yeah, hey, Carney, 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:33.920 what's going on? I've noticed that Carney has taken on 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:37.520 what seems to be a somewhat melancholy suicidal aspect since 0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:41.080 we entered this vast library of all possible email. Well, 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:43.679 it's a lot to sort out, even with his his 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:49.800 high processing. Even Carney only has so much ram ram. 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:52.120 Oh why is it funny to talk about ram? Now? 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:54.040 Ram used to be a thing you talk about all 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:59.440 the time, not anymore. All right, Well, on that note, 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:03.320 let's let's let's jump into it. Let's call Carney over. Carney, 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:08.760 will you bring us our first bit of listener mail? Hey, 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:11.840 let's see. Okay, This first one is in response to 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:15.400 the episode that Robert and I did about flying fish, 0:02:15.680 --> 0:02:19.480 jumping fish, flying fish, breaching sharks, sleeping mullets, all the 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:22.760 fish that do the equivalent of us jumping into outer 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:26.720 space momentarily. Uh. So this first one is from Mona 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:30.240 and she if you remember from that episode Robert and I, 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:32.760 we talked about a couple of species of Asian carp. 0:02:32.800 --> 0:02:36.840 They are known for occupying North American river waters, jumping 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:39.040 out of the water when your motor boat goes by, 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:42.400 and in some rare cases breaking your face, yes, or 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:45.080 or worse yes. Yeah, and so, as we discussed, there's 0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:48.919 this Chinese cultural concept of the carp that leaps over 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:52.240 the dragon gate right, literally, a mythical concept that if 0:02:52.280 --> 0:02:55.359 a river carp can leap over a certain waterfall, it's 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:58.000 going to transform into a dragon. So it's a magic 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:00.960 carp turning into jidos. Uh. This is exactly what the 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:06.040 email is about. It had no idea about this, but yeah, 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:09.280 Mona writes to us to say, hello, Robert and Joe. 0:03:09.320 --> 0:03:12.120 I just finished listening to the Leaping Mullets, Flying Fish, 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:14.919 Breaching Sharks episode of the podcast. I just wanted to 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:17.240 give you a fun fact about the Chinese mythology of 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:20.040 the leaping carb turning into a dragon. If either of 0:03:20.080 --> 0:03:23.280 you have played or no of Pokemon, the video game 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:26.400 or the popular TV show. I think that's funny. She 0:03:26.480 --> 0:03:31.200 specifies popular. It's still popular after all these years, is it. Yeah, 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:34.040 people still watched the Pokemon cartoon. Oh yeah, my wife 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:35.880 used to work at cartoon Networking. It's a huge hit 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:38.560 over there, so that's amazing. Yeah, they constantly are putting 0:03:38.560 --> 0:03:41.000 out new seasons of it. Really had no idea they're 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:45.280 making more Pokemon. It's been around since I was in 0:03:45.360 --> 0:03:47.480 my twenties, so it's got to be like what They've 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:49.839 been working on it for probably like almost twenty years, 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:52.760 and that's the thing. It came. It really emerged after 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:56.040 I was out of the main demographic. Yeah. I was 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:59.520 just immature enough to play the video game and watch 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.640 the car a little bit in my twenties, so I 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:05.880 know way more than thirty nine year old man shout 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:08.320 about Pokemon. Okay, well I didn't know this, but anyway, 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:12.160 Mona continues, Uh, if we know about Pokemon, you'd be 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:15.320 aware of a Pokemon called Magic Carp. It has always 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:18.360 confused my friends and I. How this pretty useless fish. 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:20.760 I guess that means not a good fighter. So in 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:23.960 the game, Magic Carp is like the worst possible Pokemon. 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:28.000 It can barely do anything, but if you level it up, okay, 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:30.800 she says, yeah, it ends up evolving into a completely 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:37.840 overpowered dragon type Pokemon. Giara dossise, this Pokemon is actually 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.560 inspired by the said myth that you mentioned in your podcast, 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:43.480 which gives this evolution a lot more since I know 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:46.880 mind blown and and then she says, thanks for making 0:04:46.960 --> 0:04:50.880 quality episodes, regardless of how weird they get. Sometimes love 0:04:50.880 --> 0:04:53.760 each and everyone, my favorites being the X Files episodes 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:57.040 and the Mystery of the myth Fleshed Fossil, looking forward 0:04:57.080 --> 0:04:59.040 to more. Well, thank you so much, Mona. That is 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:02.000 very kind of you to say. And we also got 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:04.480 emails from a couple other listeners on the same topic. 