Travel Series - Bill Gates "UnConfuse Me" Series

Bill's YouTube Channel

The message I’m taking to COP28

Bill Gates  |  2.37 min

Nov 27, 2023

I’ll be talking about progress on climate and what we

need to do next. Learn more at https://gatesnot.es/47ztcoi

Unconfuse Me with Bill Gates

My latest podcast is all about learning something new

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What do you do when you can’t solve a problem? I like to talk to smart people who can help me understand the subject better. I call this process “getting unconfused”—and I think it is one of the best ways to learn something new. In my new podcast, I try to get unconfused about some of the things that fascinate me. Join me on my learning journey as I talk to brilliant guests about Alzheimer’s, artificial intelligence, the future of education, plant-based meat, the evolution of language, marijuana, and more.

Unconfuse Me with Bill Gates - Episode 5

Yejin Choi  |  31.50 min

11/16/2023 6:00:00 PM

Few people are better at explaining the science of artificial intelligence than Yejin Choi. She’s a computer science professor at the University of Washington, senior research director at the Allen Institute for AI, and the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship. I thought her recentTED talk

was terrific, and I was thrilled to talk to her about how you train a large language model, why it’s so hard for robots to pick tools out of a box, and why universities must play a key role in the future of AI research.

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Unconfuse Me with Bill Gates - Episode 4

John McWhorter  |  30.22 mim

9/7/2023 7:00:00 AM

I recently started learning French, and the process has made one thing clear to me: There’s a lot I don’t understand about how languages work. So, I turned to John McWhorter, a linguist who has dedicated his career to demystifying the roughly 7,000 languages spoken around the world. When he isn’t busywriting books

John is a professor at Columbia University, host of his ownpodcast, and frequent lecturer forGreat Courses. He helped me understand why English is so irregular, what the ideal language would look like, why all dialects are created equal, and more.

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Unconfuse Me with Bill Gates - Episode 3

Questlove  |  31.36 min

8/24/2023 7:00:00 AM

Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is the ultimate multi-hyphenate: He’s a musician, filmmaker, author, entrepreneur, and more. The Grammy and Oscar winner is also a plant-based foods advocate, so when I had some questions about the future of food, I knew I had to sit down with him. We had a blast talking about why he made ameatless Philly cheesesteak, how we make healthy food accessible to more people, Questlove’s insane record collection, how we got our nicknames, and our Wordle strategies.

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Unconfuse Me with Bill Gates - Episode 2

Sal Khan  | 30.29 min

8/10/2023 7:00:00 AM

Sal Khan is a true pioneer of harnessing the power of technology to help kids learn. So, when I wanted to learn more about how artificial intelligence will transform education, I knew I had to talk to the founder ofKhan Academy. I loved chatting with Sal about why tutoring is so important, how his new serviceKhanmigo is making the most of ChatGPT, and how we can keep teachers at the center of the classroom in the age of AI. We even found time to talk about our favorite teachers and the subject we wish we’d studied in school.

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Unconfuse Me with Bill Gates - Episode 1

Seth Rogen & Lauren Miller Rogen  |  35.24 min

7/27/2023 7:00:00 AM

Can Alzheimer’s disease be funny? I was skeptical, especially given the devastating experience my family had watching my dad suffer from it. So, I asked two experts in using humor to raise awareness—Seth Rogen and Lauren Miller Rogen—to help me see the light. We had a great conversation about their organization Hilarity for Charity,hope for the future of Alzheimer’s research, theimportance of a good night’s sleep, and why Seth started acannabis lifestyle company

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Bill Gates and Rashida Jones Ask Big Questions

I teamed up with actress and writer Rashida Jones to create a podcast that tackles some of the biggest questions facing us today: Is it too late to solve climate change? Does everybody lie? Is inequality inevitable? You can listen to each episode below and even access exclusive bonus content by becoming a Gates Notes Insider.

Bill Gates and Rashida Jones Ask Big Questions - Episode 5

Can people really change?

12/14/2020 12:00:00 AM  |  51.13 min

2020 has been a year of change. From the presidential election to the pandemic, it’s clear that the world will never be the same after this year—and neither will all of us who experienced it. In the season finale, Bill and Rashida explore how progress hinges on society’s ability to evolve, how our view of the world shifts as we get older, and whether it’s actually possible to change someone’s mind. Then they’re joined by two people who are using their positions as artists to change the world for the better: Bono and Kerry Washington.

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Bill Gates and Rashida Jones Ask Big Questions - Episode 4

Is it too late to stop climate change?

12/7/2020 12:00:00 AM  |  50.45 min

Climate change is the most daunting challenge of our time. Tackling it will require unprecedented amounts of innovation, investment, and global cooperation. Are we actually making progress yet? Can we really stop the worst effects of climate change? In this week’s episode, Bill and Rashida take on perhaps their biggest question yet with an assist from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Kolbert.

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Bill Gates and Rashida Jones Ask Big Questions - Episode 3

Why do we believe lies?

11/30/2020 12:00:00 AM  |  45.56 min

Honesty is a core value in most cultures. But humanity has always been obsessed with untruths, from little white lies to vast conspiracy theories. Bill and Rashida are joined by "Sapiens"> author and historian Yuval Noah Harari to talk about why we’re so willing to believe falsehoods and what these lies tell us about ourselves—both as individuals and as a society.

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Bill Gates and Rashida Jones Ask Big Questions - Episode 2

Is inequality inevitable?

