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March 22, 2011 - Skeptoid
14:19
Skeptoid #250: The History of Knowledge

A trip through the centuries to see how human knowledge is reflected through music. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Time Text
Musical Journey Through Human History 00:02:42
Another 50th episode, another lavish musical.
Today we've got a musical journey through the history of humanity.
Our journey will take us through broken beliefs that were widely held during each period, all the way through the present, and each represented by a popular song from that day.
We'll get started on the African savanna tens of thousands of years ago.
That's coming up next on Skeptoid.
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I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.
The history of knowledge.
Today we're going to take a look at how knowledge of our world has evolved throughout human history.
In every culture and every century, people have strived to better understand the universe.
Often this has resulted in great leaps forward, especially since the development of the scientific method.
Just as often, it's taken us onto tangents driven more by superstition than by study.
One aspect of culture that reflects the state of human knowledge is music.
Today, popular songs reflect the way we perceive our world, not only our understanding of its fundamental nature, but also the way we interact with each other as people.
This has been the case in prior centuries as well.
From the frontier days, back through the Renaissance, all the way back to the very beginnings of music, tens of thousands of years ago, when the first hunters and gatherers congregated into groups on the savannah, seeking safety and numbers, laboring to comprehend this big, bright new world.
Songs Reflecting Our Worldview 00:11:33
What's that big thing in the sky watching over us?
It must know things that we don't know.
We give it all our trust.
I have no food.
Our caves are bare.
Life sucks, we all agree.
I guess that big thing in the sky is freaking mad at me.
So let's build a fire and kill a goat and burn some virgins too.
And then good luck will come to us.
Our sun will see us through.
We look to the stars for the health of our body.
The constellation will tell us when we will die.
When Venus is in Orion, my Pancreas is vigorous and robust.
The patterns of the stars correspond to the health of our organs.
Fide turs corpiones concrete taurorum di si plina medicio Ouch!
Oh, my head, it hurts like sin.
Your humors must be balanced, so let's blister your best skin.
My hands and feet are tingling, and my boughs run like the rhine.
We recommend some leeches to suck evil from your spine.
You may have cholera, grip, or pox.
Our diagnosis is vague.
With Henbane Hemlock, Sage and Toad, we'll rid you of this plague.
And if you die while in our care, our theories won't renew.
Our treatments work, and this we swear, these cures will see you through.
Hark, the angel of death.
My body is broken, thou must come with me.
Nay, behold the ring of power.
When I wear it, I cannot die.
Ah, thou hast cheated me.
My love will run off the key.
I can't resist it alone.
Shut up.
Whilst I wear this ring, I command the love of all women.
Take it off, let me see it.
Nine, yeah, nine, ya.
Nine, nine, nine.
Keep it warm.
Nevermore will I want four women.
Oh, when my hair is blown asunder and my breath smells like pool, this ring of power will save me through.
Oh, the bones of all our children, they lie scattered o'er the plains.
Of our oxen and our horses, all that's left are driving manes.
We seek the married water, sip a saving drink.
We'll use a stick to find it, cause it saves us having to think.
I hold one stick in my left hand and the other in my right.
And I trust in holy providence to guide them to the light.
Where water flows, the wild sticks will point the way.
We'll dig and drink the water.
We'll save our wagon train.
When the water's running dry and your thirst is overdue, this thousand stick will see us through.
I'd not seen grandma for seven years.
Until her rapping-tapping, it hit my ears.
Holding hands in the dark, we found my old matriarch.
Now my dad, Granny's talking to me.
We told all the spirits to make us sound or give us a sign that they're still around.
And though she's over the hill, it still gives me a thrill.
That's my dad, Granny's talking to me.
When Granny passed, we were so saddened.
It felt like living in hell.
Now she's sharing all her rest in peace and telling us grandpa's do and well.
When your loved ones leave, you say two dunu.
Cause that's a reality you can't undo.
Though it may seem like a lot of hullabaloo, the seance will see us through.
Mammy.
Greenline, Chevrolets, and coffee pots.
Nothing says America like having lots.
Automated kitchens and the washing machine.
But help my little lady get it done on the spot.
Shiny silver planes and lucky strikes.
Catalogs to show what's down the pike.
Television, radio's a life of ease.
And lots of new cosmetics, keeper, lady love.
Magnet box and filco amazine in two.
Gramophones and records are the new breakthroughs.
And the film says the San Paul is gone.
Ladies get some islands and you can't go wrong.
Paps it and all the light and candles too.
Cause the latest thing will see us through.
Oh well, well, don't you dare break my heart.
Don't you make me go out of my hand, baby, as long as you're not a red.
Don't you dare do me wrong, don't you get me a twist?
Cause I run another baby, I know how you live.
Don't come to me with no socialist ruse.
Just give me a little or that red, white, and blues.
American freedom will always see.
Believe in you, all the powers not outside, but in your mind.
Conceive of you, all the mystic powers out there that you'll find.
You don't need them, you don't need me.
You don't need him, you don't need she.
Believe in you, transcendent spirits.
That is what will always be true.
Conceive of you, imagine anything, and it will come to you.
You don't need anyone to spin you.
That the power's not within you.
It's you, it's you, just you.
It's me, it's me, it's just me.
It's me, me, me.
Only me, it's me, it's me.
Everything is me, it's me, me, me.
It's all me and money.
The day the towers fell, I knew they'd never tell.
Our innocence was gone when we knew they'd put us on.
Your conscience would you sell just to buy an oil well?
Let's raise a rabble.
The day the towers fell was the day we went to hell.
Runslow had a friend that proves he planned our end.
Why can't you just see there was no flight 93 and the towers were brought down with DNT?
Don't need no more evidence, don't need no fear of you.
The truth will see us through.
My energy is keeping me in sync with all of your vibe.
Your energy's just what Dr. Quantum Touch prescribes.
The frequency is the energy of me and you need jibe.
Energy is what my love hypothesis describes.
Blue dude, what you need from me?
Don't need no Scientology.
Come on over, Renora.
Tell me what my karma reads.
Energy, energy, it's like a dream to me.
Our bodies joining in an astral plane can't explain.
Energy, energy.
It's a new reality.
The universe is talking empirically listening.
Energy is why existence shines on different planes.
Your healing touch of energy, it cleanses all my pains.
Your energy is like a drink to me, like a drink of fine champagne.
Denying energy, it would be simply inhumane.
Acupuncture, chiropractic, magnets and naturopathic.
Verbations, your trophology, Reiki and homeopathy.
Every day I got a favorite therapeutic touch.
When I'm feeling bad, I need it very much.
Need your hominy to heal me.
Baby, you balance my genes.
Energy, energy is like a dream to me.
Our body's joining in.
A hassle claim can't explain energy, energy.
It's a new reality.
The universe is talking and we're listening.
Energy, energy is like a dream to me.
Our body's joining in a hassle claim.
Can't explain energy, energy.
It's a new reality.
The universe is talking and we're listening.
You are listening to Skeptoid.
I'm Brian Dunnard from Skeptoid.com.
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