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:06.440 Jeffrey rode in to let us know the same thing 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:08.760 about Magic carp and Jared do Yeah, I had no idea. 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:11.960 Oh man, yeah, I wish I had known. Jaredos was 0:05:12.040 --> 0:05:13.600 like one of my favorites. Like when I would play 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:15.920 the game, I would always get a magic harp and 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:18.479 like keep them in reserve, level them up slowly, and 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:20.839 then once you get geared does it's awesome. Wait a minute, 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:23.160 you said you played the game a little in your twenties. 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:27.680 This sounds like you played a lot. Uh. Yeah, I 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:30.240 had a game Boy and would just play what is it? 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:32.120 Pokemon Gold I think was what it was. And then 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:34.760 my roommates and I got Pokemon Colosseum, which is the 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:36.680 one where you can plug your game Boy into your 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:39.880 Nintendo six or four and fight your Pokemon against one 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:43.520 another on the TV. Oh boy, Yeah, yeah it was great. 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:47.560 That sounds brutal. Okay, it looks like Carton. As my 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:51.479 father in law says, no adult man uh spends time 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:56.839 catching Pokemon. Clearly a false statement. I have to turn 0:05:56.880 --> 0:06:00.000 in my adult man card. Uh. So, as I mentioned, 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:03.560 Carney is holding something out here. What is it? Oh, 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:08.279 he's got one. Uh. That is about cyborgs and trans humanism, 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:11.279 which is something that Robert and I have been weaving 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:14.360 in and out of over the last gosh three months. 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.960 We've done various episodes that tie into this theme. And 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:20.560 this actually came to us in May. I wish we'd 0:06:20.560 --> 0:06:24.320 read it earlier. Uh. And he originally this isn't his 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:26.520 whole letter, but he originally wanted to ask us about 0:06:26.520 --> 0:06:29.239 doing an episode on GMOs based on the organic food 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:31.960 episode that we did, but he tied into the cyborgs 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:34.120 episode that we did, which was the first of I 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:36.120 wanna say like three or four episodes where we talked 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:39.080 about sort of the future of changing the human body. 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:42.719 And he says, in your Cyborgs episode, you touched on 0:06:42.760 --> 0:06:47.040 the ethical quandaries of performing surgical enhancements before a child 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:49.440 is born. I thought you might find it interesting to 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:52.800 know that, in a way, this does already happen. My 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:56.280 son has spina bifida, a birth defect wherein the spinal 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:59.920 column fails to close properly. It leads to permanent parrela 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:03.920 us and often brain damage. He actually underwent surgery before 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:07.200 he was born to repair the defect and minimize the impact. 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:11.400 He still lost some nerves, but probably saved enough nerves 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:13.960 above the knees that he's able to walk, or he'll 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:17.040 be able to walk with braces to make it weirder. 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:21.000 Another benefit of the surgery is reversal of associated hind 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:27.080 brain herniation, which if left unchecked, leads to hydrocephalus and 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:31.280 malformation of the corpus colossum. A downside in my son's 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:35.360 case is that he was born extremely premature twenty six 0:07:35.480 --> 0:07:38.960 weeks two pounds, a significant risk to the surgery and 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:43.080 about ten percent are born early. This caused a stage 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:47.360 four inter ventricular hemorrhage, wiping out most of the left 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:50.520 side of his brain. Young brains can recover from this 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:53.480 to some extent, but science does not yet understand how 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:55.880 exactly it does. This a good lead is the subject 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:59.920 of neuroplasticity and neural reuse. See the book after Phrenology 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:03.080 for a rather technical intro. So my point is by 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:05.960 saving his ability to walk, we also repaired one part 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:08.760 of his brain and damaged another, so in at least 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:12.360 two ways fundamentally changed the architecture of his brain and 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:15.600 the type of person he will become. The surgery was 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:18.640 highly experimental just a few years ago, but is now 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:21.960 considered routine, albeit rare. I think he was number one 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:25.680 fifty to get it since the experimental study ended. In 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:28.600 all the discussion of ethics surrounding the surgery, which is 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:31.440 what Robert and I talked about in the show, mainly 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:35.600 in regards to cyborgs uh and and babies uh and. 