Silk Road: The World's Nervous System

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Today I Found Out: / todayifoundout
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Casual Criminalist: / thecasualcriminalist
Decoding the Unknown: / @decodingtheunknown2373

[@geographicstravel]

Check out Squarespace: squarespace.com/GEOGRAPHICS for 10% off on your first purchase.

[@Thehomelessathlete]

Ethan_hawk_d

[@francesashdown1830]

L

[@francesashdown1830]

@@Thehomelessathlete L

[@francesashdown1830]

lol

[@francesashdown1830]

I think I’ll I think

[@resileaf9501]

"The same culture which staged mass violence as entertainment had an issue with revealing attires." The more things change...

[@DTSephiroth]

As an American, I felt this....

[@sujimtangerines]

Ooof. Yeah. I'll never be able to square away why violence has a softer rating than nudity. Would rather see boobs than brains or blood.

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Considering Simon is omnipresent, calling the Silk Road the world's nervous system implies that it is HIS nervous system as this is Simon's world and we're all just livin' in it

[@DeliveryMcGee]

[Joke about the no-longer-extant dark web marketplace with the same name as today's topic and Simon's running joke about cocaine goes here]

[@darthsilversith667]

Rocket man! Can I get your autograph!?

[@Historychap53391]

Kim sir how are u...🤓

[@miliba]

Daddy Kim

[@dbojangles1597]

@@DeliveryMcGee It's kinda sad that Ulbricht fell for such an obvious bait with that murder for hire plot the feds hit him with. Of course he was also stupid enough to start his marketing of the site using an account directly linked to his real name so the dude couldn't have been or that smart to begin with. God damn idealists never learn.

[@Lukastar1]

Wow.. the past couple days I’ve been thinking “I wonder if there are any comprehensive videos about the Silk Road?” Well here it is I guess, thanks for reading my mind!

[@gebert87]

Praise Christ ✝️

[@Bubbaist]

Even older than the Silk Road is the Frankincense Trail in the Middle East and east Africa. That would make an interesting episode.

[@Bubbaist]

An excellent book about the Silk Road is, “Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s Golden Age from the Arab Conquest to Tamerlane” by S. Fredrick Starr. He makes the case that the Silk Road wasn’t a crossroad of culture, but a crossroads culture. That is, a distinct culture created by the many cultures that met on the Silk Road. It’s a good read.

[@TwobitRules]

I would also highly recommend Peter Frankopan’s “The Silk Roads” for an expansive account of thousands of years of history, arguing that East and West have always been connected whether we recognize it or not!

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

*"There goes Buddhism, traveling up the Silk Road! I wonder if it'll reach China before it collapses again."* Obviously Simon knows the Silk Road all too well, he traveled on the Silk Road many times. He is eternal and thus he lived through history to tell the tale. That's why he has all these channels to educate

[@DTSephiroth]

Best summary video ever.

[@micmac274]

I think Danny is the Comte De Saint-Germain, not Simon. That's why he had to be locked in the basement

[@theawesomeman9821]

I don't follow. Explanation please.

[@dustrose8101]

@@theawesomeman9821 Its a line from bill wurtz's video "history of the entire world i guess"

[@theawesomeman9821]

@@dustrose8101 thanks

[@ignitionfrn2223]

0:50 - Chapter 1 - Shortcuts 2:40 - Chapter 2 - Alexander's veterans & the emperor envoy 5:45 - Mid roll ads 7:05 - Chapter 3 - A scandalous fabric 11:25 - Chapter 4 - The cross & the lotus 14:10 - Chapter 5 - Declines & revivals 18:05 - Chapter 6 - The end of the road

[@arnaldoteodorani277]

There goes our legend again! Hope you enjoyed this episode.

[@ignitionfrn2223]

@@arnaldoteodorani277 Tailored like a fine silk rope...

[@arnaldoteodorani277]

@@ignitionfrn2223 How very - ahem - fitting!