11/23/2020 12:00:00 AM  |  45.75 min

2020 has brought to light a lot of issues, including growing inequality in the United States. We're seeing huge gaps in income, access to healthcare, and quality of education across the country. Economist Raj Chetty joins the podcast to talk about his groundbreaking research on opportunity in America. Then Mayor Aja Brown joins the conversation to talk about how she is leveling the playing field in Compton.

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Bill Gates and Rashida Jones Ask Big Questions - Episode 1

What will the world look like after COVID-19?

11/16/2020 12:00:00 AM  |  44.02 min

Ever since the pandemic started, we’ve heard the same refrain: we need to get back to normal. But what does “normal” even mean after such a history-changing event? Bill and Rashida discuss how COVID-19 will forever change our workplaces, our schools, and even our social lives. They also get real with NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci about what we can expect in the months ahead.

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America is First "A Land of Rights and Freedoms" Before it ever was a Christian Nation

Under MAGA'ism America is become torn apart... - re slater

Before America was ever a Christian nation it was First and
Foremost a Land for Individual Rights and Liberties. - re slater

AMERICA - A LAND OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS

by R.E. Slater

When reading the CNN article further below I came across some apt commentary on the Internet which I will use here, by rearranging it and re-applying it. It comes from an essay, I found on Bartleby.com entitled, "Failure to Learn from History in George Orwell's treatise, Animal Farm."

To being, let me refer to an old adage which we all have grown up with but seems especially relevant for our present lives at this time. It goes like this...

“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” This was most likely spoken by the writer and philosopher George Santayana who originally wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Meaning that there is a truism to the memorable quote that if we do not learn from our failures and errors in the past then we are condemned to repeat those same lessons again and again until they are learned.

In the neo-conservative and hardliner Trump's case - along with his MAGA republican party and ardent White evangelical adherents - Trump's divisive White Christian Nationalist planks speaks to Santayana's adage.... That every dictatorship or a tyrannical government eventually had led to a deeply unsettling revolution....  And in this case, just about every revolution which places "total power" into the hands of a single ruler will always lead to an authoritarian, autocratic rule....

Consequently, popularly supported but unfiltered propaganda and misinformation when embraced and institutionalized, will always create cycles of reinforcing "positive" feedback which are difficult to reverse by their implications and divisive content.... Moreover, as that same propaganda encourages violent behavior it will in turn create weaker, less responsible civil societies.

Accordingly, authoritarian institutions which are funneling the majority of corruptible wealth into the hands of a politically elite and corrupt minority will never progress towards societal equality and fairness....

More rather, these (MAGA) elitist power centers will run downhill becoming more and more craven, despotic, and totalitarian, towards those who originally placed them into power by supporting the (MAGA) autocratic movement away from an openly civil democracy towards forms of controlling, neo-fascism. And when done, will be very difficult - if not impossible - to break up, or up-end, as the world recently discovered again under Hitler's Nazification of monarchal Germany (1933-1945).

History Is Brimming With Great Accomplishments And Great Mistakes

Thomas Edison once replied when asked why he continued working after so many failures, “I didn 't fail," he said. "I found 10,000 ways that didn 't work.” This contrary view to Santayana's insightful adage above simply repeats in reverse the saying that one is "condemned to repeating the past" when not learning from the horrific past history of others.

People who remember their failures and errors; who contemplate in what ways they could have made things better; who familiarize themselves with their past; simply will not make the same mistakes again.

Why? Because they now know how NOT to accomplish their goals. Their "hindsight has become 20/20"... when re-capturing their acknowledgement that mistakes were made in the past but then they will no longer remain ambiguous as to why those mistakes had occurred and under what circumstances.

More simply, those same errors in thinking and judgment will not be made again under similar future events.

Power Corrupts... And it Corrupts Completely

This is something our MAGA-ridden government needs to take heed, because they are the ones repeating history at present. By teaching the angry "mis-versions" of America's religious history - that it began as a Christian nation and is intended to remain a Christian nation - they are creating situations for violent response.

Especially when forgetting that America first-and-foremost was a safe haven and refuge to the oppressed unwanteds of foreign lands.... That the first American colonies grew and expanded because they offered places to worship and think independently to non-national (protesting) reformists... and away from the well-entrenched and established Catholicized or State-based Christian faiths in Central Europe.

That the reformationists to the Catholic Christian faith had fundamentally left the state-supported Catholic Church to establish protesting (aka, Protestant) Christian faiths of various ilks and sorts in America's newborn colonies.

Consequently, such a national history as America's thereby attests more to the fact that America was born out of the necessity to live somewhere where individuals and families could live apart from religious oppression, inquisition, loss of wealth and life.

As Massachusetts went, so did the rest
of Colonial America... - re slater

America is First "A Land of Rights and Freedoms" Before it ever was a Christian Nation

Thus and thus, America is a land of individual rights and freedoms before it ever was a breakoff Christian state where European reformists might come and worship how they wished and by what standards they wished to embrace.

Which beggars the question, how is America any different today from it's Colonial history?

Firstly, we are continually blessed with religious, anti-statist, faithful migrants from around the world. Those peoples who have left unsafe local communities in their former countries to live in an America better known for it's blended families of migrants than for what it has more recently become as unwanting fleeing migrants from impoverished, criminally corrupt local governments blinded to the individual rights and freedoms of individuals and families, friends and neighbors.

