How Far Back In Earth's History Could You Have Survived?

[@HistoryoftheEarth]

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[@brianbrian1769]

Quit stealing subscriptions you rotters. I didn't subscribe. An apology would be fitting I think.

[@ShauntSerelu]

​@@christosvoskresyeliterally Shakespeare used a singular they. It's been grammatically correct to use they when you don't know if it's he or she since the 1400s.

[@tarstarkusz]

You should fire up your VPN and get a real microphone. The audio in this video is absolutely horrible., SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS goes every S your voice makes.

[@AfricanLionBat]

This video is absolutely amazing. Great job! I loved it.

[@AfricanLionBat]

​@@christosvoskresye you got distracted because he used they? What a stupid thing to worry about. First of all using they is appropriate for an individual. It is extremely common speech but I'd be surprised if you even had any friends to talk to. God it never ceases to amazing how incredibly stupid and insufferable people are. This guy turns out a stunningly beautiful hour long documentary with graphic visuals and here you come with the dumbest critique imaginable. If you have children (I'd be extremely surprised) are you going to tear apart everything they do, regardless of how well done it is, because it has one meaningless mistake? It's especially egregious because what you're critiquing here isn't even a mistake. You're the one that's wrong. From APA: The singular “they” is a generic third-person singular pronoun in English. Use of the singular “they” is endorsed as part of APA Style because it is inclusive of all people and helps writers avoid making assumptions about gender. Although usage of the singular “they” was once discouraged in academic writing, many advocacy groups and publishers have accepted and endorsed it, including Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary. Singular “they” is covered in Section 4.18 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition

[@someoneelse1441]

I'm only in the half, but I can't keep thinking how accidentally exposing the young Earth with modern microbes could've changed the entire history.

[@mottmatt7844]

I've been wondering for a while what the earliest time is where you could leave a flower pot with the hardiest plants that exist today behind.

[@ComradeArthur]

"A sound of thunder" by Ray Bradbury.

[@celticfox6712]

But as it would have already happened, there would be no change - the future would still be as it is now.

[@matthewpollock9685]

Great point. Mostly unrelated, but that reminds me of a thought I had when I first read The Martian. Spoilers if you care: As soon as Watney's hab decompressed explosively, much of the bacteria he was using in his potato farm would have been blown into the Martian wind to be deposited across the landscape. He completely contaminated the entire planet! At any point after that, if remains of dead bacteria are found on Mars, scientists would have to prove conclusively that it wasn't from the incident at Schiaparelli Crater.

[@dotnet97]

​@Matthew Pollock that sort of thing is exactly why Perseverance is putting down tubes of samples right now. Any human presence, even without accidents, immediately taints the planet. Hell, it's very likely already contaminated considering how often we find microbes to have adapted to the clean rooms the spacecraft are assembled in. But at least right now we can still assume that any microbes to survive the trip are likely a narrow set of extremophiles

[@KiwiCatherineJemma]

Clarification and Correction, at 38m50 seconds, the Native Alaskan woman was NOT entirely alone. A cat had been taken up with their expedition and the cat also survived, and returned safely back to civilisation in Southern Alaska, with her.

[@EShirako]

Ok, a /cat/ would definitely make living with no other people like that quite a bit less horrible...and a cat would help keep the bed toasty-warm too! ^_^

[@hyperturbotechnomike]

I imagine a stranded woman, completely alone in the wilderness holding crazy conversations with a cat to compensate the loneliness

[@Elrond_Hubbard_1]

@@hyperturbotechnomike I've ben living by myself for the last 6 months (with my pet cat) and this comment hit a little too close to home, haha.

[@PurpleNoir]

@@EShirako I hope she lived a happy-ish life at the very least.

[@tookay5]

lucky for that cat she found other food sources.

[@lild1583]

I think an interesting point not normally talked about in time travel is if you are going back in time to that exact point, you would be floating at a random point in space however many years back.

[@dontfrybaconnaked]

You might also be a giant if the volume of stuff in an expanding space is also relative.

[@jamdoodles]

That’s assuming gravity doesn’t affect your particles simply because they’re observing time differently.

[@Games_and_Music]

That was my main reason to think that backwards time travel was not possible, and honestly, it took way too long for it to be truly ruled out officially, as i think they've only recently given up on finding a possibility. But yeah, i used to argue; how do you un-eat an apple, un-poo your food, reverse orbit around the Sun, reverse the Milky Way etc., just to go back 5 minutes in time or something, it just doesn't make any sense. Maybe you can reverse entropy in some localized and controlled area or object, but for us to reverse entropy of the entire Universe, nah..

[@Knaeben]

I'm sure any would-be time travelers would have taken that into account.

[@DzzO]

​@@dontfrybaconnaked the space is always expanding but material objects inside it remain the same. Molecular forces are strong enough to keep everything together

[@cyriak]

Plot twist: the time traveller eventually returns to their own time only to discover they accidentally ate the ancestor of the whole human race, which no longer exists

[@hackarma2072]

I could never forget cows & cows & cows or baaa. I'm surprised but glad to share a point of interest with you, wow. I'll watch the newer videos now, have a good day yourself ! 😁

[@isekaiexpress9450]

Recursive twist: his intestinal flora becomes the primordial soup, becoming the ancestor of all life on Earth.

[@Qbgarden]

How was i suposed to know we were reptile iguana things 400 million years ago? Not my fault. Lol

[@farmergiles1065]

Would I need to change my name to Adam?

[@sayvionwashington1939]

Imagine stabbing some Mesozoic era scrunkly to death, only to get painfully erased from existence .

[@Maderyne]

I would think any time travel to the past would be suicidal. You don't know for certain if you will be safe when the machine stops, and you appear. It could be miles above the earth, or deep within, buried under tons of rock. If time travel to the past were feasible, wouldn't it be safer to be in orbit with the ability to land back on earth, thus avoiding any surface irregularities? It would be a shame to go back 4.5 billion years only to find yourself floating briefly in a lake of lava.