[@SolaScientia]

My dad was in the navy in the 70s and his ship was stationed in Persian Gulf for a while before he transferred to a different ship that was involved with Vietnam. He had some leave, so he and a friend went into Pakistan for some exploring and sort of hired a local taxi driver to show them around. They had no business being there considering they were Americans and in the military. My dad got to me some interesting people (including one man who ended up being pretty high up in the Pakistani military later on in the 80s), and he saw a few children with blond hair and/or blue eyes. He asked about them and was told that they're children of Alexander, because of carrying genes from Alexander's soldiers intermingling with the local populations (willing or not, considering they were going about conquering everything). The children are considered very special by the locals because of how different they look. My dad spent some of his childhood in Istanbul and the people there really loved my aunt, because of her blond hair and such.

[@zaco-km3su]

Sounds like your dad could have had an interesting time there. Sounds like the US Government could have used him as an asset later on.

[@SolaScientia]

@@zaco-km3su He got out of the navy after he did his 4 years. His ship helped with Operation Frequent Wind, which was the evacuation of Saigon. My dad's father was in the CIA after the Korean War, which is why they lived in Istanbul for 4 years and then a bit of time in Nepal after that. My dad didn't know what all my grandfather did in Istanbul, but he does know the man would have been happier as a botanist or professor or something. He ended up being an alcoholic and got to be very abusive before my grandmother divorced him. I never met him as he died just a month or 2 before I was born. My dad and aunt have told me some about him, but they don't say too much. Anyway, he knew that wasn't for him. He did sort of assist when they were in Istanbul. My grandfather asked my dad to keep an eye on the Bosporus from their apartment because my dad liked ships and could recognize them. He'd note any Soviet ships headed west and call them in with a special number. One day he saw a Soviet ship headed east and he called it in because it had gotten caught in a storm and had exposed deck cargo. He wasn't really supposed to call in ships headed back east. They sent out crash boats for pictures and everything. Some of those pictures made it to Kennedy's desk and were part of why he started the embargo on Cuba. So yeah, he had a very interesting childhood and early adulthood.

[@zaco-km3su]

@@SolaScientia It makes sense why he didn't want that life.

[@translumination2002]

Everybody loves Alexander except the people from the Mediterranean aren't blonde hair blue eyed. They're black hair brown eyed. Being blonde is a Northern European thing. What's even more interesting is why people everywhere think that's a desirable character to have.

[@raclark2730]

@@translumination2002 Ancient Macedon was very much north of the Med in the now Balkans. And the people there have a higher rate of such traits. As do on rare occasion people in central Asia, but not particularly from Alexander. People like it because its yellow, bright and in some traditions associated with divinity. Deal with it.

[@andrewliddell234]

The Red Baron is like the Spanish Inquisition, no one ever expects them

[@historymatters8991]

You know when you're a nerd when you get excited and do a little happy dance about your favorite history guy talking about the silt road lol😆 🤣

[@theawesomeman9821]

I'm dancing ;p

[@oliviasminifoods4255]

Is that for transporting sand? Xx

[@ZiBiTmusic]

(not sure this will reach the editors of Geographics but here goes...) For those who want to dig deeper, not so long ago an expert in the Silk Road passed away. His name was Aloïs Van Tongerloo, a Belgian professor and an eccentric figure (one would almost say an "idiot savant") who could speak and write numerous old languages used on the S.R. (hell, even knew the difference between East and West ) and at some point was invited to teach the then crown prince of Thailand. His passing away caused a little stir in the academic world. (I know his ex-wife and she talked about academics calling her in a bit of a panic). He wrote some books and his name is mentioned in various papers of other scholars and professors, but you won't find anything on KZbin for instance. As I said, it's a bit of a deep dig.

[@yunglibd]

so I searched him up and turns out his wife was a Titanic survivor!

