Did Women and Snakes Bring us Consciousness? - Dr. Andrew Cutler, #324

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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.(00:00) Go!
(00:06:56) The Sapient Paradox Explored(00:13:09) Recursion and
Human Cognition(00:19:22) Abstraction and Innovation(00:25:23)
Self-awareness Evolution(00:27:14) Recursion and
Strategy(00:30:00) Cultural Shifts and Domination(00:33:39)
Origins of Recursion(00:38:22) Subject-Object
Separation(00:47:34) Linguistic Evolution(00:48:56) Emotional
Intelligence in Animals(00:50:33) Creation Myths and
Self-Awareness(00:52:10) Awareness of Death in Animals(00:56:06)
Evolution of Symbolic Thought(01:00:58) Göbekli Tepe and
Diffusion Hypotheses(01:06:05) Matriarchy and Rituals in Early
Cultures(01:08:44) Human Migration and Cultural
Development(01:17:11) Origins of Human Consciousness and
Language(01:25:09) Snakes, Myths, and Early
Civilization(01:33:40) Women, Mythology, and Historical
Narratives(01:36:30) The Subtle Female Power Dynamics in
Patriarchal Societies(01:40:25) Evolution of Societal
Structures(01:46:00) Neolithic Genetic Bottleneck and Patriarchal
Theories(01:49:23) Women's Role in Human Cognitive
Evolution(01:56:11) Symbolism of Snakes and Ancient
Knowledge(02:02:10) Snake Venom Usage(02:07:12) Historical Cults
and Rituals(02:11:07) Greek Tragedy and Mystery Cults(02:14:08)
Matriarchy and Cultural Myths(02:17:10) Diffusion of Culture and
Legends(02:22:36) Comparative Mythology and the Seven Sisters
Myth(02:27:01) Scientific and Metaphysical Connections in Human
Origin Stories(02:28:55) The Origins and Significance of Gospel
Stories(02:30:03) Shamanistic Cults and Cultural Symbols in
Ancient Sites #HumanOrigins, #AncientHistory, #Mythology,
#Evolution, #Consciousness, #AncientMysteries, #Symbolism,
#SelfAwareness, #HumanEvolution, #AncientCultures,
#CognitiveScience, #SpiritualEvolution, #Anthropology,
#Philosophy, #AncientWisdom, #Archaeology, #philosophypodcast,
#sciencepodcast, #longformpodcast