[@TheFinalChapters]

I mean, if we're being realistic, time travel would cause *you* to go back in time, not the world around you. It would also cause you to explode almost instantly, as human biology doesn't work in reverse. And if you really want to try to cause the entire universe (or at least the entire planet) to reverse in time, you would similarly cause it to explode, thanks to the reverse butterfly effect. Not actually something that would be practical.

[@tonytaskforce3465]

This is exactly why time-travel is against the law in most countries and epochs now. Good thing too. Remember what things used to be like?

[@DaveTexas]

You’d actually end up in intergalactic space. The Earth is constantly moving around the sun. The sun is constantly moving around the galactic center. The galaxy is constantly moving throughout the universe. If you went back half a billion years, arriving in the same location from which you originated, you’d be however many billion kilometers away from the Earth that the Earth had moved in half a billion years.

[@skhotzim_bacon]

Yeah even if you were to go back a couple of years you'd be a very vast distance from earth

[@concept5631]

​@@DaveTexas Yeah time travel seems to be more trouble than its worth. Imma stay home.

[@purplehaze2358]

Technically speaking, the farthest back you can go and still survive is a pretty debatable subject because, if you go back far enough, your immune system will be aeons ahead of its time; and, thus, you likely won't have resistances against many of the current viral, bacterial, and other microbial threats of whatever period you go back to, with a good chunk being extinct in your time, and the rest being very, very different from their modern counterparts.

[@p0tmuffin69]

you'd also introduce very very insidious pathogens that may absolutely decimate the local flora/fauna

[@iowafarmboy]

No doubt doing this is a VERY bad idea from the standpoint of introducing microorganisms to time periods WAY before they should be on the scene. But, this is an interesting thought experiment from the standpoint of basic human needs. Although I'd argue that the traveler would be fine before fruits, as humans don't really need to consume carbs. Just protein, fat, and certain vitamins and minerals.

[@TheCriticom]

"and, thus, you likely won't have resistances against many of the current viral, bacterial, and other microbial threats" True but those microbes also have no way to penetrate a modern Human cell either.

[@alexv3357]

@@TheCriticom That's not how immunity - or evolution in general - works. Natural selection doesn't follow a linear or cumulative progression towards some distant ideal, and whether a pathogen is capable of attacking another organism's cells is fairly scattershot. Modern organisms are no more or less "advanced" than those of the past, just different. They're not like outmoded technologies or legacy software. If a modern human went hundreds of millions of years back to the past and interacted with enough organisms, they would likely find themselves on the receiving end of just as many infections as they themselves spread.

[@Oberon4278]

Your immune system already knows how to fight every infection. Even those that never existed. Okay not HIV, or certain other rare exceptions. But those require a modern human immune system to co-evolve with, so pre-human infections wouldn't have access to their tricks. You'd be fine.

[@imienazwisko6527]

Honestly I think a human probably could live in the carboniferous. If the inuit can survive on a diet of mostly arctic marine mammals, with little to no plant matter, I think the right balance of terrestrial arthropods, shellfish, fish, primitive amphibians, and the few edible plants would also suffice.

[@BigShrimpin_]

Especially since while the coniferous pine cones and similar aren't edible, the fruits within them are, that's what pine nuts are. To comfortably survive, the late cretaceous is probably best, but to just survive, you could probably scrape by in the carboniferous.

[@aazhie]

@@BigShrimpin_ If there's very little or no competition for the pine nuts, it would definitely be easier! Humans also can live off modern insects and seaweeds. If the ancient species aren't toxic, they'd make for a far more varied diet than just fish alone!

[@studiesinflux1304]

I also think the human would be able to live comfortably in the Carboniferous if they had a bunch of basic power tools. - Get protein from the sea life - Use a solar powered mill to crush indigestible stuff to extract some vitamins (as tea or juice) - Tap trees for sugars (although there may be a few steps between sap and sugar) -- Of course if you extend that with enough stuff from the present day or advanced enough tools, you’d defeat the purpose of the experiment because you’d just have a domed greenhouse and factory similar to what we think a Mars base would be.

[@משה-ב1ט]

35% oxygen = feel drunk giant bugs trying to eat you -- big minus giant reptiles trying to eat you -- double big minus giant sharks and other lovely sea critters, such as enormous sea scorpions, will definitely like to see how you taste if you get in the water with them -- bummer. But you could eat the pine nuts and cedar nuts, assuming the ancient species are non-toxic, like the modern ones. The pine needles will provide at least vitamin C. Other vitamins could be had, most likely, from fish. You'd be just fine as far as stuff to eat, in the carboniferous, most likely. The real problem would be avoiding being eaten. And the sheer yuck factor of the huge bugs.

[@thekueken]

..what about the sea weed?

[@jasonyee6533]

No words can describe how magnificent this channel is. This and the universe channel are on another level. Bravo!

[@grindingice]

Agree

[@friedix50]

definitely deserve more attention

[@Francois424]

A TV channel should pick up these shows and make a mini-series with them. Good lenght and production value

[@PaulThatcher-iu5in]

Truly excellent: comprehensive, scientifically sound, yet accessible... I have to say, the rather 'literary' tone of the narration actually added to the experience, giving a touch of seriousness and solemnity - appropriate, really, when the subject is just how precarious the interplay of chaos and stability that we owe our existence to actually is. Thanks!

[@countmobius]

Beautifully thought through and put together. A real treat. Props to all of those involved in the making of this. Thanks!

[@statutesofthelord]

The thumbnail mentioned "4 Billion Years" so it appeared that this video was a comedic production, and it was! You didn't think it was serious, did you? In fact, Jesus Christ spoke this world into existence roughly 6,000 years ago.