[@Dank-gb6jn]

Please cover Çatalhöyük! One of the most stunning Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city sites in Anatolia. The site is one that Terrence McKenna (of “Food of the Gods” fame) claims helped human language flourish along with the ritualistic use of psilocybin containing mushrooms. What he uses to illustrate this theory (at least for the ritual use) is the presence of cattle gods, (as P. Cubensis mushrooms typically grow on cow manure) and even a “Mother” Goddess.

[@FortuneZer0]

Yea, some more content on all the proto greek stuffs in anatolia would be interesting.

[@Dank-gb6jn]

@@FortuneZer0 glad you agree!

[@PopeyeBjj86]

Yall stopped askin for carlin 😂

[@Dank-gb6jn]

@@PopeyeBjj86 nah, Carlin is requested on Biographics.

[@the-chillian]

"Journey to the West" was more the inspiration for the original Dragonball. In the novel, one of the characters, a protector of Xuanzang -- fictionalized as Tang Sanzang -- was the Monkey King, whose name was Sun Wukong. When the novel was imported to Japan, this name got altered to Son Goku, which you probably recognize. With Dragonball Z, the storyline drifted so far away from the original inspiration that it essentially has nothing to do with it at all. Not to mention the subsequent Dragonball series.

[@TheWriteFiction]

Dragonball was great. Dragonball Z was good. Dragonball Super is... ass.... So I both thank and shake my fist at the Silk Road for this gift.

[@oldman0995]

These types of detailed and informative videos are becoming my favorites well done

[@zaco-km3su]

If I remember correctly a Central Asian country managed to find out how the silk was made from the Byzantines and became quite famous for its silk because of the high quality. I think it was Azerbaijan? Uzbekistan is also known for its silk production. A video on the Silk Sea Routes would be interesting.

[@chrisgrakul3350]

Great video. I've been hoping for an Ibn Battuta Biographics for ages. Happy to see he got a mention here, and hopefully we'll get a full video soon!

[@theawesomeman9821]

I thought he did a video on him on Biographics?

[@owenshebbeare2999]

The Biographics channel is just an endless stream of tiresome Americans.

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

Just watch Extra History on the guy...

[@HeyMJ.]

An excellent BioGraphics episode re the Silk Road. It’s info-rich & engaging w/many branches to expand-upon in the future. Thank you!

[@kathyjaneburke2798]

Fascinating! Another brilliant story from Factboi.

[@paulepatterson1760]

Sometimes, if you close your eyes, Simon’s voice sounds like it has been sped up. No…not sometimes…all the time. Love ya, Simon. Love the vids.

[@andyandroid5345]

But he has gotten slower over the years.

[@tommykelly1221]

Simon honestly I'm so grateful for you in general! You really are way more than just a KZbinr! Nearly there for your 1mill subscriber button for this channel! You keep doing you and we will all be just fine! Love from Dublin!

[@irjonesy]

I love the analogies that extend out to the scale of the universe. Veins, roots, roads, solar systems, galaxies, filaments…

[@Thehomelessathlete]

Ethan_hawk_d AKdookie7 glockdookie

[@josephallen9102]

I love this channel along with biographics. I would love it you released these as a geographics podcast just like biographics.

[@micmac274]

In my sidebar is "Planet Uranus - Probing the Ice Giant" Simon... that's as old as when it was first discovered

[@davidcarroll1991]

Love Simon on this channel! One of the best channels on KZbin hands down!

[@Dugga22]

Love this channel. Great narration Simon.. Writing is always to notch as well.

[@Thighweaver]

Wow that whole thing about Seneca sounds awfully familiar about another empire I know....it's got an eagle, fasces, marble statues and monuments too...as well as a senate Another note I wish they would build a super highway and rail system from Portugal to Japan.

[@firstcrazyunclecam]

good one Simon, I really enjoyed this vid

[@13thravenpurple94]

Great work 🥳🥳🥳 Thank you 💜💜💜

[@monckey44]

the bit about buddhism took me back to my days in sunday school. any other buddhists grow up learning about the silk road or was that just my church?

