Richard Bulliet - History of the World to 1500 CE (Session 3) - Valley Civilizations 8000-1500 BC

Topic: From the Origins of Agriculture to the First River - Valley Civilizations, 8000-1500 B.C.E. Part II
Speaker: Richard Bulliet
Date: 9/14/2010
Course number: W3902
Course title: World History to 1500 CE
School: Columbia College
Session 3 (9/14/10)

[@thilosavage]

Apparently there's a light saber battle happening off-camera

[@jonathankr]

hahahaahaaaaa man. so hate the audio

[@gretchendenaro6043]

Wouldn't you think Columbia would have better quality production ? Love the lectures so far.

[@MatthewMcVeagh]

At first I thought you were explaining why he pauses every 5 seconds.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

The lightsabers are there to fight off the lawnmowers. The Jedi vs the gardners. If the gardeners win, the audio problems will be much worse.

[@JonathanMiljus]

This made me laugh a lot.

[@bornforwater2]

0:11:15, he starts teaching. (Previously had been discussing future editions of the textbook which they are using.) For a while, he discusses racism and blood types.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

Thank you! The discussion of the textbook is pretty interesting with regard to rearranging and rewriting chapters to accommodate the needs of textbook buyers. It gets to the context of representation and inclusivity in the teaching of world history, and the thought required to accurately present history while also wrestling with the goals of representation and inclusivity. I find such discussions edifying. It doesn’t merely reveal historical biases-it examines them in the light of day, and dovetails with contingencies, ambiguities, and confidence levels of creating a history based on partial evidence. “This is what we think happened, based on what evidence we have.” This is college level stuff. K through 12 generally teaches history as “This happened” without complicated digressions into the thoughts and biases that went into reconstructing and presenting “what happened”.

[@_ata_3]

@@MarcosElMalo2 I also find this discussion very useful of how history gets made.

[@sohara....]

00:11:15

[@thattimestampguy]

3:07 Early China Celtic Europe Early Americas Nubia 5:07 Why jump away from South America? 7:06 Is it possible to write a universally taught history? 9:17 More Women! 9:48 More LGBTQ! 10:48 Fair and Balanced coverage 13:16 A group, B group, O group No grey area A - vegetable Agriculture B - dairy 🥛 AB - both O - meat eaters 🍖 19:10 Language Familys

[@MelBee128]

Thank you for your service.

[@mackenziemoyer8437]

Instead of textbooks, they should be making this available on a wikis or web pages and saying “read this many from category 1, this many from category 2, etc.” That way, everything can be included, but catered to local contexts, the learner’s own predilections, or a professor’s preference. There will never be a perfect narrative, so allow for flexibility.

[@samb9865]

love this idea!

[@jamesahern9864]

Have to watch at 1.5x speed

[@veejayroth]

i go 2x

[@andrefinger5124]

Why are there always sirens in the background? Is Columbia in a dangerous area or something?

[@AlJalandhari]

André Finger it's in Harlem

[@justicefreedom2722]

THERE'S A HOSPITAL ACROSS THE STREET

[@PhoebeTerry]

What is the name of the textbook for this course?

[@Dopaaamine27]

My left ear loved it.

[@bolsasnara3746]

what do you mean? is this lecture left wing?

[@TheCrimsonPain]

@@bolsasnara3746 The right audio channel was not working

[@bolsasnara3746]

amazing class

[@nguyentuananh3013]

You try to give the video more brightness it will be great if you do

[@jannarkiewicz633]

I'm enjoying it

[@rodsands4929]

Crazy how yale cant put out a decent audio version. You dont have someone for this?!?!

[@joesickler5888]

Well it’s Columbia

[@hamsteronion1428]

This lecture is great but it would be so much better if there weren't a swarm of hornets killing the cameraman

[@cynicalcyclist]

The Earth and Its Peoples

[@08kittyb]

Does anyone else watch these to fall asleep????

[@bruhmomenter]

same, been helpful so far

[@MarcosElMalo2]

Haha, I’ll watch two or three before bed, and yes, I do fall asleep during the third lecture and have to rewatch it the next day. Really, this is college lectures on KZbin in general, not this specific class. You might find them more engaging if you take notes and/or use them as writing prompts.

[@pulakification]

He can talk for an hour on history of spoon.

[@driteroj]

i initally thought that he was just interested in the history of even the most trivial things, but, in the contrary, he seems to have studied stuff like the wheel, or animal relations as instruments that potentially explain shifts in civilization

[@MarcosElMalo2]

Spoonography.

[@sohara....]