Moreover, these same global migrants who are fleeing their homes to come to America's Lands of Reformists are first-and-foremost seeking security and protection to their individual and familial rights and interests.

Which is why America is first an Open Democracy before it is anything else, such as an acclaimed Christian Land.

If anything, because of America's Christianizing ideals of equality, fairness, and freedom, all other Christian and non-Christian faiths may now enter into America to find a promising community lifestyle of peace, toleration, and amiability with one another.

Spoken another way, America is becoming what it had always been birthed as... as a "Land where differents and difference is welcomed, accepted, and embraced" (except for those poor Native Americans inhabiting North, Central, and South America first).

Hence, America's enculturated differences are its biggest strength. That it's union of dissimilars is it's highest priority... and NOT it's division into competing racist groupings.

Power Corrupts Absolutely in George Orwell's Animal House...
Click here to read of Animal House's Character List

In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, one of the major themes was power. And how absolute power corrupts absolutely.

To the animals, Drunk Farmer Jones was a tyrant, always mistreating and abusing them, until one day Old Major (Pig) told them of a dream he had, where the animals will be able to live in a utopia, and lead lives of peace. After the rebellion occurred the animals overthrew Jones and in his place Napoleon Pig soon came to power. He promised the animals lives of prosperity, and for a while Animal Farm was a blissful place, however after a while Napoleon's reign became a tyranny, one very similar to Jones, if not worse.

George Orwell's Indictment Of Totalitarianism

Earlier promises were retracted, and the avowed commandments which once were irrevocable are changed to meet the needs of Napoleon Pig and his “henchmen.” 

Napoleon begins to engage in trade with Pilkington, a former "easy-going" partner of Mr. Jones who runs the neighboring farm of Foxwood. This results in a situation which is little different from the original farm of Mr. Jones which the animals had revolted against in years prior. It also repeated their former reality in which man and pig could not be differentiated:

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig…it was impossible to say which was which.” (Orwell, 141)

This statement demonstrates the incongruous nature of totalitarianism. Regardless of whatever ideals a totalitarian leader may endorse, the end product of a totalitarian state, whether it be a “capitalist” or “communist” one, does not vary much—if at all.

A State of Ignorance in George Orwell's Animal Farm

Ignorance is the most fatal flaw in human nature. In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, he expressed through his characters the motif that ignorance is the worst of all flaws.

Each of the animal characters in the book, symbolize specific characteristics that are found in humans. Mollie Mare, Benjamin Donkey, and the sheep are the main animals that have the greatest ignorance and can bring the greatest harm into the farm.

Similarities Between Animal Farm and Joseph Stalin's Russia

Throughout history, dictators of many nations have all shared similar traits; whether they be stubborn, power-hungry, or just callous, they are all corrupted and built constitutionally in nearly the same way.

This holds true in both reality and in fiction, through the analyzation of Josef Stalin, the Soviet dictator of Russia, and Napoleon Pig, the dictator of Animal Farm. 

George Orwell meant for Animal Farm to be a satire of the Russian Revolution, and he succeeded. In Animal Farm, Napoleon Pig is a blatant representation of Josef Stalin, ruling by fear, paranoia, and who are tyrannical, ultimately leading to their  separate falls.

Is Animal Farm Better Than Farmer Jones's Time?

Animal Farm by George Orwell can directly relate to George Santayana's quote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

This quote means we are prone to repeat ourselves if we cannot remember our mistakes from the past.... Nor learn from them. And by the time we notice our error as a repetition in history, it is already too late to repair the circumstances we find ourselves in.

The animals in Animal Farm are not able to tell if their situation is better or worse than Jones's time because they cannot remember their life in the past:

"There were times when it seemed to the animals that they worked longer hours and fed no better than they had done in Jones’s day. On Sunday mornings Squealer Pig, holding down a long strip of paper with his trotter, would read out to them lists of figures proving their chaining bondage.

The Characteristics Of Lying In Animal Farm by George Orwell

“A lie told often enough becomes the truth,” this is a quote from the Soviet Union dictator, Vladimir Lenin.

This quote is a perfect example of Napoleon in the book Animal Farm. Herein, Napoleon Pig has become a very controlling, manipulative and extremely self-absorbed leader - not unlike Joseph Stalin.

Thus, the underlying idea is signified when revealing the truth that the most harmful people in society are people who lie so often to themselves, and to those who are willing to listen to them, that they forget what was in exchange for what they pretend things to be....

How George Orwell Use the Theme of Power In Animal Farm

Power can be recognized as the most dangerous weapon to use against a civilization.

In George Orwell’s work of fiction Napoleon takes personal (sovereign) supremacy in a communist/totalitarian animal society, and becomes corrupted by the power  he usurped when applying (state-based) cruelty to the other animals when disobeying the commandments they had acclaimed to observe.

Cruelty then is used with one's usurped privilege of power whenever an autocratic leader forming an autocratic state applies such means of power to the people who placed him into power.

As such, when Napoleon removes Snowball Pig (aka, Leon Trotsky in real life) from the animal farm using his predator dogs, the other farm animals finally perceive who the dogs really are:

“They were the puppies whom Napoleon had taken away from their mothers and raised privately [to be his own].” (Orwell 53).

The Rise Of Nazi Power

In summation,

“One of the most important reasons for studying history is that virtually every stupid idea that is in vogue today's present societies have been tried before and proved disastrous before, time and again.” (Sowell) - aka, the essayist

An abridged commentary,

by R.E. Slater

December 17, 2023

 Related Articles

• Has the MAGA Church Pushed America Into an Anocracy?

