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My talk tonight is about ""uncontacted peoples"": tribes that maintain minimal or no contact at all with the rest of the world. Situations vary: in Amazonia, uncontacted peoples generally retreated to remote parts of the rainforest as a survival strategy, and we will see an example with the Nomole (also called Mashco Piro) from Peru. In other cases like the Shompen of Great Nicobar Island or the Yaifo from New Guinea, contact was established late in the 19th or 20th Century and these peoples decided to stay separated. I will also tell you about Anthropology as a discipline: what does it actually study and what are the differences with Sociology? What is the history of this field? And finally I will tell you about exoticism, the myth of the noble savage, the definitions of culture and the difficulty to look past our own. TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Uncontacted Peoples 2:25 Humanity in Amazonia 17:56 Nomole (Amazonia) 24:14 Shompen (Great Nicobar Island) 39:45 Anthropology, Noble Savage and Cultural Hierarchy 52:21 Yaifo (New Guinea) 1:00:00 What is Culture and Can We See Through It?

Here are four more stories of lost cities from the past, that will take us around the world and from Antiquity to our days: - Dunwich (UK) was a thriving medieval city that grew during the Anglo-Saxon period on the North Sea coast, and peaked in the 14th century. But centuries of coastal erosion led to the disappearance of most of its buildings and houses. - Heracleion was Egypt's most active port during the Late Period of Ancient Egypt. However, rising waters and soil liquefaction condemned it and its ruins remained forgotten and undisturbed for centuries, several miles off the coast and under 19 feet of water, until its recent rediscovery. - Ciudad Perdida (Colombia) was a spectacular city built in the mountains of Colombia by the Tairona, with dozens of terraces connected by staircases and pathways. - Nan Madol (Micronesia) was the capital of the Saudeleur dynasty in Pohnpei. Sometimes called the ""Venice of the Pacific"", it consisted of more than 90 artificial islets and megalithic architecture. TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Dunwich 21:41 Heracleion 43:22 Ciudad Perdida 52:44 Nan Madol

Forbidden Islands are places where visitors are strictly banned, for a variety of reasons. In tonight's episode, I tell you about four different examples:- North Sentinel, where one of the last uncontacted people in the world (the Sentinelese) keeps living in the neolithic;- Poveglia, an island that previously served as a lazaret (a quarantine site) in the Lagoon of Venice;- Surtsey, a volcanic island that appeared in the 1960's and has been closely watched by scientists since then;- Queimada Grande, a.k.a. "Snake Island", home to an endemic species of vipers.Timestamps:0:00 Forbidden Islands1:56 North Sentinel, India25:17 Poveglia, Italy41:40 Surtsey, Iceland53:59 Queimada Grande (Snake Island), Brazil

Where does money come from, and what is it, exactly? Depending on how we look at it, it is at the same time a means of exchange, an unit of account, a language (the language of economic value), or a synonym for wealth. The term is also loaded with aspirations and emotions: having enough or a lot of money is connected to freedom, security, status, power, or peace of mind. We will explore these various layers tonight, as we travel along the centuries since Prehistory and the first monetary tokens, to Antiquity and the beginnings of coinage, and finally to modern times with paper money, dematerialized money and fiat currencies.Timestamps:0:00 What is Money?3:38 From Gift & Debt Economies to Tokens16:39 Introduction of Coins26:21 Money as Symbol and Metaphor32:35 Late Antiquity and Middle Ages50:31 Religious Bans56:50 Toward Modern Banking Systems Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.comfor information about our collection and use of personal data foradvertising.

Let's explore scientific topics tonight, with this compilation of four episodes:- part 1 is about the shapes and patterns in nature. Why do certain shapes come back, rather than others, what are these favoured shapes, and what is the golden ratio?- part 2 is a presentation about bees: species, anatomy and social life.- part 3 deals with the decay of structures and artifacts built by civilizations, and what traces they could live behind; this is at the heart of the Silurian Hypothesis.- part 4 tells you all about cats: their evolutionary history, their species, and what distinguishes them from other mammals.Timestamps:0:00 Shapes of Nature1:08:58 Bees2:04:39 Silurian Hypothesis3:15:52 Cats Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.comfor information about our collection and use of personal data foradvertising.

"Gamification" describes a strategy: introducing gaming elements and mechanics into everyday activities - like learning, consuming, or producing - to make them more engaging, or even mildly addictive. It is also a phenomenon. From loyalty programs and budgeting apps to social media and ride-sharing, we play more games than we realize. In this episode, I examine this situation, starting from my own experience as a content creator. We will explore the psychological mechanisms and neuroscience that make games so appealing, the blurred boundaries between play and work, and the benefits of gamification like fun, productivity, and motivation. We will also look at the downsides - specifically, how reality and subjective experiences may become standardized and flattened when they serve to feed a numbers game that we confuse with reality.Timestamps:0:00 Is your Life Gamified?6:15 The Creator's Numbers Game15:50 How Gamification Flattens Reality28:58 A Bit of History37:39 Psychology of Play and Work47:12 What Happens in the Brain Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.comfor information about our collection and use of personal data foradvertising.

