MAKE HISTORY WITH US THIS SUMMER: https://demystifysci.com/demysticon-2025 PATREON https://www.patreon.com/c/demystifysci PARADIGM DRIFT https://demystifysci.com/paradigm-drift-show PATREON: get episodes early + join our weekly Patron Chat https://bit.ly/3lcAasB MERCH: Rock some DemystifySci gear : https://demystifysci.myspreadshop.com/all AMAZON: Do your shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/3YyoT98 SUBSTACK: https://substack.com/@UCqV4_7i9h1_V7hY48eZZSLw@demystifysci Andrew Cutler is the author of the Vectors of Mind Substack, where he explores the question of how humans became… human. His research starts from a simple premise - if our self-awareness, the ability to look at ourselves in the mirror and declare that there is an “I” staring back, is truly unique in the animal kingdom, then it likely related to that moment of coming. But no one really knows what happened in the fog of pre-history to ratchet us from the gauzy time before we were fully human to… whatever all of this that we’re living in right now could be called. In fact, this is often referred to as the sapient paradox. Why, oh why, did we become genetically modern nearly 300,000 years ago (maybe more) but take until about 50,000 years ago to start doing human things like making art, ritually burying our dead, and tracking the stars? Many have suggested it was psychedelic mushrooms that pushed us over the edge. This is the stoned ape hypothesis, which says that a sufficiently large psychedelic experience pushed us out of the womb of the earth. However, Andrew thinks it might have been something else. He figures it was snakes. And women. Together, they produced the Snake Cult of Consciousness that dragged us, kicking and screaming, into the world. #HumanOrigins, #AncientHistory, #Mythology, #Evolution, #Consciousness, #AncientMysteries, #Symbolism, #SelfAwareness, #HumanEvolution, #AncientCultures, #CognitiveScience, #SpiritualEvolution, #Anthropology, #Philosophy, #AncientWisdom, #Archaeology, #philosophypodcast, #sciencepodcast, #longformpodcast Check our short-films channel, @DemystifySci: https://www.youtube.com/c/DemystifyingScience AND our material science investigations of atomics, @MaterialAtomics https://www.youtube.com/@MaterialAtomics Join our mailing list https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S PODCAST INFO: Anastasia completed her PhD studying bioelectricity at Columbia University. When not talking to brilliant people or making movies, she spends her time painting, reading, and guiding backcountry excursions. Shilo also did his PhD at Columbia studying the elastic properties of molecular water. When he's not in the film studio, he's exploring sound in music. They are both freelance professors at various universities. - Blog: http://DemystifySci.com/blog - RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss - Donate: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD - Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySci MUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671