[@michellesheaff3779]

This was the kind of thoughtful exploration of prehistory I was hoping to find in the tv series Terra Nova. In the near future, humans have overpopulated and polluted the Earth to the point the air is unhealthy to breathe. The only escape is time travel for a chosen few to this precise period of time, when the Earth has just become habitable to humans--but the dinosaurs got there first. Instead of thoughtful exploration there was family drama and conspiracy theories. My review: "Too many whiny teens, too few whiny-teen-eating dinosaurs." So I was happy to see a scientific look at this concept. The series had a great premise that left me wanting a real analysis of the question. Seeing as humans have destroyed the wonderful climate of the Holocene, the question of what conditions humans can survive is relevant for the future.

[@statutesofthelord]

@@michellesheaff3779 michelle, when they said "4 billion years", you knew immediately it was a comedic video, not to be taken seriously, didn't you?

[@Dragon.7722]

@@statutesofthelord That's a nice argument senator. How about you back it up with a source?

[@statutesofthelord]

@@Dragon.7722 Dragon, Colossians 1:16 For by him (Jesus) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

[@Mirrorgirl492]

Yet another beautifully written, narrated and illustrated episode. Thank you so much to all involved for this gem of a channel.

[@statutesofthelord]

What is a "gem" about this channel, is that it consistently points out the ridiculousness of Evolution.

[@statutesofthelord]

@@InsatiablyCuriousSkepticSkeptic, "Evolution hasn't been observed while it's happening". So Evolution fails the scientific method.

[@cmdrgraves3308]

@@statutesofthelordOld book ≠ Life’s answers

[@statutesofthelord]

@@cmdrgraves3308graves, that "Old book" is what will judge us all on The Great Day of Judgment when Jesus calls us to account for what we've done with these lives he has so lovingly created for us.

[@ali.___..mrlegendman]

​@@statutesofthelordyes but Allah is only god

[@evilferris]

Fabulous storytelling. 100 times better quality than commercial infotainment sold to us by the likes of Discovery or the History channel.

[@vast634]

But I was missing the red arrow on the thumbnail, the techno beat intro, and the reminder to like and subscribe.

[@apelincoln]

I dunno man.... 100x0 is still not much to brag about and this felt better than that

[@briannevs2772]

Except thats what it really was...a story. It sacrificed a whole ton of time to actually educate in order to put forth a completely fictional and impossible narrative.

[@AyamineMISC]

this might be the best video to fall asleep too, I felt like I was myself in the traveller's seat as I was drifting to sleep. It's immersive, and as far as video of this genre on youtube are concerned this might be your masterpiece.

[@justinwatson1510]

Minor nitpick: the pH of pure water is 7; H represents free protons and p indicates that the value is the negative logarithm of concentration. Carbon dioxide dissolving into water would increase the number of free protons, but that would lead to a *decrease* in the pH. Otherwise, the wording in your script is downright beautiful in places.

[@mayureshjoshi4075]

As a student of geology this was a phenomenal watch. This video is most definitely going to be played in many Geology classes from today till eons to come.

[@feiryfella]

It's such a great subject! Hope you're enjoying it!

[@lazeppelini123]

I love how people talk about the future eons later when they don't even know what tomorrow will bring 🙂

[@BlackSakura33]

I agree

[@tarstarkusz]

I hope no students are subjected to the awful audio in this video.

[@MlleAventure]

@@tarstarkusz there is nothing wrong with the audio and the point of sharing a video in class is for it’s pedagogical value :)

[@kentakiman_gmd]

We have been waiting for quite long for a new episode, but it was worth the time. What an excellent way to sum up the entire history of the Earth. I always love the beatifully narrated script accompained with the calm music and the gorgeous images. It makes me really want to be that time traveller who could step out to the ancient world: so familiar, yet so alien to us.

[@scottwilson4149]

This is such an inspiring program, as well as the History of the Universe. This episode ties together concepts and time lines, shedding insights I have never considered before. With the unique storytelling, seamless production values, and commitment to accuracy, it demonstrates what I can aspire to.

[@eevaaasa8897]

Absolutely wonderful as all of the History of the Earth and History of the Universe episodes are. Huge thanks to the team who produces this amazing content!

[@tremainetreerat5176]

Everyone using YT is quite fortunate in their ability to freely access content produced by the Kelly bros. The material they produce is passionate, objective, thoroughly-researched history--an absolutely vital component to the lifelong pursuit of educating oneself. I'll be listening with gratitude & admiration for what you guys do, as well as how you do it 🎧

[@andrewtovey7633]

One of your best episodes yet. Beautiful, simple, deeply informative, full of the joyous mystery of existence. Keep them coming!

[@CMVBrielman]

You have answered how far back *a* human could have survived. Time for the sequels: how far back could a *group* of humans have survived? PS, a few seeds from modern plants would likely extend the time frame by several million years.

[@feiryfella]

Some paradox huh? ;)

[@iowafarmboy]

And I'd argue that he could have stopped sooner, as humans really don't need carbohydrate rich foods.

[@StuffandThings_]

I'd honestly say a group of people would make things harder; more mouths to feed. Considering that the Maori managed to survive and thrive in New Zealand, which in the very early days of colonization (before all the forests got trashed, the wildlife pushed to endangerment or extinction, and many modern plants brought in) closely resembled the Late Cretaceous, that time period would be a safe bet. Even then they managed to hunt the Moa to extinction and ended up with lots of tribal conflict afterwards. And they did bring sweet potato, which did kinda end up like bringing a more modern plant into a very ancient landscape. I imagine any earlier than that and you would start to run into issues with gathering enough edible plants to sustain a large group of people, so my bet would be similar to the video's conclusion. A very skilled survivalist or small group could probably scrape by in the Carboniferous.

[@raidermaxx2324]

i don't think this is really the point of this, and more just a catchy title (click bait).. Because it should be how long can they survive before they need to eat or die from pathogens or get eaten by a predator or something

[@lomiification]

Plants also rely on the history of life making useable dirt. Plants too can be poisoned and need specific conditions to grow

[@StuffandThings_]

Considering how closely New Zealand resembled the Late Cretaceous upon its first discovery by humans, its almost certainly possible to thrive. Similar composition of many ancient gymnosperm groups (with a few species virtually unchanged since that time too) and a good sprinkling of some fairly ancient angiosperm groups as well. Not to mention a lack of mammals with large birds filling in most of the niches. The Maori did end up hunting all the Moa to death and broke out into lots of tribal conflicts afterwards so it certainly wasn't great with a large number of people. They also may have waited a couple centuries between discovering the land and sending out a colonization force, and when they did colonize it they brought a few much more recently evolved essentials with them such as dogs and sweet potato. So clearly, not the _most_ appealing land for human habitation without some intervention. Even so, they managed to make it work and thrive, with quite a few people too. Humans are adaptable.

