E27: The Pleistocene - Part I

Finally!! Ryan gets to talk about the Pleistocene—the epoch in which a new ice age began and we sapiens evolved…into incredible narcissists the likes of which the world has never seen. Two things: In this episode 1) Ryan nerds out while Harland lends intermittent support and 2) this is the first part of a two part series some (specifically Ryan, for fear of being alone in his appreciation of this topic) may say is the “boring part”. The next part, then, is the “exciting part” where we’ll go into (actual) human evolution, the megafuanal mass extinction, and the aftermath of our psychopathic devotion to world domination. Bundle up, people! Yer about to face into some cold, hard facts! 00:02:36 – Introduction to the topic 00:06:05 – Geological time primer 00:16:09 – The physical environment 00:47:25 – Pleistocene ecology and evolution