Episode description

Author and research scientist Lewis Dartnell visits Google to discuss his book “Being Human: How our Biology Shaped World History.” The book explores how our biology has shaped our relationships, our societies, our economies and our wars, and how it continues to challenge and define our progress.

Powerful yet dextrous, instinctive yet thoughtful, humans are expert communicators and innovators. Our exceptional abilities have created the civilization we know today.

But we're also deeply flawed.

Our bodies break, choke and fail, whether we're kings or peasants. Diseases thwart our boldest plans. Our psychological biases have been at the root of terrible decisions in both war and peacetime.

This extraordinary contradiction is the essence of what it means to be human - the sum total of our frailties and our faculties. And history has played out in the balance between them. Now, for the first time, Lewis Dartnell tells our story through the lens of this unique, capricious and fragile nature. He explores how our biology has shaped our relationships, our societies, our economies and our wars, and how it continues to challenge and define our progress.

 Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.