• What Is In a Christian Label? Examining Conservative, Progressive & Processual Christianity

• America is First "A Land of Rights and Freedoms" before it ever was a Christian Nation

• Women Speak up for America and Against MAGA!

• Napolean and France's Struggle for a People's Democracy

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Author Jon Ward: "The idea that America is a Christian nation
is actually not faithful to historic Christianity."Lawrence Jackson

He left his White evangelical bubble.

Here’s what he says it would take

for others to do the same

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by John Blake, CNN

November 6, 2023

CNN —

If you don’t realize how powerful White Christian evangelicals have become, consider this:

A White Christian evangelical, who has been described as “the embodiment of White Christian nationalism in a tailored suit,” is now second in line to the presidency.

Rep. Mike Johnson, the new Speaker of the House, is a White evangelical. His ascension represents one of the greatest political ironies of our time. White evangelical Protestants make up only about 14% of Americans, and that number has been steadily shrinking. But White evangelicals have amassed more political power than ever. They helped inspire the US Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade last year, and their steadfast support of former President Trump could return him to the White House.

Yet there is still widespread misunderstanding of White evangelical subculture. The media tends to depict White evangelicals as foaming-at-the-mouth Christian insurrectionists like some of those who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

One former evangelical, though, has done something rare: He’s written a new memoir that illustrates how White evangelicals were led astray by their thirst for political power but also depicts many of them as earnest spiritual strivers who still retain “immense power for good.”

The book is titled “Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Failed a Generation,” and it’s by Jon Ward, the chief national correspondent at Yahoo! News. Ward describes being raised in a Christian bubble where watching secular television shows like “Sesame Street” was forbidden. He attended churches where people were “slain in the spirit” while singing songs with choruses such as, “all of us deserve to die.”

The son of a pastor, Ward would go on to become a White House reporter, traveling the world on Air Force One with former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Ward recounts in his brutally honest memoir how his family, like others, were torn apart by the rise of Donald Trump.

“I felt abandoned by my own father,” he writes about his dad, who led an influential evangelical church and who he declines to name in the book. He and his father had argued about Trump describing the media as “the enemy of the people,” Ward said.

“But it helped me understand how good people could stand by and make excuses for bad people in power,” he wrote. “They couldn’t not see past their own resentments and bias, even when people they loved were hurting or scared.”

CNN talked to Ward about why he thinks White evangelicals remain misunderstood, why he’ s leery of using the term “Christian nationalist,” and what it would take for White evangelicals to abandon Trump. Ward’s remarks were edited for brevity and clarity.

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The new speaker of the house is a White Christian evangelical and is second in the line for the presidency. Does this inspire or concern you? Or maybe a bit of both?

I think that with his (Johnson’s) sort of surprise ascent into such a position of power so close to the presidency, there’s a lot more attention now on the kind of conservative Christian beliefs that have been common among millions of evangelicals for decades. What’s unusual about Johnson is that while his views are fairly common, it’s uncommon to have somebody get so high in a position of power with his views because usually they have to go through much more vetting. His views about America being a Christian nation are a pretty telling marker of what a lot of experts call “Christian nationalism.”

That’s a term that gets thrown around a lot. I’m wary of using it because I think it’s used as a caricature. There are people who are trying to weaponize Christian nationalism. And I don’t think that that’s most evangelicals. I think it’s people who are associated with the former president’s attempt to overturn the last election. These beliefs have been common for a long time. But this, at this moment, they’re merging with a strain of anti-democratic apocalyptic forms of Christianity that have already shown a willingness to throw out respect for the Constitution and democracy.

I think most evangelicals probably have a mix of views. And one of them is that America is a Christian nation, and they don’t have a lot of implications that flow out from that. When you categorize everybody as an extremist just because they hold these views, I think it pushes more evangelicals towards the bad actors who are trying to bring people into an anti-democratic movement.

Newly elected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson takes his oath of office in the
US Capitol. Johnson is an evangelical Christian. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

You seem leery of using the term ‘White Christian nationalism.’ Am I correct?

Yeah, because first of all, most people don’t call themselves Christian nationalists. When you call somebody something that they say, ‘Hey, I’m not one of those,’ I think that’s not great. In many cases, it’s just going to make people more defensive and turn them off and push them away from you. And secondly, there are fully built-out forms of Christian nationalism. But in many cases, it’s just a very amorphous thing. I think many of them are just normal patriotic Americans.

And again, there are a small group of extremists who want to use these ideas to drag people into an anti-democratic movement. And I think the more you sort of say to people, “You’re one of them,” I think the more you leave them little room, and you’re pushing them towards those extremists.

Christian nationalism is not actually faithful to Christianity. In churches, pastors, they’re the ones who are going to be crucial to pushing back against the forces of extremism because they’re the ones who need to speak to their neighbors, friends and church members about the idea that America is a Christian nation is actually not faithful to historic Christianity.

You tell a story about a former colleague in the fall of 2016 who emailed you saying he was alarmed to see Christian evangelical leaders endorsing Trump. And then he became one of Trump’s most ferocious defenders. Why did he and others make a similar shift?