[@jengleheimerschmitt7941]

To this day, every time I think of New Zealand I get a craving for a traditional dog and sweet potato dinner.

[@StuffandThings_]

@@jengleheimerschmitt7941 Lmao, better than tree fern, tiny morsels of podocarp arils, cabbage tree root, and fish I guess.

[@NZBigfoot]

Yeah some of the first people to arrive and live in NZ had issues... NZ's natural flora outside of the ocean is REALLY poor nutritionally. Theres even evidence they almost died out from lack of food resources, but eventually made it work... then hundreds of years latter my ancestors from Europe turned up and found the place really hard to survive in too, but those who'd arrived before at least had some pointers to help out along with us new comers technology and introduced species.

[@anthonydahl5454]

Hard to describe how good the text and the narrator are both so good ! What a great video !

[@DanielVerberne]

This is an excellent piece of content, for which I'm very grateful and appreciative. I'm a 43 year old IT professional from Melbourne, Australia and my passion is science and learning. This content blends established science (including some necessary conjecture and guesswork) with a genuine sense of wonder and awe. The narration is excellent and the script is positively spellbinding. Finally, I'd like to say that I really appreciate someone making educational content like this that is neither dumbed-down nor made by someone who thinks we all need shiny things and rapid editing to hold our attention. By the way, I had always assumed that the increased oxygenation created by the likes of Cyanobacteria caused all extant (anaerobic) life to become extinct, but you explain that instead those early lineages had to be able to adapt to those changes and that for a while there were likely pulses of growth and die-back across many ecosystems. Fascinating stuff.

[@dthomas9230]

The coral dying off in FL and HI are close to extinct due to 90-degree F water temps. Marine biologists are injecting artificial coral anchors with live coral bound to the surrogate that can survive but reproducing is hard...no coral porn has been developed yet. Pandas are likely to blame.

[@DanielVerberne]

​@@dthomas9230 Thank you for explaining - yes, the coral heat adaptation challenge seems a very serious one. I suggest the corals are watching too much porn, leaving little room for their own reproduction!

[@wordsofcheresie936]

Others have pointed out that the travelers would bring modern organisms with them. One really huge advance in evolution was antioxidants. The early photosynthesizers produced oxygen, but the same oxygen killed them. It was only with antioxidants in organisms that oxygen and life could really take off. If these genes were released into earlier ages, it could bring about complex life much earlier. I wonder if phytoplankton or algae released into the Archean eon could survive.

[@niclas3672]

The reason we can't see stars during the day is not the atmosphere, it's the brightness of the sun. With a thin atmosphere or a complete vacuum you would not see stars in the daytime sky. On the moon during the day for example the sky is just pitch black.

[@JamesF0790]

Not to the human eye. We have a much larger range than a camera. Without an atmosphere the light isn't difused. The brightness of the sun itself won't make any difference as long as you aren't looking at the orb.

[@niclas3672]

@@JamesF0790 The light would still be reflected upwards by the surface which would be everywhere you look, I'm pretty sure it would be waay too bright to see stars given how much dimmer they are. I guess one way to test it would be to be outside at night when there are clear skies on a floor completely covered by bright glowing panels shining upwards, and with a spotlight at a brightness and distance that would be roughly equivalent to the suns brightness. So like right up in your face if it's just a normal flashlight. Or you could just do the math I suppose, there are ways to measure brightness and you can look up the range in brightness our eyes are able to see.

[@JamesF0790]

@@niclas3672 Not in a vacuum. Light scatters in our atmosphere and that washes out the stars. The less scatter the more you can see them. Astronauts in space can see the stars whether the sun visible or not.

[@JamesF0790]

@@niclas3672 The issue with the light idea is that you're doing it inside an atmosphere and it'll provide a scattering effect for the light.

[@stevedavenport1202]

The sun was also far less bright at that time.

[@FloozieOne]

Hoooray! A new episode and its a doozy. As usual your calm and magnetic voice carries huge amounts of information without a crack in the narrative. You've done it again, another masterpiece, thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and lovely personality with us.

[@flux928]

The time machine would have to be activated in a spaceship. Not on earth because time and space are connected. It takes 230 million years for our solar system to orbit the Milky way, which is also 100,000 light years across. You would need to calculate the exact point in space where the earth WAS in the past.

[@azeomcstill]

Agree, the milky way galaxy is also travelling through space, and space is expanding too, so vast difference in location, you would also have to match your relative velocities and bearing on arrival because who knows what the vectors would be after travelling in time, so a faster than light spaceship, or an infinite improbability drive...

[@williamlangley1610]

During post Hadean the moon was almost fully developed, but was ONLY 1/3 of today'distance away and moving fast. The tidal forces served to add energy to the moon to move it out and earth's rotation slowed...this means that at post Hadean the tides were more like gigantic tsunamis!!!

[@KarlBunker]

It ticked me off how the display in the time machine kept showing a globe with current-day continents, when the actual appearance of the earth all those years ago was much different. Still, I enjoyed this a lot!

[@thelaughinghyenas8465]

I think you could survive earlier. Ginko trees are mostly edible, although they aren't always pleasant. Pine trees have pine nuts in the cones. Some ferns are edible, especially when cooked.

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

Yes. There are numerous gymnospermxs with edible seeds including Ginko and pines. In addition Cycas revoluta is used to make one form of sago, leaves of Gnetum are edible as are young shoots of many ferns.