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:39.360 There's many conversations about the ethics. The primary concern has 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:42.480 always been ensuring that the benefits outweigh the many risks 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:45.600 involved with opening up a womb, pulling the kid out, 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:49.679 putting him back in again, and closing up. Mom. Jeez, 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:52.839 that sounds horrifying to me, like not being a parent. 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:56.520 That sounds absolutely terrifying to me. The question of whether 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:59.280 it should be done at all versus letting nature ticket 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:02.320 its course ever, really crossed my mind, and to my 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:06.600 admittedly limited knowledge, did not seem prevalent in the medical community. 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:11.360 This may change as laparoscopic versions are perfected, minimizing risks, 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:16.360 and surgery moves from mere repair to potential upgrades. So 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:19.800 that's that's from Keegan. He went a weigh in on that, 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:21.680 and he actually, you know, we we talked a little 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:25.240 bit more over emailing. There's a lot here. Actually I'm 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:27.000 not going to read a whole lot more, but we 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:29.800 had a nice conversation with him, and he's continuing conversation 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:32.240 with us about this. But it's just really interesting to 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:34.800 hear about this real world example where you and I 0:09:35.080 --> 0:09:37.800 based on Oh I can't remember off the top of 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:41.000 my head the name of the um of the theorist 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:44.319 on cyborgs who came up with that idea, but basically 0:09:44.520 --> 0:09:48.560 they were very scenarios in which would it or would 0:09:48.600 --> 0:09:53.520 it not be ethical to transform someone into a cyborg, 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:56.800 and and what does their identity become afterwards? And one 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:58.920 of them was what if you change a child before 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:01.600 it's born. Um, so this was a nice real world 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:04.360 example coming back to that, and with lots of science 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:06.480 in it. I was unaware of any of that. Yeah, 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:10.560 that's fascinating that that. Uh. People think of this as 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:13.840 a purely future concern, right, Like they don't think of right, 0:10:13.880 --> 0:10:16.640 they don't realize that it's happening in present day. Yeah, 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:19.600 I mean, like, I genuinely we did that whole episode. 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:22.520 We've been talking about transhumanism, bio hacking, all this stuff. 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:25.400 I did not realize that you can, as he puts it, 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:29.679 take a baby out of its mother, change it physically, 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:33.920 and then put it back in. That's no pun intended 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:39.160 for the show. Mind blowing. Alright, it looks like we've 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:42.280 another bit of listener mail here. This one comes from 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:47.000 listener raw raw right soon and says, hey, guys, I 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:49.559 thought this was very topical. I enjoyed your recent show 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:52.080 on great flood myths. You may be interested to know 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:56.559 that the latest edition of Science August five, sixteen contains 0:10:56.559 --> 0:10:59.480 an article with evidence supporting a Chinese Great Flood myth 0:11:00.080 --> 0:11:03.240 um was the title of it, and he says the 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:07.400 team used a range of compelling, compelling measurements of sediment 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:11.000 compositions and radiocarbon dating to argue that it was very 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:15.320 plausible there was one of the greatest freshwater floods of 0:11:15.360 --> 0:11:18.400 the Hollo scene in the Yellow River, coinciding with the 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:21.560 transition of the civilization in the region from the Neolithic 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:25.040 to the Bronze Age. In case you're you're interested enough, 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:27.959 I've attached a PDF copy of the paper. Enjoy. Thanks 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:31.160 for the show. Um So, as luck would have it, 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:33.960 we starved receiving a number of different comments about this 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:36.040 because it is very exciting. We had just done this 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:39.280 episode on great flood myths and and then there was 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:43.000 this really cool study that came out out of China, 0:11:43.160 --> 0:11:47.160 and the main professor on this is NN Ginge Normal 0:11:47.240 --> 0:11:53.240 