On Humans

The world is full of religions, but none as timeless as shamanism. And whilst many modern religions have shed their shamanic skins, the shaman is rarely as far away as we have been told.Or so argues anthropologist Manvir Singh in his book, Shamanism: The Timeless Religion.  Singh’s work is fascinating in its capacity to link the exocit with the familiar, showing how rainforest rituals are not so far removed from urban modernity as we might think. Today, I will have the rare chance to enjoy Singh's insights together with you, as a listener. The hard work will be done by Kensy Cooperider, the host of the Many Minds Podcast. Many Minds is one of my own go-to shows and has a lot to recommend for it. Just like On Humans, it breaks down complex scientific concepts about humanity into easy-to-follow yet in-depth conversations. Yet unlike On Humans, it has insanely well-referenced show notes! Just check this one out.Kensy and I had a beachside chat this November and decided it would be good to introduce ourselves to each other's audiences. So here we go! LINKSMany Minds: https://disi.org/manyminds/Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute: https://disi.org/Episode page: https://disi.org/the-shaman-with-a-thousand-faces/Manvir Singh: https://www.manvir.org/KEYWORDSAnthropology | Psychology | Religion | Cross-cultural study | Abrahamic religions | Neo-shamanism | Human universals | 

Happy 2026! On Humans has typically marked the coming of January by revisiting the previous year’s most popular episode. This time, the New Year special packs the five-hour-long "Origins of Humankind" series into one fast-paced dive through deep time.By mixing highlights from the original interviews with fresh narration, this episode offers a captivating journey through many of the great topics around human origins, such as:Who were the first primates The role of fruits, snakes, and predators The human solution to dangerHow to grow a human brain?What did our ancestors eat?Effects of our upright posture Origins of music & language How Homo sapiens took over the worldEnjoy!LINKSFor the original five-hour experience, see: OnHumans.Substack.com/OriginsFor a shorter series on ancient DNA: see OnHumans.Substack.com/DNASupport: Patreon.com/OnHumansThe series was produced together with CARTA (UCSD & Salk Institute). For past recordings of CARTA symposia on human origins, see: Carta.Anthropogeny.org/SymposiaKEYWORDSHuman evolution | Human origins | Science | Biology | Paleoanthropology | Anthropology | Archaeology | Fossils | aDNA | History of life | Life history | Dinosaurs | Primates | Apes | Hominins | Homo sapiens | Evolution of language | Evolution of music | Brain evolution | Paleoneurology | Neanderthals | Denisovans | Neolithic Revolution | Spread of agriculture | Human destiny

“The podcast is great, but one thing hasn’t been covered yet: humour. It’s an essential part of our human condition, and would certainly be worth an episode.”This listener feedback was easy to agree with. From standup comedy to nervous laughter, our lives are filled with chuckles and giggles. Why? Why do adults laugh at witty jokes whilst children laugh at the simple pleasures of peek-a-boo? And why should any of us laugh in the first place?My guest is Mira Magdalena Sickinger. a poet and a philosopher of humour from the University of Vienna.We cover a lot in the discussion: from the social roles of humour, to the politics of joking, and the therapeutic effects of a humorous attitude. In the course of the conversation, we cover the views of many intellectual giants, from Sigmund Freud to Immanuel Kant — and while the conversation includes a handful of silly jokes (be warned), it ends with a deeper reflection on how humour can serve as a window into the human condition itself. FACT CHECKINGNo errors have been found as of now. If you find an error in this or other episodes, get in touch via the form below.LINKSArticles and essays: ⁠⁠⁠⁠OnHumans.Substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠Support: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/OnHumans⁠⁠⁠⁠Contact Form: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://forms.gle/h5wcmefuwvD6asos8⁠⁠⁠MENTIONSSimon Critchley | Ted Cohen | Robin Dunbar | Ágnes Heller | John Morreal | Immanuel Kant | Thomas Wilk & Steven Gimbel | V S Ramachandran | Sigmund Freud | Janet Bing⁠ &  ⁠Joanne Scheibman ⁠| Thomas Nagel | Aristotle | Thomas Aquinas | John Dewey | Robin TylerKEYWORDSPhilosophy | Psychology |Anthropology | Incongruence theory | Relief theory | Superiority theory | Play theory | Humor | Blended spaces | Stasi & communism jokes in East Germany | Feminist & queer humor | Jokes | Absurdity | Irony | Existentialism | Meaning of life |