[@eekee6034]

Watching that segment, I was thinking, "But mah pine nuts! Gimme mah pine nuts!" I love the things. XD But seriously, do these plants have the kind of starch we need to buffer our protein intake, and do they have vitamin C? If not, would you have to resort to eating raw whale blubber for its vitamin C? And separately, I was surprised to see no mention of the excess oxygen which I gather was present somewhen around the Carboniferous, supporting hawk-sized dragonflies. I'm told the oxygen concentration was so high as to be poisonous to humans.

[@thelaughinghyenas8465]

@@eekee6034 , pine needles have vitamin C as well as A, B and D. Pako or fiddlehead ferns have the carbs and they have vitamin C. I definitely think we could make it in the Permian.

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

@garyallen8824 There are ancient palm lineages from before then that produce fatty fruit.

[@eekee6034]

@Gary Allen Interesting! I wonder what if any fish fats might contain vitamin C? I think it has a noticeable taste, being acidic and required in quite large quantities... I don't know, I'm all out of speculation. :)

[@patelboi7213]

Very well done. I really like how you included the modern day stories that connect the ideas you are trying to talk about.

[@CallmeKenneth-tb1zb]

I think you took some liberties on the shelter, given that the time capsule could easily be converted into a permeant shelter, but very interesting nonetheless.

[@raidermaxx2324]

i'm pretty sure this entire scenario was an exercise in the content creator "taking all the liberties possible " lol

[@TheFinalChapters]

Forget the time capsule, the traveler could just do the same thing early humans did: live in caves.

[@CarloTheAtheist2.1]

only a cameraman would survive no matter what catastrophic events happened on earth

[@brucemacmillan9581]

This is one of the better docs I've seen on KZbin. Well produced and narrated, with some interesting asides. However, one small point of order: Even if you could travel back in time, you'd have to travel back in space as well, as the planet has been traveling thru space all these eons. Otherwise, you'd end up... who knows where in empty space. But I guess the assumption is that as you travel thru time you'd also be traveling thru space with the planet, backwards or forward.

[@ChrisCoxCycling]

Did they ever get back? If not, have we found their time machine yet? 😉 Seriously, such a great video. Brilliant way to take us through the history of earth's environment and evolution.

[@raidermaxx2324]

well interesting point to make, because it is aactually for that reason that most scientists agree that time travel can never occur, because we would know about it, from the time travelling scientists coming back to create all those fun paradoxes, and to lets us know, about how we should'nt vote for a russian spy like Trump lol

[@owenshebbeare2999]

It was Keith Richards, he got out 4.5 billion years ago, and lived all that time until now. Sure, there are technical inconsistencies in my claim, the there it is.

[@fredkelly6953]

Yeah mate, found it out back. She's a dunny now.

[@mwbgaming28]

The traveller got eaten by a T-Rex and the time machine got wiped out when the astroid hit earth

[@jongeduard]

@@mwbgaming28 LOL. I was thinking the same about getting eaten by dinosaurs. :P

[@RedDeadRanger]

The thought of the Archean era makes me feel extremely peaceful yet terrified at the same time.

[@fernbedek6302]

Pretty sure you could get by in the Paleozoic. You don’t *need* fruit. Ferns (the plant) are edible (don’t eat me). Pine needle tea is also very high in vitamin C. There are also many nut-like gymnosperm seeds you can eat. It might not be as easy as once there’s fruit, but it’s doable. (Especially if you toss in the power of a mortar and pestle and cooking.)

[@Necro3Monk]

Vitamin C is the big fruit issue, and there are some sources outside fruit. In modern times, tubers and other plant parts have some, so ferns might work. A few animal parts have some as well, if these existed in the paleozoic thy could work. Fill in any extras with whatever meat you can catch, algae, moss, fungi, etc. for a balanced diet. (Humans being omnivores is wonderful, isn't it. :) )

[@fernbedek6302]

@@Necro3Monk Like I said, Pine needle tea. It was the main source of Vitamin C for some Native communities in Canada historically.

[@purplepinecone]

Plus, there's also many extinct clades of gymnosperms that existed around the Late Paleozoic-Mesozoic eras that existed alongside the extant gymnosperms we have today. I don't think there's any definitive proof of any species' edibility (not that I've actually looked for any), but I wouldn't be surprised if some crops and/or fruits we have in the present day could be mimicked by something like a Caytonia, or some kind of tuber or such. (Although, I don't think we know if any of those species were poisonous, either. That would be an inherent risk to eating extinct species, since you can't know what will kill you unless someone tries it, and in this case, it would be you.)

[@mattaku9430]

The thing is, i'm not sure if vitamin C evolved back then.

[@fernbedek6302]

@@mattaku9430 Vitamin C is a fairly basic molecule used by a pretty wide range of eukaryotes?

[@davidkos74]

This narrator will be my go to bed time listen. It will put me right out - that’s not a shot or insult - he’s very relaxing and puts me at rest quickly

[@lgaines4086]

I'd sure like to go back 200 years. Anything is better than now.

[@scott-qk8sm]

Really well done, loved the Time Machine concept to pull the viewer into the mysterious journey

[@EmilyXiong1999]

I think it should have been a malfunctioning toaster.

[@ImCrz]

All i could imagine was an old policebox lol

[@eekee6034]

I loved this time machine. :)

[@CressNess]

I really enjoyed this basically episode of stepping back in time as i enjoy the thought of much simpler times when there was less pressures of life with plentiful resources

[@patrickbyrne5070]

More chances to die… more chances to die horribly… not sure about ‘less pressures and resources’ when not only survival but atmospheric pressure is less suitable… even when there’s life theres nothing you body is even remotely adapted to dealing with… I wouldn’t be seeing the past si rose tinted … it’s always been worse. We’re just taking it back with extra BS

[@CressNess]

@garyallen8824 mianly thinking before commercial fishing( fish is the main diet in inuit culture) and the bountiful of bison before the influence of other groups killed them off. As the natives hunted them sustainable for up to ten of thousands of years.

