💬 Would you believe there was a time before humans had consciousness? It’s almost impossible to imagine, but the theory makes more sense than you might imagine. Brian McVeigh explores the theory of the bicameral mind, one of the most provocative ideas ever proposed about human consciousness.

Today we speak to ourselves inside our own heads - and we understand that voice is ours. But for our ancestors, their minds were instead filled with the voices of Gods, the ancestors and hallucinations. This is the basis of Julian Jaynes’ idea, which McVeigh has built on.

⚡ In this episode we explore exactly what it means for humans to live without consciousness and why we eventually developed the minds and inner thoughts that we know today.

Don't miss an episode - subscribe now:

https://podfollow.com/what-we-did-before 

🎧 Stay tuned to learn about:

➡ What was going on in the minds of our ancestors, before self reflection

➡ Why religion may have been so common in pre-modern societies

➡ The importance of language and writing in the emergence of consciousness

➡ The downsides of modern consciousness, like anxiety and depression

➡ How technology may be changing consciousness

➡ How humans may one day develop artificial consciousness

About the podcast:

What We Did Before is a podcast where we chart the history of modern inventions, from how we kept food fresh before fridges, to how we survived without shoes and what came before AI.

About your host:

Ollie Guillou is an award-winning podcast producer and broadcaster. He's co-founder of OG Podcasts, working with the likes of New Scientist, Dr Karan and Lessons From Our Mothers.

Connect with Ollie:

Website: www.ogpodcasts.co.uk 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ollie-guillou 

Email: [email protected]

💬 Before we had cars, travel was unforgiving, exhausting and dangerous. Journeys we tune out now were once hard graft, plagued with setbacks, illness, robberies - and sometimes death. So what was travel really like for the people who came before us?

⚡ In this episode we follow three journeys of those who travelled pre-car. Firstly Ibn Battuta, one of the most extensive travelers of all time. Secondly Celia Fiennes, who travelled the length and breadth of the United Kingdom several times. And finally we tackle travel through the eyes of the working poor in Victorian times, for whom travel was essential for survival.

Don't miss an episode - subscribe now:

https://podfollow.com/what-we-did-before

🎧 Stay tuned to learn about:

➡ How one man’s pilgrimage turned into a 30-year fight to keep moving

➡ Why bad roads, bad weather, and bad luck could end a journey instantly

➡ Why the threat of bandits, illness and even execution were normal travel concerns

➡ Why inns mattered so much on a long, arduous journey

➡ Why railways didn’t end dangerous travel for the Victorian poor

About the podcast:

What We Did Before is a podcast where we chart the history of modern inventions, from how we kept food fresh before fridges, to how we survived without shoes and what came before AI.

About your host:

Ollie Guillou is an award-winning podcast producer and broadcaster. He's co-founder of OG Podcasts, working with the likes of New Scientist, Dr Karan and Lessons From Our Mothers.

Connect with Ollie:

Website: www.ogpodcasts.co.uk 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ollie-guillou 
Email: [email protected]

💬 Before surnames existed, people survived with just one name. Surprisingly, some places in the world still haven’t adopted formal surnames at all. So what led to the spread of the last name? And why were the predecessors of surnames so often insulting?

⚡ In this episode we explore what we did before surnames, how they started out simply as descriptions of a person - and why the modern meaning of a surname is shifting.

Don't miss an episode - subscribe now:

https://podfollow.com/what-we-did-before 

🎧 Stay tuned to learn about:

➡ How humans relied on simple “eke-names” for a long time

➡ The four main types of surname that exist

➡ How some people were literally called “Blackinthemouth”, “the Druncard” or “Badneighbor” 

➡ The man with 2,253 unique words to his name

➡ How the rise of surnames is deeply tied to power, money and control

About the podcast:

What We Did Before is a podcast where we chart the history of modern inventions, from how we kept food fresh before fridges, to how we survived without shoes and what came before AI.

About your host:

Ollie Guillou is an award-winning podcast producer and broadcaster. He's co-founder of OG Podcasts, working with the likes of New Scientist, Dr Karan and Lessons From Our Mothers.

Connect with Ollie:

Website: www.ogpodcasts.co.uk 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ollie-guillou 

Email: [email protected] 

Attributions:

Domesday book image: Mark Cartwright - CC BY 4.0

💬 Before we had Christmas, how did we mark this time of year? Ancient humans were celebrating the winter solstice thousands of years ago. But for them it was about surviving the harsh conditions of an unforgiving season. So how did we get from then to now?

⚡ In this episode we explore the many iterations of Christmas that came before it, from Saturnalia to Yule - and the ancient ceremonies held at megalithic monuments like Stone Henge.