We are a movable species. In less than 50 thousand years, Homo sapiens has penetrated practically all corners of the earth. This is an episode about those epic migrations, with a focus on the two furthest edges of the human migratory map: the Americas in the West and the Polynesian islands in the East. In the end, we discuss emerging evidence that those branches met each other -- work coming directly out of the work of my guest, Andrés Moreno-Estrada.Enjoy!DECODING OUR STORYThis is episode 3 in the "⁠Decoding Our Story⁠" mini-series, recorded live at the Salk Institute's CARTA symposium on ancient DNA. The other episodes are:"The Neanderthal Mirror: Latest Findings About the Lines Between Us" ~ David Gokhman "Beyond Race: A New Outlook on the Shape of Humanity" ~ Diyendo MassilaniFACT CHECKINGNo errors have been found as of now. If you find an error in this or other episodes, get in touch via the form below.LINKSArticles and essays: ⁠⁠⁠OnHumans.Substack.com⁠⁠⁠Support: ⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/OnHumans⁠⁠⁠Contact Form: ⁠⁠⁠https://forms.gle/h5wcmefuwvD6asos8⁠⁠⁠⁠CARTA symposium⁠⁠The Moreno lab⁠⁠KEYWORDSHuman population history | Human origins | Anthropogeny | Anthropology | Ancient Migration | Out of Africa | Homo sapiens | Ancient DNA | Comparative genetics | Austronesian expansion | Taiwan | Admixture | Archaeogenetics | Archaeology | Polynesia | Easter Islands | Rapa Nui | Hawai'i | Aotearoa New Zealand | Tonga Fiji | Native American origins | Latino genetics | Latinx genetics | Hispanic genetics | Indegenous genetics |

European thinkers once divided humanity into distinct "races". The idea stuck, even if the science moved on. The shape of humanity, it turned out, is far messier than the old race theorists ever imagined.This much is well known.Still , genetics does study different human "populations". Biological differences between these populations are reported every day. So have we simply changed words? Has anything really changed?Yes, everything has changed. To explain why, I'm glad to have Diyendo Massilani on the show.Trained in France and Gabon, Massilani runs a lab at the Yale School of Medicine, where he studies ancient DNA and human adaptations. This fall, his lab has produced one of the most interesting analysis of human biodiversity that I have ever seen. I'm proud to feature it on the podcast before publication. Our conversation begins from the counter-intuitive implications of the Out of Africa theory, and its significance for ideas about race. We then discuss Massilani's own analysis about how the level of genetic differences between modern-day humans.As always, we finish with my guest's reflections on humanity. DECODING OUR STORYThis is episode 2 in the "Decoding Our Story" mini-series, recorded live at the Salk Institute's CARTA symposium on ancient DNA. The other episodes are:"The Neanderthal Mirror: Latest Findings About the Lines Between Us" ~ David Gokhman (published)"Restless Humanity: The Epic Migrations Into America, Polynesia, and... Beyond?" ~ Andrés Moreno-Estrada (5th of Dec)FACT CHECKINGNo errors have been found as of now. If you find an error in this or other episodes, get in touch via the form below.LINKSArticles and essays: ⁠⁠OnHumans.Substack.com⁠⁠Support: ⁠⁠Patreon.com/OnHumans⁠⁠Contact Form: ⁠⁠https://forms.gle/h5wcmefuwvD6asos8⁠⁠CARTA symposium⁠The Massilani lab⁠KEYWORDSHuman evolution | Human origins | Anthropogeny | Anthropology | Paleoanthropology | Genetics | Homo sapiens | Ancient DNA | Comparative genetics | Human biodiversity | Admixture | Archaeogenetics | Archaeology | Mbuti | Papuans | Neanderthals