[@beefbeef5342]

⁠​⁠@@CressNessthe natives killed off countless species of megafauna and more beginning the moment they first stepped onto the continent. Mammoths, camels, horses, ground sloths-to name just a few. Not to mention the magnificent predators that once depended on them. Even other species of bison that are now gone. The handful of animals that were left behind only did so because their biological adaptations allowed them to cling on to existence alongside humans. Not because they were being “sustainably hunted”. Nothing was sustainable about it. At least not for the vast majority of the time humans lived there.

[@sksk-bd7yv]

Thank you so much for this! Science and art - my two passions - expressed as one. Incredibly fascinating and inspiring.

[@eoachan9304]

You may wish to review the data on Gymnosperms such as gingko(edible seed once orated, eaten in Asia), and pine nuts. Some of this family also have an edible sticky sap, among them spruce is used to make spruce beer ;) In addition, the time travelers at 300 million years bp were lucky to avoid predatory or territorial synapsids and amphibians :) The Cretaceous of course, had predatory dinosaurs as well :)

[@jessem3149]

How fleshy and undefended are bodies are, we would be an easy meal.

[@jamesmartin9401]

The one thing I've always wondered is whether or not you'd be gravitationally locked to the Earth. If not, when you go back, the Earth would not be here yet. You'd pop out into deep space or smack into whatever was here.

[@WildWestRosie]

I am being hoist on my own petard. Every night, I use your lovely, calming voice to lull myself to sleep, and now that you have a new video, I find myself falling asleep whilst trying to watch it! I'll try again tonight, when falling asleep won't pose a problem.

[@mattsmith5421]

Will watch tonight but finally thank god it's been far to long of a wait for the best documentaries on here. Edit and an hour long 👍

[@appleratpipe]

Lmao, 90% of his videos is useless filler and slow speaking

[@captcorajus]

Amazing. The title of this video is a question I've wondered about many times. LOVE this channel!

[@thimization]

I like how this traveler considers a lack of fiber a deal breaker for survival, but a nearby T-Rex is fine.

[@Titancameraman64]

a T-Rex can be avoided nutrient defoliation can not

[@maximusdankimus5352]

You put out some of the best and most quality of content on space, earth and anthropology and my sleep schedule and I thank you

[@MattJohno2]

This was a beautiful video. I too have wondered and daydreamed what it would be like to explore the early Earth, although I personally would take a spacesuit and an oxygen mask with me. Edit: I had a small thought pop into my head while watching this. What if those early ediacaran organisms weren't animals at all, but Fungi? We split off evolutionarily from them later than we did plants. Perhaps these creatures were a failed experiment of fungi, and for whatever reason, it didn't work? Unless we already have cellular proof that they are animals.

[@76rjackson]

I believe I've seen this suggested elsewhere. It's an interesting idea and actually makes a lot of sense given the ability fungi have as saprophytes to digest eclectically. For certain fungi were the first to colonize land.

[@derekmeyers5966]

Haooti Quadriformis has identified animal muscle tissue. So, at least one species is an animal, and it's reasonably likely the rest are as well.

[@speedwagon1824]

They have cholesterol in them which is unique to animals

[@hi.moriarty]

"So, if you were taking a stroll more than a billion years ago, protecting your privacy would probably be the last thing on your mind." What an epic line!!!! 🤣 Great intro for your sponsorship. Well done!

[@andrew24601]

Thanks for all the wonderful content you make! I love listening to documentaries as I go to sleep, and yours are just perfect. Long videos, soothing voice, no sudden intense music or upsetting dramatising. I watch them over and over… History of the Universe is the same way!

[@JABoyle3875]

“If you ever travel back in time, don’t step on anything. If you do, you could alter the future in ways you can’t imagine…” - Abe Simpson

[@OsbornIOW]

This is one of the BEST videos i have seen so far on You Tube. A great mix of knowledge and imagination to create an engaging educational film. Wonderful. I with we had stuff like this when I was at school.

[@markofdistinction6094]

I always wondered what the atmospheric pressure was through-out history. Was the atmospheric pressure much higher in the past? The pressure slowly dropping as the solar wind erodes the atmosphere?

[@jasontoddman7265]

I have wondered that myself. Never been able to find a definitive answer. I guess that's still pretty well unknown.

[@76rjackson]

That's a very important question. Look at Titan, it's smaller but colder and so it has a denser atmosphere. Another important consideration is the effect of tides. I've seen calculations suggesting tides could have varied by as much as a kilometer from high to low. Tsunamis would have been daily occurrences.

[@nunofoo8620]

Wikipidea says the Hadean had an atmospheric pressure of above 27 standard atmospheres. I googled "atmospheric pressure in earths history" and there are various sources on the subject with some discrepancies in values depending on the source. I'm guessing it is not very well established.

[@Sashazur]

I guess very generally you could assume that from the start of the earth the atmospheric pressure has increased, since initially there wasn’t any atmosphere.

[@76rjackson]

@@Sashazur how do you figure? The proto planetary disk is said to have been "gas and dust". The earth literally coalesced out of thin air. No doubt atmospheric pressure varied over time but why would you think it was ever an airless ball of rock like the moon?:

[@mattlm64]

I think it's safe to say survival can be had without angiosperms. Meat would have been available and I assume some edible mushrooms. Some other plants may yield edible seeds, stems and leaves though opting for a carnivore diet is probably the safest way to go back in the Carboniferous.

[@phillipsanmiguel7725]

Yeah, the authors of this seem unaware that humans can survive on a diet of only meat. Artic explorer, Vilhjalmur Stefansson even claimed to be able to cure scurvy with an all-meat diet. That and the popularity of the "carnivore diet" today, show that despite our inability to synthesize vitamin C, it must be possible to get a sufficient amount from meat to survive.

[@rwandaforever6744]

Well, Conifera are edible, at least their seeds are, hence even Gymnosperma would be able to sustain a human. In smaller quantities, Ginkgo seeds are edible, too. And you could eat fungi (if they are not toxic) and algae. It may have been less tasty, but you could survive on that diet, complemented with fish. As is mentioned, you can survive a purely animal based diet, if you know where to get your vitamins.