Don't miss an episode - subscribe now:

https://podfollow.com/what-we-did-before

🎧 Stay tuned to learn about:

➡ The many predecessors of Father Christmas

➡ The frightening figures of festive folklore - like the Krampus 

➡ Why winter solstice celebrations were important for ancient people

➡ How Christmas was once rowdy - and how the Victorian’s cleaned it up

➡ How one poem changed Christmas forever 

About the podcast:

What We Did Before is a podcast where we chart the history of modern inventions, from how we kept food fresh before fridges, to how we survived without shoes and what came before AI.

About your host:

Ollie Guillou is an award-winning podcast producer and broadcaster. He's co-founder of OG Podcasts, working with the likes of New Scientist, Dr Karan and Lessons From Our Mothers.

Connect with Ollie:

Website: www.ogpodcasts.co.uk 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ollie-guillou 

Email: [email protected]

AI has been a part of our life for a lot longer than we realise - even if it does feel suffocating right now. And humanity’s obsession with self-operating machines actually extends right back into our ancient past.

So what was life like before AI became such a powerful force in our world? 

In this episode we tackle the surprisingly early history of humanity’s foray into autonomous machines - namely with ‘automatons’ like the antikythera mechanism. How the groundwork for AI and robots began in the early 1900s. And how AI powered technology has been running our lives way before ChatGPT came along.

Get In Touch: [email protected]

Thumbnail image credit:

Logg Tandy, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

What did we do before shoes? For most of human history, we were barefoot - roaming around without anything to protect our feet. Was it painful for our early ancestors? And when did the idea of shoes first begin?

Taking you back in time to 300,000 years ago, I explore how early humans would’ve got by without shoes, developing thick calluses on their feet and strong muscles and tendons. I look at the early evolution of the shoe, starting with leather foot coverings, moving onto sagebrush sandals.

Then we move to the era when shoes became a sign of status and ridiculous fashions set in. Before leaping to the industrial revolution, and the democratization of shoe-wearing thanks to the invention of rubber.

And, as barefoot shoes and minimalist footwear begin to grow in popularity, I explain what makes our feet so amazing, and how we’re starting to return to our roots.

Chapters:

(00:00) Intro

(03:58) Animal hide moccasins 

(05:43) Fort Rock sandals: The first shoes

(07:22) When shoes became status

(09:26) The rise of modern shoes

(11:48) The return to barefoot

(15:11) The hygiene of going barefoot

Get In Touch: [email protected]

Picture Attribution (Fort Rock sandals)

Ian Poellet, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Is capitalism dying? If so, what comes next? To answer that question, we first need to look at what we did before capitalism, and how this economic system came to dominate the globe.

We journey through time, when our ancient ancestors lived in small communities and shared what they had, up to the beginnings of the early trade systems of ancient Mesopotamia.

Discover the alternative systems humans have experimented along the way - including birth and collapse of feudalism, which eventually led to the rise of capitalism. And explore what might come next, from a de-growth economy to a world where AI and robots do everything for us.

Chapters

(00:36) Why capitalism is being challenged

(01:45) Life before economic systems

(03:33) Barter and early trade systems

(04:55) Tribute and redistribution economies

(06:08) Feudalism and the birth of hierarchies

(07:35) Early alternatives to capitalism

(10:18) The birth of capitalism

(12:46) Alternatives today

(14:50) A growing movement

Get in touch: [email protected]

Fossilized grass beds clue us into the ancient sleeping habits of our ancestors. But how advanced were their beds and mattresses - and were they comfortable? In this episode I delve into what humans did before beds and what came before the soft, plush mattresses we know today.

I also explore some unusual sleeping habits of our ancestors - who used to love sharing beds with each other…whether friends, colleagues or complete strangers. And why some believe we should revisit an old habit of “biphasic” sleeping.

Chapters:

(01:00) Why do we sleep?

(01:51) Nature’s first mattresses

(3:43) First beds and platforms

(4:58) Ancient sleep practices

(8:44) The evolution of mattresses

(11:56) Are modern beds always better?

Get In Touch: [email protected]

Imagine a world without refrigeration. Before early technology, food preservation was a challenge. So what did our early ancestors do before fridges were invented? And why were early fridges feared, rather than celebrated?

Chapters

(00:51) The early days of food preservation

(06:19) Cooling with nature's help

(07:47) The ice trade and urbanisation

(08:52) The advent of electric refrigeration

(12:43) Cultural and environmental impacts

(13:27) Inventing the tin can

How did early humans survive before we invented clothing? And exactly how long were we naked for in our evolutionary history? I explore the weird history of clothes, the resourcefulness of our ancient ancestors, the changing view of nudity throughout the years, and the emergence of modesty.

Chapters:

(00:00) Intro

(01:19) When did clothes become a thing?

(02:35) Human migration and the need for clothing

(04:09) Early protection before clothes

(05:07) The first clothes

(06:34) The evolution of modesty

(08:26) The evolution of clothing

(09:42) How life changed with clothes