I don’t know what was in their motivation or their hearts. I think a lot of people in those early days of the Trump presidency were known as anti-anti-Trump. They might have been anti-Trump at first, but then they got fed up with the criticism of Trump and the backlash against Trump. And they’re like, I’m now done being anti-Trump. I’m anti-anti-Trump. And so that was part of it. I think that was in large part a rationalization for getting to where their audiences were. When your audience wants more pro-Trump stuff, that often ends up leading people around by the nose.

Members of what was once called the Jesus Movement sing at a Los Angeles
building in 1971. Ward says his parents came out of a movement of Christians during
that decade who were disenchanted with the mainstream church. | George Brich/AP

You’ve said, ‘I still believe in evangelicals, but I don’t believe in evangelism.’ What does that mean?

It means that there’s a lot of really great people in these evangelical churches, all over the country and in the world. Just fantastic individuals and families. But there’s a whole culture of political beliefs and cultural practices that have been added on to the faith that I was indoctrinated in. It’s taken me decades to unpack all the assumptions that were layered on to my worldview by these teachings.

You say you were taught what to feel, what to believe, but not how to think. Can you elaborate?

When you’re in that kind of place where all the answers to life’s questions start with a very firm set of beliefs that are based on a text that is interpreted and read in a way that is actually not even the way that the Bible has been read for most of Christianity’s history, then you’re backed into a corner when it comes to asking questions. You can ask them up to a certain point. But once you bump up against any of the "answers that are set in stone", the answers start to become labeled as dangerous, sinful, or evil.

What shifted your beliefs from the way you were raised?

If I had to put it on one thing, it would be given the permission to ask questions and follow the truth wherever the facts lead.

Who or what gave you that permission?

Becoming a journalist.

Are you still an evangelical, or do you call yourself something else?

I don’t think I would use that label. I think I would just call myself a Christian.

Faith leaders pray over President Donald Trump during an "Evangelicals for Trump"
campaign event on January 3, 2020, in Miami, Florida. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Is there anything that could cause former President Trump to lose the allegiance of the White evangelicals who support him?

I think it would have to be something more pragmatic and political than theological or moral. If it got down to him versus Nikki Haley (the former South Carolina governor and 2023 Republican presidential contender), and it was clear in the polling that Trump would lose to a Democrat and Haley would beat the Democrat, many evangelicals would switch their support to Haley because they would want a Republican to win the presidency. People are often looking for some revelation that’s going to get people to stop supporting him (Trump) but I think we’re beyond that in most cases.

If Trump wins a second term, what will the impact be on the White evangelical world?

You would see adulation from a lot of evangelicals. You would see a minority of evangelicals peeling away not just from Trump, and not just from Republican politics, but away from evangelicalism. But that’s probably the minority. The word “evangelical” has become more and more wobbly over the last decade because the Trump movement has been able to bring in a lot of people to this style of fusing religion and politics. That attracts a lot of people who are not even really churchgoers.

How has your father reacted to your book?

We spent several hours one day talking about it. He expressed some positive feelings about parts of the book, but his overwhelming response was negative. It may have been a surprise, the level of disagreement that I have with him. It has to be really hard for your son to write anything that’s not praising you.

I went back to him later and I walked him through every moment in the book that he’s mentioned and pointed out that 75% of those mentions are very positive. I was grateful for his love and for his place in my life and for the person he is. Through our conversations, we’ve come to a better place.

Time will tell whether that holds, I guess. It was good for us to talk it out rather than let a lot of stuff fester.

*John Blake is the author of “More Than I Imagined: What a Black Man Discovered About the White Mother He Never Knew.”

Cro-Magnon Man: How the Ice Age Gave Birth to the First Modern Humans

click here to enlarge

Cro-Magnon: How the Ice Age

Gave Birth to the First Modern Humans

Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering & Technology

Apr 3, 2023  |  March 29, 2012

Brian M. Fagan, best-selling author and professor emeritus of archaeology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, takes us on a journey into the late Ice Age world of the Cro-Magnons, the first full modern Europeans, who arrived in their homeland before 40,000 years ago. Who were these people? Where did they originate? And what made them different from earlier, more archaic human beings who lived alongside them? Professor Fagan explores the complex and still mysterious relationship between the incoming Cro-Magnons and their Neanderthal neighbors, who became extinct about 30,000 years ago. Was it climate change, brain power, superior technology, or sheer overwhelming numbers that marginalized the Neanderthals? The lecture ends with a brief look at the remarkable cave art of the late Ice Age, the earliest known artistic tradition in the world.

click here to enlarge

REFERENCES

Wikipedia - Neolithic Europe

Wikipedia - Upper Paleolithic

Wikipedia - Paleolithic

Wikipedia - European languages

Wikipedia - Behavioral modernity

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Prehistoric Art Timeline

Chronological List of Dates of Paleolithic,

Mesolithic & Neolithic Culture

article link

A-Z of PREHISTORIC ART

 

Picture 1 - Maikop Gold Bull (2500 BCE) Russia

Picture 2 - An extremely rare outline of a weasel executed

in 10 flawless strokes in Niaux Cave about 13,000 BCE.

