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History Video Essays

I'd love to some how create short videos about history with some sort of unique twist to set me apart. There is no shortage of historians on youtube. How can I be different? How can I make history fun and interesting?

I wonder if there is a way, a slightly Lucian, somewhat PKD esque way, to combine history and sci-fi to create video essays.

Explain history by choosing a societal value or trait and diving into its origins.

The hardest part here would be obtaining relevant video when discussing something ancient. Most ancient historical videos simply use pannig images of maps, architecture and statues which I find slightly interesting but over used.

Ideally I would be able to find a model that I can apply to anything I'm currently reading about, so maybe that's a good place to start

Stories about a person and their campaigns or movements seem to be harder than something tangible like travel, communication... things we do today and are directly relatable. Effectively milestones in culture and society, and comparing to how we do things today.

Information delivery

Let's take information deliver. Today we can send letters, packages and packets over the internet instantly.

If I were to discuss the Achaemenid Royal Road, I might talk about Persian Kings, riders on horseback and local governers sending updates to kings. What can I show here?

Attempt a small, modern scale of the Royal Road? Walk places, rest at benches, deliver a letter in a day.

Math

Babylonian algebra

Birth of the scientific method

Evolution from hunter gatherer to temple society

The effect that the invention of aggriculture had on society

  • Hunter gatherer
    • could only sustain small groups of people
    • men hunted in small groups, women grazed plants
    • man tried to create a framework for the world of unknowns through animism and theology
      • then naturally tried to take control over the world via pleasing these dieties
    • someone noticed a change when seeds were dropped after harvest
      • arguably the first case of empirical observation taken to action
  • Aggriculture was invneted
  • Today food is easy to get, but we don't know what to do with ourselves when a grocery store closes or we are unable to reach our source
  • Previously humans would simply roam the world searching for herds or plants
  • sometimes there would be drought, and no food for weeks. Or maybe a horrible rain storm would fall
  • With no knnowledge of the causes, and to a naturally self centered human mind this would seem ominously punishing
  • Hunter gatherer society
    • nomadic
    • followed weather and animals
    • at the whim of the elements
    • natural limit to the size of a group
  • Gatherin Grains
    • The idea was similar, instead of seeking out herds of animals, women would seek out patches of grain
    • Seasonality was understood
    • At some point, methods to inhibit future growth must have been discovered (dropping seeds would create a larger growth next year)
      • may not have understood the science or connection, but the action and consequence was realized
  • Ground treatment
    • Dropping seeds wouldn't work everywhere (drop seeds on a rock lol)
    • Realization that treating the ground was revolutionary (put dirt into a hueco in a rock)

Before farms we were completely ignorant to the patterns and functions of plants. They were just something useful, probably not that tasty, but pretty filling, that we found popping up out of the ground here or there. In the near east, around 3500 BC, humans were roaming around the foothills of the fertile crescent and were necessarily nomadic.

Our survival was entirely dependent on the incomprehensible movements of animals and nature. Small groups of men would be sent out to find herds of animals while the remaining women and children would pick the plants in the surrounding area. With the tools at hand, tribes could be nothing more than reactionary, following herds and picking what plants they could along the way. With meat as their primary source of sustenance, and with no way to prevent it from spoiling, there was no reason to store food which made it was impossible to settle.

Humans, maybe animals in general, are naturally greedy in survival mode.