From Big Think.
“So many things could have happened in a different way that we wouldn’t be here at all, both individually, for sure, and certainly as a species.”
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Up next, The mind-bending probability of our existence | Sean B. Carroll: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hOjpxNHgQc
What if your existence hinged on two freak accidents? Biologist Sean B. Carroll traces the bizarre chain of events that made human life possible.
From an asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs to a tectonic collision that cooled the planet, Carroll unpacks the unbelievable random events and unpredictable pivots that caused the planetary chaos leading to our current civilization.
00:00 The chance of human existence
00:34 Microbial life
01:42 A series of random events
03:08 The asteroid reset
06:03 The cause of two mass extinctions
07:19 Two big collisions
12:52 The hominid story
15:23 Post-collision
Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/the-big-think-interview/human-evolution-carroll/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description
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About Sean B. Carroll:
Sean B. Carroll is an award-winning scientist, author, educator, and film producer. He is Distinguished University Professor and the Andrew and Mary Balo and NIcholas and Susan Simon Chair of Biology at the University of Maryland, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He was formerly Head of HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, and led the Department of Science Education from 2010-2023. He is also Professor Emeritus of Genetics and Molecular Biology at the University of Wisconsin.