University geology professor woo Ching Long, and it actually actually 0:11:53.679 --> 0:11:55.880 wrote some copy and did a video about it for 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:58.199 Housetuff Works now, which I'll include a link to on 0:11:58.240 --> 0:12:01.520 the landing page for this episode. But as Raw points out, 0:12:01.559 --> 0:12:04.400 it's it's really fascinating because it's uh, I mean, it's 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:09.040 actual supporting evidence for UH for essentially what would have 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:14.719 been um A an earthquake oriented UM damming of the river, 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:18.439 like there's a collapse of of rock uh closes off 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:21.800 a portion of the over Hell River and then floodwaters 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:24.000 build up behind it until they reach a breaking point 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:27.360 and then crashed through with I believe like five hundred 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:31.400 times the normal of uh, you know, flow strength, resulting 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:35.400 in this uh, this flood that is actually very important. 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:37.560 I believe we discussed a little bit about it in 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:40.720 Chinese mythology because it's uh, it has to do with 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:44.160 the rise of You the Great, who's the first emperor 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:48.199 of the Shah dynasty, which is China's first dynasty, predating 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:53.120 the second millennium BC Shan dynasty. So it's uh, it's 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:56.120 a it's a it's a fascinating topic because you see mythology, 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:59.920 you see geology, UM, and history all sort of coming 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:02.480 gather in this one. Yeah. Yeah, which is what we 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:04.000 saw with a lot of that flood stuff. And I 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.400 think the geologists that we spoke about their work on 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:10.840 in that episode there they were probably fascinated by this 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:15.200 paper coming out. Hey, I gotta ask a tangential question, uh, 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:17.920 not related to floods, but related to Chinese myth. Have 0:13:17.960 --> 0:13:21.200 you seen the trailer for this new movie, The Great Wall, Yes, 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:24.760 I have. What are your thoughts on it? Um? Well, 0:13:24.760 --> 0:13:26.560 when I first saw it, I thought, well, that looks 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:28.679 like a bit. I tended to think about it in 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:30.960 terms of, like the business side, like, clearly this is 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:33.680 a like an international production. They're going for a large 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:35.840 Chinese audience as well as the US audience by having 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:38.000 that damon in it. But I didn't really think much 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:39.679 about it beyond that because I'm like, I can't see 0:13:39.720 --> 0:13:42.560 what the monster looks like. I'll decide whether I'm interested 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:44.400 or not when I see a picture of the monster. 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:47.439 But then I I ended up running running across the 0:13:47.880 --> 0:13:52.800 commentary from from actress Constance Wu. Yeah, yeah, of course, 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:55.480 most famous, I think to to our listeners for being 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:58.679 on the sitcom Fresh off the Boat. Yeah, and she 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:02.560 had a lot of you know, start criticisms. I would imagine, Yeah, 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:05.720 that's a particular story. So for our listeners, if you 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:07.960 don't know and Joe, you haven't seen the trailer yet, 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:10.880 it seems the from the trailer, but it looks like 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:13.600 it is a story about why the Great Wall was 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:16.400 built with a fantasy angle to it, that the secret 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:18.160 history of the Great Wall is that they were like 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:22.320 monsters or dragons or something like that. That sounds yeah 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:24.960 on the surface, that sounds great, but but Matt Damon 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:28.160 is the hero. Thatt Damon and the guy who plays 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:31.560 uh Um, one of the Dorn guys on Game of Thrones, 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:34.680 are like these like monster killers that they bring in 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:36.960 to help them. So it's been it's like an all 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:41.160 Chinese cast except those two guys who ostensibly saved the day. 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:44.400 I guess that sounds pretty Hollywood. It's a little whitewashy 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:48.680 and problematic, but I can I can absolutely see from 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:50.720 a business perspective why it's made the way it is. 