@DriteroCari I came looking for Richard Bulliet on KZbin because I'd read a book of his, The Wheel and the Camel, or vice versa The Camel and the Wheel, which looked at a seeming side issue: Why was the Wheel at use in ancient deserts of North Africa, and then gave way to camel for a long period of time? * The camel is a fascinating creature strangely adapted to sand and winds, snd heat, and long treks without water. The cities too: they were designed to cope with heat, and sand blowing in from the desert .... It's a wonderful read, with lots of pictures! 🐫 🐎

[@jonathankr]

For those who watch this in the future. Be advised he was being sarcastic when referring to Fox news being objective.

[@hellohuhify]

+jonathan krimer But... but... but Fox news self identifies as fair and balanced. Why would they do that unless they are in FACT both fair and balanced. You and Professor Bulleit are clearly mistaken.

[@jonathankr]

+I am Clyde and you probably aren't hahaha. You can't read sarcasm without intonation. Lol.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

What was kind of neat is that while it was sarcasm, he’s also acknowledging the impossibility of the ideal that he and his textbook writers must still strive for. I would call this “transparency of bias”. This isn’t cultural relativism, rather it is a recognition of the social context of studying and teaching history.

[@sohara....]

@@jonathankr Think there was a gentle irony in reply by I am Clyde and you probably aren't ... even his *name* is ironic! 😄

[@M_Lopez_3D_Artist]

im wondering about that girl in the black top wondering what she is doing 12 years later

[@readmelancholystrumpetmaster]

So grateful that beautiful blond turned around at the beginning of the lecture. I had been wondering what she looked like during the first two.

[@pulakification]

Weldon Mix I came here just coz someone said in second video she showed her face in this one.

[@ml4813]

Shes the only one i see diligently taking notes!

[@williamkao5747]

Recording is terrible, this episode picks up static, other episode has sirens

[@MelBee128]

If you are looking for actual details about history there are other lectures on KZbin that are better. There is a series of videos by a Notre Dame professor that covers prehistory through most of Western civilization. There are a whole bunch of videos by the Oriental institute where they get into detail about various things. This seems like it's more lectures on the creation of history and the historiography. I'd be interested to know what this class is. Is it supposed to be a survey? I know it's Columbia but usually surveys are more content based than theoretical.

[@FieldingBaxter]

Name of professor for Norte dame course?

[@BluJean6692]

This lecture is brilliant and all people can talk about in the comments is the sound quality and "bOrInG!!!" Why are you even here? Did you expect a 1hr ivy league lecture to be gripping entertainment? Is your attention span so short? Did you honestly expect him just to summarize history? It's FREE. Some of us are grateful for that, if you don't have anything intelligent to say then don't leave a comment, just go back to banging rocks together or whatever...

[@MarcosElMalo2]

Despite the technical issues, this is gripping entertainment for me.

[@sohara....]

Laughing out loud!

[@markstuber4731]

Lactose is a sugar. So if one is lactose intolerent they can eat cheases and cream, that have no sugars in it. That would explain why the Chinese can eat dairy products. Didn't ice cream come from China?

[@jasoncarrizales]

#COLUMBIAPRIDE

[@Aristides368]

One issue with this series of lectures is that the professor never addresses the fundamental questions, "What is history?" and "When does (did?) history begin?"

[@dpsycho1]

+Aristides368 I think he tackles it in the first lecture, somewhat. I agree with most of you that he is going slow and I think he is mostly promoting than giving a lecture. Promoting that world history is only taught in the US, other theories are noteworthy but wrong (J. Diamond, N. Chomsky etc) and so on. I came here looking for material on the middle ages to WW I continental European history (Germany, Holy Roman Empire, Italy, Spain) anything but British isles and Byzantium because there seems to be plenty of that.

[@polferiferus1938]

He covered it in the first lecture more than just a little. In essence, what History is is very debatable. He goes over what people debate about this.

[@malafunkshun8086]

He doesn’t address the issue directly, but more in terms of the teaching of world history. I think he assumes his students are familiar with this question (given it’s Columbia, that’s a fair assumption).

[@MatthewMcVeagh]

Between the mic buzz, the pausing, the erring, the monotony and the mangling of linguistics subjects I'm going crazy here.

[@veejayroth]

you can speed up the playback

[@MatthewMcVeagh]

@@veejayroth It's rare I ever do something like that, it might get you through it faster but the problem here is not the speed of his speech, it's the fact that it's interspersed with non-speech, plus other faults.

[@veejayroth]

@@MatthewMcVeagh I feel you. The double speed does mitigate those issues a bit as well.

[@BluJean6692]

its a free ivy league lecture; if you don't like it go watch football or something

[@MatthewMcVeagh]

@@BluJean6692 Hehe I'm allowed to criticise whether it's free or not.

[@sgould6862]

at 29:05 the bald guys farts......

[@hishamassi1530]

Hahaha

[@pulakification]

Steve Gould 29:24 follow up smaller fart ..

