Introduction to the Course and the Instructor
Homo sapiens has become the dominant animal species on the planet, has altered much of the surface of the land, and has begun to modify the atmosphere and the oceans. From a geologic viewpoint, this is a very recent event in the long history of the planet. There has been life on Earth for four billion years, but Homo sapiens has been around for only 300,000 years and has been the "master of the planet" for even less time. What can we say about this unique event in the history of life on our planet?
This course will cover aspects of the when and the how of humans’ dominant role and will explore the unique nature of our species that has enabled this dominance.
There will be 10 lecture on the following topics: (1) History of Life, (2) History of Homo Sapiens, (3) Cognitive Revolution, (4) Agricultural Revolution, (5) Scientific Revolution, (6) Industrial Revolution, (7) Shared Beliefs, (8) Shared Beliefs, Countries, and History, (9) What’s Next?, (10) Life in the Universe.
My name is Arch Reid and I am your instructor for the course Ascent of Man.
I have taught courses at Olli before but have never before attempted an online course. So, apologies if this gets a little untidy in parts.
In selecting a new course to teach I wanted a subject matter where the necessary research in preparing the course would be of sufficient interest and fun for me that I was happy to do the preparatory work, even if the course was never accepted for presentation.
That thinking has led me to the course ‘Ascent of Man’.
I am a geologist and that training accustoms me to thinking in terms of very long timespans, and of slow processes that result in vast changes when continued over extremely long times. Within the history of the long-continued slow processes that shape the Earth on which we live there is also evidence of occasional rapid changes that are in sharp contrast with the background continuum of activities. Examples of this are the several mass extinctions in the past that have interrupted the slow progression of evolution.
Ascent of Man deals with such a rapid change in the recent past. In a geologically short space of time the newcomer species, Homo sapiens, has come to play a truly dominant role over all other species, and has even begun to change the planet on which we live.
This course tries to take a look at the when and how this happened, and at what is different about Homo sapiens that allowed his becoming ‘Master of the Planet’.
We shall not find definitive answers to these questions, but I hope that, over the course of ten lectures, we can explore to our advantage several aspects of the remarkable Ascent of Man.
See the LECTURE SCHEDULE for dates and times of lectures. See the NOTES AND SLIDES (under MORE on the HOME page) for details of the individual lectures.
Arch Reid
[email protected]
Homo sapiens has become the dominant animal species on the planet, has altered much of the surface of the land, and has begun to modify the atmosphere and the oceans. From a geologic viewpoint, this is a very recent event in the long history of the planet. There has been life on Earth for four billion years, but Homo sapiens has been around for only 300,000 years and has been the "master of the planet" for even less time. What can we say about this unique event in the history of life on our planet?
This course will cover aspects of the when and the how of humans’ dominant role and will explore the unique nature of our species that has enabled this dominance.
There will be 10 lecture on the following topics: (1) History of Life, (2) History of Homo Sapiens, (3) Cognitive Revolution, (4) Agricultural Revolution, (5) Scientific Revolution, (6) Industrial Revolution, (7) Shared Beliefs, (8) Shared Beliefs, Countries, and History, (9) What’s Next?, (10) Life in the Universe.
My name is Arch Reid and I am your instructor for the course Ascent of Man.
I have taught courses at Olli before but have never before attempted an online course. So, apologies if this gets a little untidy in parts.
In selecting a new course to teach I wanted a subject matter where the necessary research in preparing the course would be of sufficient interest and fun for me that I was happy to do the preparatory work, even if the course was never accepted for presentation.
That thinking has led me to the course ‘Ascent of Man’.
I am a geologist and that training accustoms me to thinking in terms of very long timespans, and of slow processes that result in vast changes when continued over extremely long times. Within the history of the long-continued slow processes that shape the Earth on which we live there is also evidence of occasional rapid changes that are in sharp contrast with the background continuum of activities. Examples of this are the several mass extinctions in the past that have interrupted the slow progression of evolution.
Ascent of Man deals with such a rapid change in the recent past. In a geologically short space of time the newcomer species, Homo sapiens, has come to play a truly dominant role over all other species, and has even begun to change the planet on which we live.
This course tries to take a look at the when and how this happened, and at what is different about Homo sapiens that allowed his becoming ‘Master of the Planet’.
We shall not find definitive answers to these questions, but I hope that, over the course of ten lectures, we can explore to our advantage several aspects of the remarkable Ascent of Man.
See the LECTURE SCHEDULE for dates and times of lectures. See the NOTES AND SLIDES (under MORE on the HOME page) for details of the individual lectures.
Arch Reid
[email protected]