[@yourlocallander]

Bro I’m obsessed with history AND THIs IS FOR ME! I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS

[@Uzair_Of_Babylon465]

Fantastic video keep it up your doing amazing job

[@Thehomelessathlete]

Ethan_hawk_d

[@nunyabeeswax3936]

Yes, fascinating indeed! Thank you

[@beachboy0505]

An excellent video 📹 All encompassing knowledge

[@TheEvilCommenter]

Good video 👍

[@kevintaylor791]

How many times did you click the right arrow when Simon said squarespace? I clicked until an unskipable ad...

[@Historychap53391]

Love u man simon...🖤

[@scott2452]

One doesn’t usually send 30,000 men on a discovery mission or to set up just a ‘trade relationship’…

[@AmberAMC91]

So apparently your voice makes for excellent background noise while taking an afternoon nap. One minute hubby and I are watching a Biographics video. Two hours later, we wake up, and you're still talking, but it's an entirely different channel. Thank you for the lovely nap! Now I'll just need to go back and actually watch what I missed 😂

[@Teh_Monk]

Just when I was looking for something to fall asleep to, I find this upload from Simon. Sleep can wait, I guess. Time to learn about the Silk Road.

[@realdeal3554]

I hope you do the Caucus mountain areas

[@foodhistory1387]

Very nice!

[@jlee4039]

His deliberately snobby accent is hilarious!!! It sounds like an East Londoner playing Prince Charles, lol. 👏👏👏

[@desalegnfente47]

I like your information

[@islandwolfington]

Nice blazer! 🔥

[@DerptyDerptyDUM]

Love Arnaldo & Morris. 🥰 The authors that fascinate me by day and lull me to sleep at night.

[@arnaldoteodorani277]

Thank you, much appreciated! 🙏🏻

[@DerptyDerptyDUM]

@@arnaldoteodorani277 Right back atcha!! :)

[@acb9896]

Correction: The horses of DAYVAN, not Dayuan. Also known as The Flying Horses.

[@dillongage]

This videos only been out 4 months and I think I've watched it like 7 times. I retain a little bit more every time.

[@kimberlyperrotis8962]

Someone once said “Geography is History” (sorry, don’t know who) and it’s been true for most of human history. Only in the last century or two have geographic boundaries and barriers lost most of their limitations for us humans.

[@Ta1kingDirt]

The most amazing thing about the Tang dynasty is that they were able to found a dynasty on the production and trade of a powdered synthetic citris beverage.

[@rebeccahamner8795]

Awesome comment!

[@flamingoflyer8009]

The fact that the person who coined the term "The Silk Road" is The Red Baron's uncle is so interesting!

[@Xylo58]

The Silk Roads A new history of the world written by aforementioned Peter Frankopan is an absolute must read. Simply amazing. The end will blow you away.

[@someoneelse2716]

G'day Simon, do you or anyone else remember a sponsor you had a few years back that would help in writing a book? lay outs, timelines, character bio etc, I can't remember their name, and we all know you are reknowned for your memory) so was wondering if you could point me the right direction? I have already given you a lot of sweet watch time trying to find them, but have been unsuccesful, reckon it woulda been 2 or 3 years ago I last saw them, thanks mate, Mick

[@ramshacklealex7772]

I know this is 4 months old now, but you're probably thinking of either world anvil or campfire blaze

[@___max]

He sounds like he is starting to rap 1:02 sattle your camel travel 1000s of miles

[@darthsilversith667]

It’s all mine! - Kublai Khan

[@scooby45247]

seems like an oversimplification to call the silk road a trade route.. an artery was a better descriptor.. well done whomever wrote that piece..

[@kieronparr3403]

Well I mean you start with the simplification then explain more

[@abnurtharn2927]

Just for fun. Make a video about Rama, from Rendezvous with Rama. Would be interesting to see your take on it. Or perhaps that would file in under Megaprojects?