[@bananahpolkadot]

LOVE THIS!! The way you wrote the video made me feel like I was there. I’ve been listening to it to fall asleep since I discovered it!

[@charleshutcheson2506]

Thanks to all who hand a hand in the making of this. Truly mesmerizing.

[@sp_ce.]

Found you recently and quickly watched all your videos. Amazing content and keep going dude. Thanks for the video.

[@EshwenAudanal]

I feel like one could survive pretty well in the late Jurassic, there weren’t a lot of leafy greens for you, and of course no fruit, but there were pine nuts and of course, meat, which people can sustain themselves on. It would be tricky for long term survival and I’m not sure reproduction etc would work well back then, but I would think individual survival with lesser quality of life would be quite possible as soon as there were fish. You’d get pretty sick of shark after awhile though at some times

[@buggsy-sb3if]

I think the narrator stated at least twice that pine nuts (seeds) were not digestible by humans, which is incorrect.

[@Titancameraman64]

Not all fish taste the same also insects are eatable they existent since 500mya jellyfish can be eaten that's 600mya some sponges are eatable

[@Tkmined]

As soon as I heard "Edicarian", I got really excited! Then the traveler ate my favorite fleshy mat... :(

[@jescon87]

Your narration voice is buttery smooth my dude

[@BalboaBaggins]

Glad with my KZbin Sponsor Blocker :)

[@singingsam40]

Beautiful storytelling of a time-travelling journey I've taken many times in my own head.

[@teapot_]

Once again excellent, another gem in your series. We have been very fortunate that circumstances have allowed evolution to do its thing over a great deal of time. I think, if we throw that away, then perhaps we are not such an intelligent species.

[@mr.yungthug5166]

Do one about the Jurassic age! Would love to see that, I think you do a great job, can clearly tell you put a lot of thought and research into your videos. Keep it up!

[@feiryfella]

Scroll through the past videos, they have done it!

[@mr.yungthug5166]

@@feiryfella not sure about the one of which you’re referring too…

[@kozmosis3486]

I like the creative elements in this fictional tale that were added for dramatic effect. They help to create a level of immersion to get us to imagine what it might be like to take this journey.

[@frietzsche]

This is my absolute favorite video ever. Such a great idea and presentation. I feel like I genuinely traveled back to the beginning of this beautiful place that we can home. Thank you for the free masterpiece

[@7lllll]

we can definitely survive no problem in the ordovician. seaweed, crustaceans, mollusks, and mushrooms are good enough, no need for flowering plants

[@meesalikeu]

EWWWWW

[@MarcusHalberstramVP]

We need to send you to the Ordovician and get you back after 5 years.

[@roblux3789]

Even Ediacaran. Latest cyrogenian had barely enough oxygen for no problem breathing. But the ice age would kill you within a night. So Nama Assemblage Ediacaran would be the farthest time you could survive

[@NotesFromTheVoid]

Plot twist: the first fruit the time traveller eats is super toxic and they die. It is incredibly funny that you could probably eat the ediacaran biota but the time traveller felt bad about it so decided to move on, what a mood. Wait, what would they use to make a fire, did they think to bring a cooker in the time machine but not that arriving during the late orbital bombardment was a bad idea, but didn't bring any food or water with them.

[@NotesFromTheVoid]

Also you can eat pine, and that's a gymnosperm, and seaweed, i don't think you'd need fruit.

[@isaactrockman4417]

I was thinking that same thing, there was no wood or anything, much less coal or oil lol

[@vargad3919]

Awesome! I would have loved to hear a reference to Theia some 4.5 Billion years ago. Would have been a nice cliffhanger to see Theia incoming, while the Time Machine is spinning up. Also, the duration of a day would have been nice for comparison. I remember a day was roughly half as long as today. And, last but not least, I would have love to hear a mention of the predecessors of our species in the last episode, so roughly 100 million years ago. I heard it might have looked somewhat like a squirrel? What's the first human predecessor we can identify?

[@peeperleviathan2839]

The reason he didn’t do that is because i think the surface was entirely lava then and even if it wasn’t the gravity from the i would rip open holes in the surface causing waves of lava to envelop the traveler

[@Titancameraman64]

The human race 100mya would have been just rats mice rodent basically 60mya we would have looked like squirrels and 55mya is went the first undisputed primate lived i forgot the rest just Google it

[@Titancameraman64]

Well day length would have been basically the same for a billion years during the boring billion I think it was 19 hours long so up till 1500mya it would be useless to show

[@Isawwhatyoudid]

If I'm stoned I opt for these over The History of the Universe. I need to be clear headed for those. Both of these are some of the best serial documentaries I have ever seen. You guys get so much right. Please keep em coming.

[@mariondiabolito4054]

I think they meant how far could you go back and survive without the time machine/arcology. The Hadean era was impossible, but the first time they reached open water, even though the oxygen was too low, they could probably have survived indefinitely. Hydroponics, solar power, etc. Complimentary protein crops. That way you don't need to even create a mini-ecology which animal husbandry demands. If we find a planet that's like Earth was then, we're going to call it beyond Earthlike.

[@VinsCool]

I would love to see a sequel to this video: "How far in the future could we survive?"

[@vast634]

The AI overlords will provide.

[@machevellian79]

Our solar system is rotating Sag A* at around 750000 km/hr, any time travel device would also need to be some sort of transporter, since everything is moving relative to everything else.

[@jesusisunstoppable4438]

It could just use the Earths Core Gravity as a relative gps coordinates. So even if it's weaker / stronger it's always their. Biggest problem is the rising / lowering of land / water. Even a few thousand yrs makes a big difference.

[@machevellian79]

@@jesusisunstoppable4438 The rotational forces of the galaxy are just one of the many relational motions occuring, there is no universal standard; everything is relative. Einstein is more correct than Newton. The entire galaxy is also moving towards the great attractor, our local galaxy group is flying away from the other ones, among many other motions we haven't observed yet. You can't travel through time without traveling through space because you can't stop moving, there is no universal field to compare against for reference. No 'ether', yet.