Prehistoric Art Timeline (2.5 Million - 500 BCE)

Introduction

Below is a selected chronological list of important dates showing the development of prehistoric art and culture from the Pliocene epoch, through the Lower, Middle and Upper Paleolithic eras of the Pleistocene epoch of the Stone Age, and reaching down to the Mesolithic (or Epipalaeolithic), Neolithic, Bronze and Iron ages of the Holocene epoch. Not content with simply making tools, Homo sapiens and later modern man created a huge range of Stone Age art, beginning with primitive Acheulean culture petroglyphs - such as cupules and rock carvings - and ending in stunning works of prehistoric sculpture (like the venus figurines), and the beautiful Magdalenian era cave paintings of Altamira. Stone Age artists used every sort of material they could find, ranging from rock-hard quartzite to softer stones like steatite, serpentine, sandstone and limestone, as well as mammoth ivory, reindeer antler, and animal bones. Art of the later Neolithic period is exemplified by exquisite ceramics, magnificent early bronze and gold castings, and the monumental architecture of the pyramids, ziggurats and megalithic structures of Newgrange and Stonehenge. Brought to life thanks to the efforts of archaeologists and paleoanthropologists, the art of prehistory remains an integral chapter in the evolution of man.

• For Eastern cultures, see: Chinese Art Timeline (from 18,000 BCE).

• For the most ancient works, see: Oldest Stone Age Art.

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Date

Event

2,500,000 BCE 2,500,000 1,700,000 1,600,000 1,500,000 400,000 300,000 290,000 230,000

LOWER PALEOLITHIC ERA BEGINS The first of three time periods of the Paleolithic - an era which witnessed several Ice Ages and glaciations, and during which early hominids like Australopithecus afarensis, Australopithecus africanus, and Paranthropus robustus, developed first into Homo habilis and Homo rudolfensis, then into Homo erectus, Homo ergaster, Homo erectus, and Homo heidelbergensis, before metamorphosing into Homo sapiens, Homo neanderthalensis and ultimately anatomically modern man (Homo sapiens sapiens. eg. Cro-Magnon man). Human evolution is defined via the development of stone tools, a process which impacts on the development of ancient art. Olduwan tool Culture begins. Its key feature was the method of chipping stones to create a chopping or cutting edge. The first stone tools of the Lower Paleolithic. (Earliest types unearthed at Hadar, Ethiopia). Oldest utilitarian (non-artistic) cupule discovered at the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. End of Pliocene, start of Pleistocene geologic period. Coincides with the replacement of Olduwan cultures with more advanced Acheulean tool culture. the dominant tool-making tradition of the Lower Paleolithic era throughout Africa and much of Asia and Europe. By this point, the human species has become a major predator. Emergence of Clactonian culture of European flint tool manufacture. Beginning of Mousterian tool culture in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, associated with the production of serrated edge blades. The earliest art is the Petroglyphs of Bhimbetka - consisting of cupules and other rock art found at Auditorium Cave, Bhimbetka and at Daraki-Chattan Cave, both in Madhya Pradesh, Central India, and both dated c.290,000 - 700,000 BCE or later. These are the oldest known prehistoric works of art, and the first examples of art from India. Venus of Berekhat Ram, rock figurine, (dated c.230,000 - 700,000 BCE). This is the oldest known example of prehistoric mobiliary art.