What could space colonization in the next few decades look like, if it ever happens? Is it possible and does it make sense to establish bases on the Moon, mine asteroids, or build a "star bridge", also known as a space elevator? These are some of the questions I will tell you about in this episode. We will talk about the limitations of rockets, high-performance materials such as carbon nanotubes, what asteroids and the Moon are made of, why helium-3 could be a strategic resource, and many more things.Timestamps:0:00 Near-Space Colonization1:04 Limitations of Rockets9:50 Space Elevator19:19 High-Performance Materials and Construction32:43 Space Mining42:40 Colonization of the Moon49:22 Helium-359:19 Lunar Base Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.comfor information about our collection and use of personal data foradvertising.

Bestiaries were medieval compendiums that contained information and illustrations of real and legendary animals. Following this ancient tradition, I have put together talks about the origins of different legendary and fantasy creatures. Make yourself comfortable, this will be a long historical, anthropological and mythological journey around the world.Timestamps:0:00 Bestiaries1:37 Elf27:37 Dwarf41:12 Ork47:32 Goblin55:25 Troll1:05:45 Phoenix1:33:45 Unicorn1:53:25 Mermaid2:15:00 Werewolf2:54:38 Dragon Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.comfor information about our collection and use of personal data foradvertising.

Alexander the Great is a name that sounds almost more legendary than real. In tonight's episode, we will dive into his time, his life and his conquests. Born from King Philip II of Macedon and Olympias of Epirus, educated by Aristotle, Alexander takes the lead of the League of Corinth, a coalition of Greek states. He leads his army into the conquest of the greatest empire of the time: the empire of the Achaemenids. He ends up conquering it entirely, defeating Darius III at the decisive battles of Issus and Gaugamela, and founding an empire that stretches from Greece to India, and Central Asia to Egypt. I will tell you what we know of the man himself too, and how his achievements changed the world. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.comfor information about our collection and use of personal data foradvertising.

Machines and humans live in a symbiosis, something we are so accustomed to that we barely think about it. You are using a machine to read this, and your headset or speakers, your clothes, your chair or your bed, most of the objects around you, were made with machines or are machines. We create them and they bring extraordinary advantages. They free us, but we also adapt to them. Think about how our work, be it remote or in production facilities where machines are located, the way we socialize, entertain ourselves, study, think, is also determined by them. In this episode, we are going to explore the history of their invention and development, together with a few aspects of how they changed our work, socialization and values, from the first simple machines of Prehistory and Antiquity to modern computers. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.comfor information about our collection and use of personal data foradvertising.

What are the origins of well-known legendary figures, such as the phoenix, the unicorn and the mermaid? From ancient symbols and myths to medieval bestiaries, we are going to explore their appearance and evolution, and try to dig a bit deeper. Why do certain motifs such as the phoenix appear across various cultures? What are the Physiologus and the illustrated bestiaries from the Middle Ages? What is the psychological and cultural appeal of part-human, part-animal hybrids such as the mermaid? Let's find out! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.comfor information about our collection and use of personal data foradvertising.

We all know of modern fantasy creatures, and also that they owe a lot to J.R.R. Tolkien, other fantasy authors of the last 60 years, Dungeons & Dragons, or different franchises like Warhammer or Warcraft. But how did these different figures actually form: what are the mythologies, the folklores and the more recent elements that gave birth to them? This is what we are going to examine in this episode, an exploration journey that will take us from ancient Germanic, Norse and Celt myths, to medieval folklore, fairy tales, and contemporary influences. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.comfor information about our collection and use of personal data foradvertising.

In this new story, we will explore the cultural history of three colours: yellow, black and white. How were pigments for art and crafts, or dyes, obtained? What were the meanings, symbolisms and status of these colours, across various ancient cultures and to our days? Let's find out. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.comfor information about our collection and use of personal data foradvertising.

This new compilation of episodes will take you to several stories taken from or inspired by Germanic myths and legends. I have equalised the sound and there are no ads during the entire episode. As always, I tell you the stories and also take a bit of time to explain the historical and cultural context. Here are the episodes I put together: - The Ring of the Nibelung - Beowulf - Norse Mythology Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.comfor information about our collection and use of personal data foradvertising.

Nature creates certain patterns that seem to appear spontaneously, on different scales: spirals, hexagons, fractals, symmetries... Why is that? To what forces, needs or underlying order does this correspond? Why do they speak to our sense of aesthetics? These are the questions we are going to examine in simple terms in this episode. This poetic and scientific journey will take us to a multiplicity of fields (mathematics, physics, biology...) and will give us an opportunity to talk about fractals, chaos theory, the Fibonacci sequence, or the golden ratio. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.comfor information about our collection and use of personal data foradvertising.