I remember hearing about elderly Catholic nuns who agreed to be autopsied (for science, knowledge, help people, etc) and it was found that physically their brains showed full-blown Alzheimer's Syndrome, but they demonstrated no evidence of it right till their dying breaths, nor of dementia in general. The explanation given was that they were kept active and engaged as part of a close community, and I'm sure that's a big part of it, but after watching this I can't help thinking that being in the same convent most of their lives helped them retain memories and knowledge.
Really interesting and informative video... This really does help explain a lot of things, one of which I think is religion since with it you can trace how it happens to a certain degree. You have an animal or a plant that you see and its behaviors. Then you add a narative and song. These get combined into characters which turns into the idea of "Genii" where the "spirit of" a given character inhabbits a person. Eventually the concept of the spirit turns into a more concrete person form which we interpret as "gods".
"Can you name all the birds in your state" Me: "well, this is Carl, this is Jane, this is Nellie, Pam, John, over there you have Chris - yes, it's short for Christian"
When she talks about the ditches and the million hours, is it possible that making the ditch was a part of the ritual? As in, they started by just scraping a circle in the ground, and repeated that for a few thousand years? That would explain the excessive depths of some of them.
How did rainwater drain from the ditches? Seems to me they would be slogging and swimming rather than dancing much of the time. Did they have a big sportsdome over the thing?
It's said that learning musical instruments has global effects on the brain. Certainly learning to rely on one's memory to integrate large amounts of information about your environment must alter one's brain in ways that may alter cognition.
Some people need images, and sounds, and smells, to memorize things, and some people just simply remember what they read. The way of learning simply changed from one type of thinking to another when writing and reading became available. But the ones who can memorize text are just way more efficient then the ones who need a circus to learn things. Too bad i'm one of those who needs a circus.
Actually who can describe a picture 100% what it is, means, application etc. So lets suppose Monet described his pictures in words? Point? Those who think in pictures, sound, textures, dances, rap rhyme are more evolved not less as mr. F implies. Research has clearly concluded, such as Dr. Kelly, that we have a lot to learn from indigenous folk... and their memory tools can help is retain info better than text. BTW what's ur PhD in?
My anxiety about this theory is that it attempts to prove too much and shoe-horn a multiplicity different cultures into a single pattern. I fear that the speaker’s scepticism may lead her to minimise the importance of the sacred and the treatment of the dead. Stonehenge in particular needs to be seen in the context of the Neolithic landscape at magnificent barrows which surround the site - Winterborne Stoke, Normanton Down, the New King groups of barrows and the cursus. No doubt the speaker’s theory may reveal a part of the function of the stone circles but it is not the whole story. Still - fascinating
1:00:38 Why don't we dance stuff anymore? Because we discovered that writing is a more efficient way of transmitting knowledge. (Otherwise, the "inventors" of writing would have quickly discarded it as useless.)
That isn't true, writing has a clear advantage over the other methods: indirect transfer of knowledge, as in once you know how to read you can read any information, not just the information someone chooses to teach you. And once you can write you can leave information for strangers, these other methods require a more integrated community. But as she clearly proves for storing that information in a human brain the other methods, song, dance etc. are far more effective. I'm sure that the transition from one to the other was slow and involved the inventors using both methods like how Lynne memorized the bird field manual.
I really enjoyed this talk. I can’t help but think that humans wouldn’t have “lost” this knowledge if they included/valued more than war & governments/ruling structures in history lessons/classes/knowledge retention. Like, if women’s voices weren’t excluded, what would humans not have “lost”?
I remember hearing about elderly Catholic nuns who agreed to be autopsied (for science, knowledge, help people, etc) and it was found that physically their brains showed full-blown Alzheimer's Syndrome, but they demonstrated no evidence of it right till their dying breaths, nor of dementia in general. The explanation given was that they were kept active and engaged as part of a close community, and I'm sure that's a big part of it, but after watching this I can't help thinking that being in the same convent most of their lives helped them retain memories and knowledge.
Hugely fascinating and splendid work Dr. Kelly! Thank you for explaining location-based memory systems so eloquently and elegantly!
Really interesting and informative video...
This really does help explain a lot of things, one of which I think is religion since with it you can trace how it happens to a certain degree.