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MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC ERA BEGINS Appearance of anatomically modern man (Homo sapiens sapiens) in sub-Saharan Africa. High point of Levallois culture, an advanced flint-knapping culture. Earliest African art appears, the Venus of Tan-Tan figurine. Modern man begins to migrate north out of Africa (100,000-70,000 BCE). Beginning of last Ice Age. Blombos Cave engravings with cross-hatch designs on two pieces of ochre rock. Diepkloof eggshell engravings, Africa's next oldest art. Neanderthal prehistoric artists create the La Ferrassie Cave Cupules. UPPER PALEOLITHIC ERA BEGINS (Modern Man Replaces Neanderthal Man) Start of Aurignacian art - the beginning of cave art around the world. Oldest known parietal art consisting of prehistoric abstract signs (like red dots/disks and hand stencils) - see El Castillo Cave paintings. The ivory carving known as the Lion Man of Hohlenstein-Stadel is carved. The earliest Asian art emerges... namely Sulawesi Cave art created in Indonesia, suggesting man developed artistic ability before leaving Africa. First of the Venus figurines - the Venus of Hohle Fels is made. Venus figurines are miniature carvings of obese female figures with exaggerated body parts and genitalia. Gorham's Cave art in Gibraltar. Fumane Cave paintings, the world's oldest figurative pictures. Abri Castanet engravings, the oldest cave art in France. Beginning of Perigordian (aka Chatelperronian) culture. Derived from the earlier Mousterian, practised by Homo neanderthalensis, it employed Levallois flake-tool technology, producing serrated stone tools as well as a flint blades known as "Chatelperron points". Important animal & figurative carvings, like: Swabian Jura ivory carvings (Vogelherd cave). Venus of Galgenberg (Stratzing Figurine). First known cave painting appears in France: see the Chauvet cave paintings in the Ardeche Valley; see Coliboaia Cave Art, Romania. Ubirr rock painting in Arnhem Land, Australia, is believed to be the earliest Oceanic Art. Other very early sites of Aboriginal Rock Art include the Burrup Peninsula rock engravings in the Pilbara; cupules among the Kimberley rock art in Western Australia; the Nawarla Gabarnmang charcoal drawing (carbon-dated to 26,000 BCE) in Arnhem Land. First of the engraved drawings at the Grotte des Deux Ouvertures in the Ardeche. Gravettian art begins. Practised in eastern, central and western Europe, its signature tool (a development of the Châtelperron point) was a small pointed blade with a blunt but straight back - called a Gravette Point. See also the Venus of Monpazier, France. Venus of Dolni Vestonice, first ceramic figurine, Romania. Earliest work of ceramic art. Apollo 11 Cave Stones painted in charcoal and ochre, Namibia. Venus of Willendorf, obese female oolitic limestone sculpture, Austria. Cosquer Cave painting (Marseilles) and the Gargas Cave hand stencils (Hautes-Pyrenees). Venus of Savignano, sculpture in serpentine stone, Italy. Pech-Merle cave paintings similar in style to Cussac Cave Engravings. Venus of Moravany mammoth ivory figurine, Slovakia and Roucadour Cave Art, France. Limestone Venus of Kostenky, Russia. Cougnac Cave art with its 'wounded man.' Venus of Laussel limestone bas-relief sculpture (c.23,000 BCE). Venus of Brassempouy, first prehistoric carving with facial features, France. The Salmon of Abri du Poisson Cave, bas-relief limestone fish sculpture, France. Venus of Lespugue, ivory sculpture, France. The Russian school of venus sculpture: see Venus of Kostenky, Russia's oldest sculpture, also Venus of Gagarino, the Avdeevo Venuses, the Zaraysk Venuses and the Siberian Mal'ta Venuses. The Coa Valley Engravings, oldest outdoor petroglyphs in Europe. Beginning of Solutrean art. Solutrean tool-makers developed a number of uniquely advanced techniques not equalled for millennia. Xianrendong Cave Pottery - the world's most ancient pottery from Jiangxi, China. In Spain, La Pileta Cave is noted for its giant fish drawing. Le Placard Cave, type-site for prehistoric pictographs known as Placard type signs. Koonalda Cave Art (finger-fluting) The first Lascaux cave paintings are made, the highlight of Franco-Cantabrian Cave Art, plus rock engravings in the French caves of Le Roc-de-Sers Cave Engravings, La Tete du Lion and Spanish Cave of La Pasiega. Aboriginal Bradshaw paintings first appear in the Kimberley, Western Australia. Yuchanyan Cave Pottery made in Hunan Province, China. Vela Spila pottery made in Croatia. For more chronology, see: Pottery Timeline. Magdalenian art begins, the final major culture of the Upper Paleolithic, practised by Homo Sapiens across western and central Europe, as the Ice retreated northwards. It replaced all earlier Aurignacian, Gravettian and Solutrean influence. Cap Blanc frieze created. Altamira cave paintings: "Sistine Chapel of Stone Age Art", Spain. Lortet Reindeer, engraving on antler fragment, France. Earliest Jomon pottery, Odaiyamamoto I site, Japan. Earliest known Japanese Art. Russian Venus of Eliseevichi (Bryansk). Amur River Basin Pottery, first ceramic art in Russia. Font de Gaume Cave Paintings. Rouffignac Cave ("Cave of a Thousand Mammoths"); Tito Bustillo Cave (14,000 BCE). Tuc d'Audoubert Bison, relief clay sculptures, France. Trois Freres Cave paintings, and the German Venus of Engen. Kapova Cave paintings, Burzyansky Region, Bashkortostan. Roc-aux-Sorciers frieze, Les Combarelles Cave engravings. Addaura Cave engravings, Monte Pellegrino, Italy. Cooper Bison Skull (Oklahoma). One of the oldest examples of American Indian art. Venus of Monruz-Neuchatel, the oldest art in Switzerland. End of Paleolithic art. End of the last Ice Age.

