Transcript
0:00 when you see a spider and you're afraid of it this is actually a memory from hundreds of thousands of years ago most people like to eat sweet sugary stuff if it's not good for me why is it so good it doesn't make any sense so this is for instance something which to understand it you need to understand evolution [Music] why should we understand human evolution
0:33 especially especially the little children seated here why is it important to them it's because it takes a long time to acquire a deep fear of something millions of years ago when humans evolved in Africa the word dangerous spiders there so when you see a spider and you're afraid of it this is actually a memory from hundreds of thousands of years ago when we lived in the wild and there were many dangerous spiders cars on the other
1:05 hand they've been around for just a hundred years this is not enough time to develop this kind of deep-seated badly fear of them so it doesn't come from the body the fear of cars it you have to educate people to tell them about the dangers of cars um so this is for instance something which to understand it you need to understand evolution similarly not just fear but also the things that we like most people like to
1:37 eat sweet sugary stuff parents spend a lot of time teaching kids to be aware of cars they also spend a lot of time telling them don't eat so many sweets and it's strange I mean if it's not good for me why is it so good it doesn't make any sense why should my body all the time be craving to eat something which is not good for it I mean the body isn't stupid yeah so what's happening and
2:02 again if you look at the world today it makes no sense but if you look at the world of how we evolved for hundreds of thousands of years it suddenly makes sense because when we lived in the African Savannah there were a lot of spiders but uh almost no sweet things the only sweet things were either fruits or honey and if you live in the African Savannah and you don't have a lot of food and you
2:30 come across a tree full of sweet fruits the sensible thing to do is to eat as many of them as quickly as possible because if you eat just one or two and says okay I'll come back tomorrow and I eat some more you come back tomorrow there are no fruits left because the baboons ate everything so our body is programmed like you find something sweet eat as much of it as possible as quickly as possible we're
2:55 following that very strictly yes and we're following it I mean these are the instructions we've read the instructions these are the instructions of the body we open the fridge if we find a chocolate cake we do what what what they told us the the what evolution told us to do we our bodies it hasn't caught up with the fact that we are no longer in the African Savannah uh we are living in a modern society and there are lots of
3:20 sweet things around and and um yeah now it's it's problematic so this is why evolution is important it's not some theoretical thing that you're learning University it's connected to your deepest fears and your deepest desires every day for parenting tips celebrity interviews recipes conversations with experts DIYs and lots more subscribe to kids talk press now
Summary
- Fear of spiders is an evolutionary memory linked to survival in the wild.
- Cars, being a recent invention, do not evoke the same deep-seated fear and require education about their dangers.
- Cravings for sweet foods are rooted in our ancestors' need to consume high-energy resources quickly when found.
- In the African Savannah, sweet fruits were scarce, leading to a survival instinct to eat as much as possible when available.
- Modern society's abundance of sugary foods conflicts with our evolutionary programming, leading to health issues.
- Understanding evolution is crucial for recognizing the origins of our fears and desires in daily life.