[@sohara....]

@@pulakification 😄

[@Rico-Suave_]

Watched 1:06:00 1:06:19

[@godspeasant]

@PressReview There is no such thing as an "original" thinker/idea considering that the very first idea in the world was made through the observation of the environment. And on top of that, since all other ideas were synthesized from previous existing ideas, no idea can be original nor new. He is a good lecturer though.

[@ffff4303]

Here is an original idea, then: I strongly disagree. Consider things which many denote as discovered instead of invented, to relax the constraint, such as formal mathematical ideas. The first time any organism discovers the hierarchical abstract notion of "all points equally distant from a single point" would fall under the domain of "original thoughts/ideas". I have no idea how one would consider the fact that spherical stars and planets exist for billions of years before the observation of them were possible by organisms capable of self-awareness "means" that the "originality of the idea of spheres" exists external to observation by living organisms or that "ideas" (or their originality) pop into existence in parallel with their formation in the universe before observations and representations are formed in the neural substrate of self-aware organisms or that the hierarchical abstract formalization of "all points equally distant from a single point" are derivative of some prior thought/idea such as integers. Integers are helpful in discovering and representing the idea of a sphere or circle or wheel, but are also not required to do so. Furthermore, while many other organisms discover ideas before others, it in no way means that they have a patent on the originality of some idea for all future organisms yet to discover them.

[@InfiniteUniverse88]

The San Bushmen can make more sounds than any other people. They're are also the most genetically diverse. Subsequently, they are thought to be the earliest people.

[@vasilioskouis1422]

gblt people in history? you mean like alexander, caeser, michaelangelo, wilde? why think of excluding them?

[@Aristides368]

Julius Caesar was rumored to have had an affair with King Nicomedes of Bithynia. There's no proof that an affair actually happened though.

[@jonathankr]

He wasn't interested in ignoring them, he was discussing how to categorize history. What Is a fair way to chunk/group history? was his point.

[@robertenglehardt9706]

He is very knowledgeable but this lecture is a mess- it is rambling without coherent structure for these poor people to make sense of- many interesting facts but I am still unsure exactly the theme of this really is?

[@realityloser8034]

Head shape doesn't correlate to anything important!!! (except intelligence)

[@yourmomsotherride2697]

the audio interference is killin me.... probably the lights and the wireless mic he has... change the channel on it.

[@Usammityduzntafraidofanythin]

Even if there's none of that in a textbook, simply having a forward at the cover giving notice to it should be enough.

[@mikes.7654]

Greatest cure for insomnia ever right here.

Disagree, Marx "Das Kaptial" still reigns as the all time solution to insomnia. Bullet is cool.

[@notgiven3178]

hhhhhhhwheels existed in some cultures hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhwhile not in others

[@discocunt2692]

This comment made me cackle

[@sohara....]

The Camel and the Wheel by Richard Bulliet. Great book! Slim too! 🌞 I loved the drawings of camels, the detail ... it's living history.

[@devinmanges6397]

Is anyone actually getting much from this? I feel like we learn very little in these hour long lectures - for example, last video I learned that the River Valley civilizations are not the first civilizations to arise, and have been viewed as the first due to convenience, and there is much controversy about domestication. In my opinion he is spending far too long discussing things that could be explained very quickly. And not much that is actually worth learning.

[@FakeWonder]

Maybe he does it so more people can buy his book..lol

[@Emp6ft10in]

That's because this far back it's all speculation. You can tell the professor constantly implies the need to think outside the box and personal bias when thinking about what could have happened. He consistently talks about how this is an evolving subject never really done before.

[@polferiferus1938]

+Emp6ft10in - Well put! And he's mecessarily raising more questions than answers. I once had a physics teacher who said (at the very end) that he didn't really care too much if you forgot every single thing from his class. What he really wanted was to teach (those who have the capacity for it) critical thinking skills. Any teacher (unless your in school to practice, say, medicine, etc) worth their salt would largely agree.

[@sandramian9547]

@@polferiferus1938 I had a similar teacher. And it is what I do for living now: trying to make people think (I work with innovation and Design Thinking), and it is quite difficult! We need more teachers that think the same way.

[@BluJean6692]

The part about energy profiles is crucial and novel. This is a lecture accompanying textbook readings and informal classes. You're not getting the full picture but even so there is an incredible amount of information here. You're probably just not very bright, sorry.

[@Wawi633]

It is really difficult to listen to a professor who says "uh" and "ummm" at the beginning of every sentence and between words. Ummmmm......ahhh....a.....just ahhh...say...ah...ing.

[@lyndabotez3274]

+howie fox ahhh I think most people do this.... try talking for an hour or more....

[@gretchendenaro6043]

He is worth making an effort to overcome that.