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:54.560 It's it's like Netflix Marco Polo, which I've watched and enjoyed, 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:57.160 but it's like you, it's like you have this uh 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:00.720 this this Western figure at the heart of the drama 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:04.880 to anchor it, you know, Western expectations, and then that 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:10.200 at times that feels really yeah. Yeah, I just I 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:12.720 don't know. When I see stuff like that, it immediately 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:15.160 made me think of our episode on Flood myth and 0:15:15.160 --> 0:15:18.760 how like we're we're building mythology today still with movies 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:23.040 like this, right, but they're just not Instead of explaining 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:25.960 the flood, they're sort of quasi explaining the history of 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:28.200 the Great Wall in a in a fake fantasy way, 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:29.480 you know. I mean that's kind of fun, Like I 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:32.760 don't mind, I don't know that that sci fi revisionist history. 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:37.240 But but in such a way as this, it seems weird. Yeah. Well, 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:41.320 speaking of going back and looking at old myths and 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:44.600 and and reinterpreting them in light of what we know today, 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:47.880 we got a great, just awesome email from our listener 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:52.720 Katie but responding to both the flood episode and Robert 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:56.680 and I are episode on geomethology and monsters. Yeah, we've 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:59.160 been hitting the mythology hard. This is a couple of 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:05.800 core themes over the last few months. Yapology, bioacking fish fish. Yeah, 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:09.840 we have done a number of episodes. You know, we 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:12.600 had a Mara Heart come back on and I didn't 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:16.160 think about that as a theme, but yeah, okay, Well anyway, 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:19.480 Katie writes, quote love your show to pieces, especially the 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:22.680 geo mythology episode. In the last episode about flood myths, 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:25.480 when you guys were talking about the old Norse flood myths. 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:28.640 You were talking about the emir who made all the world, 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:33.520 as you guys say, very metal. Yeah, Yumer is totally brutal. 0:16:34.040 --> 0:16:40.200 There's gotta be some metal band out there named anyway, 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:43.360 Katie continues, there is another mythological flood in old Norse 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:48.160 mythology that comes from the poem vols Bo, And she says, 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:50.400 vols Bo is a poem found in the poetic Edda, 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:54.359 wherein you get everything about Norse mythology. For some context, 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:58.040 the volvar where the female soothsayers, and the poem, which 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:01.200 translates to the seeing of the year, is meant to 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:05.280 be a recitation of a volva uh that she gives 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:09.160 to an unnamed audience about the forthcoming Ragnarok the twilight 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:12.399 of the gods. That she didn't you just record an 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:14.359 episode about that before I walked in the studio. We 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:19.520 just talked about talk about yeah uh. But anyways, she writes, 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:22.480 Among the many awesome epic verses are several at the 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:26.200 end that described the world falling into the sea. Now 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:28.360 we can't read all of these, She's put a bunch 0:17:28.440 --> 0:17:30.080 in there. Really cool. I just want to read one, 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:33.920 she says, quote or she doesn't write this she copies 0:17:33.960 --> 0:17:37.879 in the translation of the head. Yeah. Um, the sun 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:41.200 turns black, Earth sinks in the sea, the hot stars 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:45.280 down from heaven or world fierce grows the steam and 0:17:45.359 --> 0:17:51.080 the life feeding flame until fire leaps high about heaven itself. Nice. 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:53.360 That sounds like some man o war lyrics right there. 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:55.080 Oh that is so much better than man o war 0:17:55.200 --> 0:18:01.320 lyrics and would be more about brave things with the hammer. 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:05.520 That's awesome though. I love that how that stuff plays 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:09.320 out in present present context and the mythology of it too. 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:12.399 Oh yeah, So anyway, Katie quotes more of the poem, 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:14.199 and she goes on to say, so, a giant flood 0:18:14.240 --> 0:18:17.240 comes and destroys the earth in a very Noah's Deluge 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:20.800 type of way. Stars fall in this flood. Uh like 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:24.040 possible comets coming to Earth that was referenced in the episode, 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:27.400 but the falling stars seem more to set the cataclysmic 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:31.119 stage rather than recording any cause and effect occurrence with 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:35.240 commets like the pished Him and Noah's floods. The world 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:38.280 emerges from the waters, renewed, and the gods come back 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:41.080 to their halls and everything is beautiful and growing again. 