[@Boodster61]

Iv not seen you for a while, the beard is looking good 👌

[@birdwatcher1337]

I went to china in 2004 for a baseball tournament when I was 10. We went to Beijing, Shanghai, and Xian. We actually went to the silk road and there is all kinds of silk you can still buy there. They were hand making garments for people while we were there. I got a pair of silk boxers with hearts all over them and to this day I’ve never had a more comfortable pair of undergarments. The lady made them right in from of me in like 30 minutes and they lasted until I grew out of them. Hell, I still have them at my parents house in my childhood closet. China is a really beautiful country, unfortunately it is plagued by evil leadership which I wish more people would talk about. I know it’s convenient to get stuff from china but it’s worrying how little people talk about the atrocities going on there today. I digress, great video as always Simon.

[@marksawyer1522]

Simon all thru that vid you had a pair of pink earrings and it looked funny 😄.

[@barbaratanner5236]

Hey 👋 Fact Boy can we do an episode on Sukhothai, Thailand please? I was an exchange student there in 2004. 🌊

[@jamshaidmushtaq1811]

I knew a video on the Silk Roads wouldn't be possible without an appearance by Frankopan!

[@bedfortparadise]

The work load of this man is impressive, that episode was a PhD thesis not a youtube video. I love your videos but more your work ethic. I would say this type of content makes it difficult to get big views from causal youtube users tho. Goodluck

[@thatguy-jl4ni]

You should totally do the Leonidas beard. It almost their.

[@restanibalu]

1:20 “the name may ring a bell”. For Brazilians, it definitely does: Suzane con Richtofen became infamous for plotting the murder of her own parents (carried out by her boyfriend and brother-in-law). I had no clue about the relationship between the name and the Red Baron tough lol.

[@multiyapples]

I learnt something new.

[@alanhelton]

Nervous is correct with China being in charge of it we should all be nervous

[@EpicGamerWinXD69]

Since you just made a video on the Silk Road of old, maybe you should do one on the online Silk Road too. That said, I’m not sure which channel that subject would fit.

[@easycompany8225]

Maybe side projects, but if you’re referring to online Silk Road where people used to order illegal stuff, I’d prefer it if Simon stayed away from that kind of content. Not interesting in hearing a guy who loves history talk about online drug facilitation

[@dbojangles1597]

@@easycompany8225 The history isn't all that interesting anyway. Idealistic libertarian type kid creates darkweb market. Fucks up by doing some of the early advertising with an account linked to his real name so all it took was a google search to find him then fell right into a painfully obvious murder for hire sting with the feds. Now he's doing like 50 life sentences. If he manages to somehow find a way to upload his consciousness onto the net and live eternal to escape fate all from behind bars then i'll be impressed. Otherwise it's really not that great of a story.

[@PopeyeBjj86]

He did

[@dbojangles1597]

@@PopeyeBjj86 Oh yea? Sheeeiiit. Where can I go talk to the motherfucker? That's impressive.

[@EpicGamerWinXD69]

@@PopeyeBjj86 really? What channel was that on?

[@umbreona4559]

You should do one on the casual criminalist, into the shadows or decoding the unknown about the silk road dark web marketplace

[@PopeyeBjj86]

That DBZ reference has me stumped

[@ProdigyWright]

Songoku had a tail. Son Goku had a tail. That's where the similarities end. One Piece would have been a better comparison. (Monkey (who has powers from the sun) takes a journey from East to West)

[@dv4310]

KAAAAAAAAAA……MAYYYYYYYY……HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA….MAYYYYYYYYYYYY…….HAAAAAAAAAAAA*silk road*AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

[@JustinHusted]

I just stumbled upon the Wakhan Cooridor today. This thin little strip that extends way out from the northeast of Afghanistan, Home to the largest time zone difference in the world. Interesting that it was given to Afghanistan as a buffer zone as a buffer zone between the British and Russian empires. Wikipedia is pretty scant, but it seems like it would be the kind of place with a rich history. I wonder if there'd be enough there for ya'll to make a video.