[@Wawi633]

Sorry Gretchen but I find him boring and not terribly enlightening. Listening to him is like reading a textbook on the subject. But I am happy that you enjoy his aaaaaahh...ahhhhhhhh...ummmmmmm,...ahhhhh...work.

[@polferiferus1938]

I see comments complaining of this all the time, or people saying they can bear lectures better at higher speeds. I'm fortunate, I guess, that this has never bothered me in the least. I wouldn't even notice it if it weren't pointed out. Lynda, I think your right. And this probably is less a thing in normal conversation (or less noticeable, anyway), than compared with the process of an hour-plus long one-way lecture. Some do opt to teach with a more direct back-and-forth style, but not every lecturer is able to pull off doing this, while covering the material they want at the same time.

[@BluJean6692]

Said the person who'd probably have a panic attack and start stuttering 4 minutes into any public speaking...

[@johnmurray9526]

Wish he'd stop saying "ah" combined with a sigh.

[@pjeffries301]

He says no wheel and no pack animals at 800 bc? Wha??? I'm out. This is embarrassing.

[@fayebradshaw4221]

I'm pretty sure he meant another number (8000 maybe? I'm not educated on the subject), I believe he also had a mistake when discussing languages, confusing 100 and 1000, I think he's just tired or something

[@pjeffries301]

@@fayebradshaw4221 Possibly, but with youtube there is reviewing and editing no? Makes me wonder what else is wrong. I was trying to warn others. Thx, Faye.

[@BluJean6692]

he meant 8,000BC, the rest of us knew that. Try to keep up, otherwise there's probably something on nickleodeon that's more your speed...

[@MarcosElMalo2]

@@BluJean6692 I think you overestimate his ability to grasp Blue’s Clues.

[@sohara....]

@ Pat Jay Have a look at his book on the subject... The Camel and the Wheel

[@kaloresikaloresi4541]

To many unnecessary digressions

[@MarcosElMalo2]

You’re missing the connections, which is why you think he is digressing.

[@mariusstana]

He did not talk about any relevant topic in this course.... I can tolerate the PC remarks that he dose... I do see world history as an important and necesary topic... But not like this !!

[@darleneechols2334]

why is it so hard for people to believe languages biggest leap occurred at the tower of Babel?

[@pjeffries301]

Ahh, sarcasm - humor for the weak minded.

[@pjeffries301]

Worst lectures in the history of the world - nonsensical.

[@chadbrockman4791]

Maybe it's your nonexistent attention span or lack of interest in anything that might be interesting to educated people.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

@@chadbrockman4791 pat jay is the guy who escaped from a mental hospital and was later found teaching at Prager U.

[@Charleschaplins]

The professor is too scatter-brained. He's supposed to help student reason? That's a laugh...Columbia U sucks...

[@scrapps01234]

Agree this guy is so scatterbrained and he uses "you know" and many other "non meaningful words" . his thoughts or at least sentences seem incomplete and in many cases nonsensical. And when talking about electricity he clearly has NO technical knowledge at all.... Reminds me of a 7th Grade Science Teacher I had that clearly knew very little about science but simply made up wild stories all the time to explain various phenomena ...

[@jomen112]

To claim it can be done better by pointing out how you personally find him to be "scatter-brained" evidence nothing. People are different, and maybe this type of teaching does not fit your particular style of learning and perhaps the professor, by the years, found out that this is the best way to to teach the largest number of students. How can one tell the difference?

[@jomen112]

_" and he uses "you know" and many other "non meaningful words" ."_ As opposed to not using non meaningful blanks spaces and quotation marks? _"his thoughts or at least sentences seem incomplete and in many cases nonsensical."_ I disagree. Would you mind to complete your claim? _"he clearly has NO technical knowledge at all...."_ I do not know what ought to be in a CV of a professor in history, but engineering is probably not part of it. _"Reminds me of a 7th Grade Science Teacher I had that clearly knew very little about science but simply made up wild stories all the time to explain various phenomena ..."_ Since you are not specific, you can take the luxury to claim anything you want about your science teacher. However, if I had to reason, I would find it more likely a 7th grader would not understand the teacher rather than a teacher not understanding the subject taught.

[@SuperDobieGirl]

Lol... most boring lecture everrrrrr. THIS will put you to sleep.....

[@evve183]

I just watch his lectures online and I wanted to like this guy, however, I agree Devin Manges.V Some unique perspectives are given, but its not really all the time spent listening to him. Why did he not mention Nikola Tesla?..Edisons adversaries.lmao. I give him a low 3 out of 5.

[@timothycampbell6107]

8000-1500 BC ಠ_ಠ

[@seanbennett2166]

Tesla wasn't born until 1499 BC. I give you a "dipshit"