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:44.200 In this poem, However, the world ends again when a 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:48.760 dragon flying up from the earth, bringing uh forth darkness 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:53.080 and destruction. You guys talked about dragons in the geomethology episode, 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:54.840 and I forget if you had made any kind of 0:18:54.880 --> 0:18:58.240 speculations about dragons being connected with volcanoes or not. We 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:00.399 only very briefly mentioned it, but we did. Is this 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:03.440 dragon she's referring to the mid Guard serpent, I'm not sure, 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:08.840 but as part of the ragnar Yeah, but she says 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:12.320 the poetic edit was transcribed in Iceland, where they definitely 0:19:12.359 --> 0:19:15.960 have volcanoes. That's certainly true. Skipping ahead just a little 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:17.720 for time, she says, it's a pretty cool thing to 0:19:17.720 --> 0:19:21.480 think about, especially because this dragon brings darkness that destroys men, 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:24.080 like clouds of ash that have been known to cover 0:19:24.200 --> 0:19:27.000 Iceland in northern Europe in ash clouds that block out 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:30.119 the sun and caused the summer to be basically winter. 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:34.000 On a sort of related geomethology note, in the eddic 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:36.359 poem and I'm going to do my best here, vath 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:41.040 prude Nis small Odin is discussing how humans will survive 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:47.240 fimble Winter, cataclysmic winter that proceeds Ragnarok. There were a 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:50.119 series of extreme weather events in five thirty six or 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:54.119 so that scholars believe were a historical fimble Winter where 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:56.600 Europe basically didn't have a summer for a while and 0:19:56.640 --> 0:20:00.000 tons of people died. In or Old Norse religion, there 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:03.120 is a distinct difference between an earlier religious period where 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:07.800 human and bog sacrifices were made, complete with distinct artifacts, 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:10.720 and a later period where Odin, Thor and co. Are 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:14.520 tramping around killing giants and whatnot, and where the customs 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:18.400 found in archaeology changed. People think this separation of practice 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:21.879 came about because of social dislocation that happened because of 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:25.359 this fimble winter around the five thirties. Going back to 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:29.880 the Voluspo In earlier verses, they talk about the war 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:32.879 between two sets of gods, with the group belonging to 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:36.639 Odin being victorious. Some of the older gods, Freyer and 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:40.840 Freya of particular note, were taken as prisoners by Odin's 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:43.560 groups and were assimilated into their pantheon. And then she 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:46.960 gives some verses about it, uh that are also cool, 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:48.840 But for time, I'm going to skip on to the 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:51.400 end of her message. Here she says, quote, I love 0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:54.560 this theory because there's geological evidence that there were extreme 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:58.320 weather patterns around the time. The archaeological evidence shows a 0:20:58.400 --> 0:21:02.600 dramatic change in customs, which resonates in the mythological poems 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:05.200 that trickled down. I'd be happy to go in more 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:08.840 depth with the evidence, but this email is getting so long. Anyways. 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:10.720 I hope you guys enjoyed this, and I would highly 0:21:10.760 --> 0:21:13.280 recommend reading the vels BO if you haven't. It's the 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:17.240 poem where the stuff with Emir comes from, along with 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:20.600 the creation of the world and its destruction during Ragnarok 0:21:20.600 --> 0:21:23.840 War into the world by flood, rebirth and destruction again 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:26.760 by dragon. It's a pretty badass poem in all sixty 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:29.600 six stanzas should be read with lots of notes because 0:21:29.640 --> 0:21:31.720 there are tons of names for the names of God's 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:33.879 keep up the good work. Well, thank you, Katie. That 0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:37.159 was an excellent email and we really appreciate all of 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:41.720 you educating us on the totally the horrors of the North. 0:21:42.760 --> 0:21:44.560 I think it's also one thing that I got out 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:47.360 of this that I liked is mentioning like multiple flood 0:21:47.440 --> 0:21:50.879 myths within the North tradition. And you know, indeed, not 0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:54.080 only are there you know, multiple flood myths from around 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:57.680 the world in different cultures. Within cultures, you have multiple version. 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:02.800 Chinese culture alone has has several different flood mythologies. Uh. 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:05.639 And the one that we talked about in our episode 0:22:05.680 --> 0:22:07.600 and that I alluded to earlier is just like the 0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:12.679 most dominant. Yeah. And I you know, like after that 0:22:12.760 --> 0:22:15.960