[@LBetsy326]

Isn't there some debate regarding the rise of the Justinian plague? As some source it to plagues based in Africa rather than Asia? Much of which is attributed to crop failures as a result of a massive global disaster (suspect as either Krakatoa, tambor, one in North America, Or iceland) it'd does make sense to attribute this to the Silk Road but as plague seemed to emerge from south to north...

[@patrickbrumm4120]

Hat Tip to author Arnaldo Teodorani! Great script.

[@DonOmarRamiro]

14:01... What do you mean BLAME?! ...

[@roobscoob47]

a 'Whistle-Out' to Whistler~

[@the-chillian]

The dual nature of Christ is actually mainstream orthodox Christianity. What got the theology of Nestor condemned was the idea that Jesus of Nazareth was not God incarnate (i.e. not in "hypostatic union" with human nature) from the moment of his conception, but rather was "adopted" as the Son of God at some later time. This (so the Council of Ephesus alleged) allowed Nestorius to attribute some actions of Jesus to a man and others to God, and to say things like Jesus was glorified _with_ God rather than _as_ God.

[@matthewj0429]

Love your videos! I just want to mention that nestorianism teaches that within Christ there is two persons a human and divine person. However the other view that is mainstream is that there are two natures within the one person of Jesus Christ, the human and the divine.

[@tonykeltsflorida]

The new silk road leads to a Wal-Mart near you.

[@christiancox6635]

Nestorian Biographics please!

[@benjamin3290]

Agreed!

[@owenshebbeare2999]

Unlikely, that channel is now a tiresome stream of fairly obscure Americans. Apparently they follow the American notion that the rest of the world is unimportant.

[@geoffmcclelland2663]

the Plague first arrived in Europe via sea not road

[@FlamingBasketballClub]

Please do a collab video with Professor James Ker Lindsay. Would be beneficial for both KZbin channels.

[@mikeymikeshooms3581]

The silk road dark website was also an interesting story

[@WaywardVet]

If I had to do a school report on this saying what I learned, all I'd write is "The proper way to say Alexander's name is in a pro-wrestling announcer voice. THE STEAMROLLER FROM MACEDONIA, ALEXANDER THE GREAT!!!! ...oh, and silk road or something."

[@highwind4559]

I would LOVE to read "A journey to the West". Make a video of it Simon!

[@rjspires]

Is this a repost? A lot of this sounds familiar.

[@tehkt86]

Simon botch the Chinese name so hard yet so consistent, it basically create a new Chinese dialect out of it

[@seanbrazell7095]

It seems that in whatever form it takes, the silk road will always affect central nervous systems. Figuratively or litteraly. 🐫🚬💨💻⚖️🕷

[@hbsea4698]

anybody else ever play that mmo base don this back in the day? the rp in that game was nuuuuts

[@cleanerben9636]

and now a video on the other silk road

[@sarahton1n]

That Seneca quote is wild lol "Wretched flocks of maids labor so that the adulteress may be visible through her thin dress, so that her husband has no more acquaintance than any outsider or foreigner with his wife's body."

[@AlmostEthical]

Now, the world's nervous system is the internet.

[@patrickbrumm4120]

imagine how over-populated the world would be with the plagues

[@Jeremiah12thLvlGeek]

Wait... are you telling me the road ISN'T made of silk!? :o

[@bridgetdavis9752]

I first thought it said The World's Most Nervous System.

[@Manuel-gu9ls]

It felt like I watched this before...

[@mattBLACKpunk]

I used the silk road to get something for my nervous system if you know what I mean

[@Mypromiselive]

I like listening to Simon when I poo

[@twocvbloke]

Nowadays, the "silk road" is by air, road and sea, sending cheap goods (and not always good goods!) around the world... :P

[@thirstfast1025]

You should do a video on Sidoarjo, Java. Ppl fucked up drilling and released many metric shit tonnes of salty mud into a community.