[@mogensschultzruhoff6770]

Where can you book a seat for such a time travel? This has to be the ultimative camping adventure. Would love to experience it. Very fun and interesting to watch. And to think we have to travel to a time as late as 100M years ago to really be sure to survive. It's like yesterday in Earth's timeline. A really great video, and I look forward to the next from you guys. Thank you.

[@kellysouter4381]

Ask Elon Musk, he's probably working on it!😄

[@darko714]

If Oceangate is booking, avoid it.

[@Ciubix8513]

I absolutely love this teaching approach, teaching about how the earth evolved using a beautifully written story

[@rodwellcort7503]

Your storytelling abilities are on a 1000000000000%.

[@PoorMansChemist]

About 1994. I'm HIV + and will die without daily meds in just a year or two. However, I am a chemist so if I could take the structure of the various antivirals with me and get fellow chemists together to make them as fast as possible then I could probably go as far back ad the 1930s, perhaps as early as the 1920s. Beyond that I doubt organic chemistry was far enough along to pull it off in time.

[@raidermaxx2324]

wait, wouldnt you just go back to before you got infected with hiv?

[@PoorMansChemist]

@@raidermaxx2324 And why precisely would the HIV I already have just magically disappear? If I go back in time the virus comes with me. How could it be any other way? You've watched too many movies.

[@Sashazur]

@@raidermaxx2324 The problem with that kind of time travel is that if you become a younger version of yourself, you have no memory of the future and the Time Machine doesn’t even exist yet. From the point of view of people in that time, it would either be as if a person with amnesia just appeared out of thin air, or it would be a new timeline where you were born as a normal person, just earlier than originally.

[@raidermaxx2324]

@@Sashazur what are you talking about? lol that's not how it works LOL

[@frankowalker4662]

Three days later, the Palaeontologist died from a mosquito bite. 😢

[@Na0uta]

This really depends on how you define survival. Do you mean can you stand there and not instantly die? Or more like can you build a new civilization? I would presume you can breath o2 as far back as the first animals to crawl out of water at least. And there would be some vegetation as well. Maybe a few million years before that would be the absolute limit of oxygen being in high enough supply to breath.

[@Titancameraman64]

O2 has been in the air in high quantities since the first mass extinction extinction O about a billion years ago

[@tbpjmr2869]

The writing in this is amazing! I could read novels written in this style endlessly.

[@ernestweaver9720]

This has to be the Best episode I have seen. Please thank Miss? Battison for the story line and of course you're self for Excellent Narrative. Patiently waiting for the next. Thank you.

[@jasonz9902]

If you think about it long enough......we breath bacteria poop.

[@dagtheking5739]

How do they even poop bruh? I thought only animals did that.

[@jodyknight]

Another beautifully scripted and delightfully illustrated episode, thanks team. Your combined efforts make for the highest quality content and for that I am truly grateful. Have a great week ahead all

[@Numba003]

Thank you guys for another beautiful episode (with a very fun frame story too)! I love your stuff! This whole channel reminds me of the book "Improbable Planet" by Hugh Ross, which is all about the history and development of Earth, the many special conditions which allow for life, etc. God be with you out there everybody. ✝️ :)

[@uniqueflowsnake]

Once again I'm reminded of a discussion that I had with a couple friends while high, 15-20 years ago, about time machines and how you can map out the plate movements and find a likely place in the earth's past where it would be safe to land... only to land on an empty part of space because the whole planet was in a totally different location in space back then.. whenever you went to, you didn't specify the where and you'd be in the middle of empty space or inside a star, an asteroid or whatever. fun times.

[@splitradix]

They made a mistake in the video animation, the map should be showing the different landmasses moving around.

[@uniqueflowsnake]

@@splitradix irrelevant to my comment. I was talking about the whole planet moving. The continents moving doesn't matter in this scenario.

[@johnnyknight6447]

The fact that we have evolved to create pressures to secure our information is something we should look into more

[@zaucy_]

FINALLY

[@neonity4294]

Imagine going back for like 2 billions years and the only thing you see are some marsian colonists seeding the earth.

[@SaltySteff]

Kinda takes the wind out of my sails tbh

[@filippetrovic845]

You could say anything but Marsian. Mars is a dead Planet.

[@RyanEglitis]

Pine nuts would like a word. Also, weird that they didn't bring any snacks, but are somehow able to boil water, despite the lack of anything to burn or a ready-made cooking pot to hold boiling water.

[@cpchehaibar]

Amazing, as usual. I wish you could make an episode about Earth inner layers. With your insight and style, it would be just great!

[@OSTATEboi419]

Whenever we talk about these huge time scales, it always blows my mind. No human can really wrap their mind around how long one million years truly is...let alone the BILLIONS of years that earth has been and will continue to be around.

[@Izzy-qf1do]

I want to go back to before Nord vpn was invented.

[@johanlahti84]

I want the internet to not have been a thing at all. If we went back there now, we would certainly perish.

[@dcdmacosey]

@@johanlahti84bro why are you talking like that 😂 "certainly perish"

[@johanlahti84]

@@dcdmacosey says the one using "bro" "uncultured swine!"

[@dcdmacosey]

@@johanlahti84 chill, you're not as smart as you think lil bro

[@johanlahti84]

@@dcdmacosey (Dunning Kruger) Mic drop!

[@Tamo8]

Perfect documentary to watch and relax on a Sunday evening

[@singhizhem]

Now here is a topic to add to this question. Was there at any point 2 (or more) planets habitable at the same exact time in our solar systems history? Was there ever a point in our solar system where Mars, Earth AND Venus were all habitable at the very same time? If not, what was the closet for this to have happened?

[@filippetrovic845]

Not even close. This is probably the most habitable time for Mars.

[@dominictarrsailing]

the time travel format of this one really puts everything in perspective!