You have an animal or a plant that you see and its behaviors. Then you add a narative and song. These get combined into characters which turns into the idea of "Genii" where the "spirit of" a given character inhabbits a person. Eventually the concept of the spirit turns into a more concrete person form which we interpret as "gods".
"Can you name all the birds in your state"
Me: "well, this is Carl, this is Jane, this is Nellie, Pam, John, over there you have Chris - yes, it's short for Christian"
This was fascinating. I love the NCAS videos. This was so good I made my kids watch it.
rationalmaterialist
For a moment I thought I read that you made kids while watching it.....
LOL
When she talks about the ditches and the million hours, is it possible that making the ditch was a part of the ritual? As in, they started by just scraping a circle in the ground, and repeated that for a few thousand years? That would explain the excessive depths of some of them.
Sounds like an interesting idea. Perhaps they needed a clean white chalk to perform on? it could have been preritual
Gillian Diggins yeah. Makes sense.
Fascinating.
How did rainwater drain from the ditches? Seems to me they would be slogging and swimming rather than dancing much of the time. Did they have a big sportsdome over the thing?
This question is asked at 1:05:11
She says the archeologists say they didn't fill with water. I think the silt says otherwise.
Chalk is very porous, it takes a hell of a storm to pool on top of it, it still drains away fast
@@Time.and.Spoons needed to know that
Is there a transcript of this, or a version with captions, anywhere?
Would love to hear the long version.
theres a talk here www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/conversations/lynne-kelly/7538222
Thank you!
Fascinating stuff! 👍🏻
It's said that learning musical instruments has global effects on the brain. Certainly learning to rely on one's memory to integrate large amounts of information about your environment must alter one's brain in ways that may alter cognition.
Some people need images, and sounds, and smells, to memorize things, and some people just simply remember what they read. The way of learning simply changed from one type of thinking to another when writing and reading became available. But the ones who can memorize text are just way more efficient then the ones who need a circus to learn things. Too bad i'm one of those who needs a circus.
Actually who can describe a picture 100% what it is, means, application etc. So lets suppose Monet described his pictures in words? Point? Those who think in pictures, sound, textures, dances, rap rhyme are more evolved not less as mr. F implies. Research has clearly concluded, such as Dr. Kelly, that we have a lot to learn from indigenous folk... and their memory tools can help is retain info better than text. BTW what's ur PhD in?
Enjoyed your class
very good analysis
Extraordinary.....!
I can barely remember my own phone number.....
GorillaGuerilla now imagine memorizing the wildlife the water roads every detail of your environment and now convey it all on song dance and plays
Of course mythology is a memory aid. What did people think it was?
My anxiety about this theory is that it attempts to prove too much and shoe-horn a multiplicity different cultures into a single pattern. I fear that the speaker’s scepticism may lead her to minimise the importance of the sacred and the treatment of the dead. Stonehenge in particular needs to be seen in the context of the Neolithic landscape at magnificent barrows which surround the site - Winterborne Stoke, Normanton Down, the New King groups of barrows and the cursus. No doubt the speaker’s theory may reveal a part of the function of the stone circles but it is not the whole story. Still - fascinating
1:00:38 Why don't we dance stuff anymore? Because we discovered that writing is a more efficient way of transmitting knowledge. (Otherwise, the "inventors" of writing would have quickly discarded it as useless.)
Arguably, Freemasons still do.
That isn't true, writing has a clear advantage over the other methods: indirect transfer of knowledge, as in once you know how to read you can read any information, not just the information someone chooses to teach you. And once you can write you can leave information for strangers, these other methods require a more integrated community.
But as she clearly proves for storing that information in a human brain the other methods, song, dance etc. are far more effective.
I'm sure that the transition from one to the other was slow and involved the inventors using both methods like how Lynne memorized the bird field manual.
Tech Soul
Children still learn to sing the ABC as part of the process to learn to read and write....
Many indigenous societies still do. Writing might be good enmass and over time but she's talking about pre-literate cultures.
+Renee Dillon, the question was why we don't sing science.
I really enjoyed this talk.
I can’t help but think that humans wouldn’t have “lost” this knowledge if they included/valued more than war & governments/ruling structures in history lessons/classes/knowledge retention. Like, if women’s voices weren’t excluded, what would humans not have “lost”?