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MESOLITHIC ERA BEGINS This is associated with a wide variety of races, including the Azilian Ofnet Man (Bavaria); several types of Cro-Magnon Man, brachycephalic humans (short-skulled), dolichocephalic humans (long-skulled). The Mesolithic is a transitional era between the chipped-tool, hunter-gatherer culture of the Upper Paleolithic, and the polished-tool, farming culture of the Neolithic. In areas with no ice (eg. the Middle East), people transitioned quite rapidly from hunting/gathering to agriculture. Their Mesolithic period was therefore short, and often referred to as the Epi-Paleolithic or Epipaleolithic. 10,000 BCE marks the end of the Pleistocene geological epoch and the start of the Holocene. Start of Chinese Pottery. Cueva de las Manos (Cave of the Hands), stencils, paintings, Argentina, the most famous example of Mesolithic art in the Americas. Large finds of Stone Age artifacts at Fell's Cave in Patagonia and Blackwater Draw in eastern New Mexico (Clovis culture). Bhimbetka Rock Art, paintings, stencils, abstract symbols, India. Pachmari Hills: sandstone rock drawings, paintings, India. Wonderwerk Cave engravings of geometric designs, ideograms, animals, South Africa. NEOLITHIC ERA BEGINS IN MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTHEAST EUROPE Tassili-n-Ajjer rock art, Algerian paintings and petroglyphs. Ancient Persian pottery from Ganj Dareh (Valley of Treasure). Jiahu turquoise carvings, bone flutes, Henan Province China. Shigir Idol, the world's oldest surviving wood carving of a human figure. Beginning of Neolithic Art in China (7000-2000 BCE). The major form of Neolithic art was ceramic pottery. Oven-fired pottery appears in Mesopotamia where farming begins. People settle on the banks of the River Nile. Coldstream Burial Stone, Western Cape Province, South Africa. Goddess terracotta figurine, Catal Huyuk, Anatolia, an early example of religious art. Egyptian bone, ivory, stone figurines from Naquada I Period. Persian Chalcolithic pottery. Linear Ceramic culture emerges in France, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic. Thinker of Cernavoda, the Romanian terracotta sculpture of the Hamangia culture. Fish God of Lepenski Vir, sandstone carving of therianthropic figure, Serbia. Samarra and Halaf ceramic plates: see: Sumerian Art and Mesopotamian art (c.4500-539). NEOLITHIC ERA BEGINS IN NORTHERN & WESTERN EUROPE Mesolithic Era ends in Europe, superceded by the Neolithic (New Stone Age), a much more settled form of existence, based on farming and rearing of domesticated animals, as well as the use of polished tools. Jade carving begins in China, as does Chinese lacquerware and silk production. Earliest megalithic architecture, like: the megaliths at Evora, in Portugal (from 5,000); Breton Cairn of Barnenez (from 4,450); the tombs and monuments of Carrowmore, Cuil Irra Peninsula, Ireland (from 4,300). Building of Stonehenge stone circle begins (c.2,600 BCE). See also: megalithic art. Mesopotamian civilization begins (Iraq). Emergence of Uruk, first city-state. First wheeled vehicles appear in Europe. Ancient Persian art includes the intricate ceramics from Susa and Persepolis. Oldest known prehistoric bronze sculptures produced in the Maikop culture of the Russian North Caucasus around 3,500, using simple arsenic bronze process. Sumerian civilization (S. Iraq). First writing system (hieroglyphs). Cuneiform script 3200. Egyptian art and civilization begins. Building of Newgrange Megalithic Tomb begins. Sumerian civilization develops its own monumental architecture - a type of stepped pyramid called a ziggurat, built from clay-fired bricks. See History of Architecture. BRONZE AGE BEGINS IN EUROPE Metallurgy develops, as does Bronze Age art. The more complex copper-and-tin bronze casting techniques appear in the Indus Valley Civilization of India during the period. First use of horses for drawing wagons and carts. See: Egyptian Architecture (3000 on). First wheeled transport (Sumeria). Egyptians create first wall paintings in tombs. Copper-working begins in southern France. Emergence of Beaker culture in Europe (named after their distinctive drinking vessels). Egyptians develop first painted relief sculptures. Egyptians develop the first seated and free-standing statues. Start of Egyptian Pyramids. Djoser's 'Step Pyramid' at Saqqara (2630); the Architect Hemon designs the Great Pyramid at Giza (2550), one of the Seven Wonders of the World; Khufu builds the Sphinx (2550). See also Early Egyptian Architecture (3100-2181). Dabous Giraffe Engravings, Taureg Saharan culture. Knowth Megalithic Tomb built. Valdivia Figurines, First 3-D images of the Americas (Real Alto Ecuador). Mesopotamian sculpture known as Ram in a Thicket, made from gold-leaf, copper, lapis lazuli. Sculptors make Maikop Gold Bull. Start of Aegean Art in eastern Mediterranean. Bronze Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-Daro, Harappan Culture, Indus Valley Civilization. Famous Ziggurat constructed in Uruk. Egyptian Middle Kingdom Architecture (2055-1650). "X-ray" style of Aboriginal rock art developed in Arnhem Land. Xia Dynasty culture, China. Minoan Palaces built & rebuilt on Crete. Outstanding Minoan artworks: pottery/ceramics. The written Code of Hammurabi (laws) displayed throughout Babylonian empire. First outstanding Chinese art appears, bronzes of Shang Dynasty art, as well as the earliest Calligraphy. See: Traditional Chinese Art: Characteristics. Linear A script introduced by Minoans. Start of Hittite art and Assyrian art of Iraq. Mycenaean civilisation flourishes in Greece. Glass making perfected in Mesopotamia. Construction of massive temple complex of Karnak to the god Amon at Thebes. See also: Egyptian New Kingdom Architecture (1550-1069). IRON AGE BEGINS IN EUROPE Iron Age Art begins in Europe. Meanwhile, the first bronze sculptures appear in China. Myceneans invent form of writing based on Minoan Linear B script. See Irish Iron Age Art. Myceneans (Greek mainland) absorb Minoans. Amenhotep III builds the palace at Malkata (near Thebes) and temple of Amon at Luxor. Rameses II builds the Colossus at Memphis, the Hypostyle Hall of the Karnak temple Luxor. Decline of Mycenean civilization. (Architectural Dark Ages begins. Ends 600.) Approximate beginning of Pre-Columbian art in mesoamerica and South America. Fall of Troy in Asia Minor. In China, Sanxingdui Bronzes appeared in Sichuan province. Foundation of the Kingdom of Israel. See also Late Egyptian Architecture (1069 - 200 CE). First appearance of Geometric style of Greek Pottery. Zhou Dynasty art, the last period of Bronze Age culture in ancient China. Earliest settlements appear on Palatine Hill, Rome Homer writes the Iliad and Odyssey. First Celtic culture discovered. Hallstatt style of art/design begins characterized by geometric designs. After this comes the elaborate and curvilinear La Tene style of Celtic art (450 BCE), with its spirals, zoomorphs and other Celtic designs. Hereafter, Greek art and architecture is divided into three basic eras: the Archaic Period (c.600-500 BCE), the Classical Period (c.500-323 BCE) and the Hellenistic Period (c.323-27 BCE). Egyptian, Greek and Etruscan artists greatly influence later Roman art, as well as Byzantine art.

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