On Humans

Ilari Mäkelä

Where do we come from? How did we get here? And what kinds of creatures are we? On Humans features conversations with leading scholars about human nature, human condition, and the human journey. From the origins of war to the biology of love, each episode brings fresh insights into perennial questions about our self-understanding. The show now unfolds in series of episodes built around a chosen theme, offering ever-deeper dives into some of the biggest questions in science, philosophy, and history. Welcome to the journey!

  1. 24/12/2025

    Why Do We Laugh? Philosophers on Jokes, Humor, and the Human Condition ~ Mira Magdalena Sickinger

    “The podcast is great, but one thing hasn’t been covered yet: humour. It’s an essential part of our human condition, and would certainly be worth an episode.” This listener feedback was easy to agree with. From standup comedy to nervous laughter, our lives are filled with chuckles and giggles. Why? Why do adults laugh at witty jokes whilst children laugh at the simple pleasures of peek-a-boo? And why should any of us laugh in the first place? My guest is Mira Magdalena Sickinger. a poet and a philosopher of humour from the University of Vienna. We cover a lot in the discussion: from the social roles of humour, to the politics of joking, and the therapeutic effects of a humorous attitude. In the course of the conversation, we cover the views of many intellectual giants, from Sigmund Freud to Immanuel Kant — and while the conversation includes a handful of silly jokes (be warned), it ends with a deeper reflection on how humour can serve as a window into the human condition itself.  FACT CHECKING No errors have been found as of now. If you find an error in this or other episodes, get in touch via the form below. LINKS Articles and essays: ⁠⁠⁠⁠OnHumans.Substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ Support: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/OnHumans⁠⁠⁠⁠ Contact Form: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://forms.gle/h5wcmefuwvD6asos8⁠⁠⁠ MENTIONS Simon Critchley | Ted Cohen | Robin Dunbar | Ágnes Heller | John Morreal | Immanuel Kant | Thomas Wilk & Steven Gimbel | V S Ramachandran | Sigmund Freud | Janet Bing⁠ &  ⁠Joanne Scheibman ⁠| Thomas Nagel | Aristotle | Thomas Aquinas | John Dewey | Robin Tyler KEYWORDS Philosophy | Psychology |Anthropology | Incongruence theory | Relief theory | Superiority theory | Play theory | Humor | Blended spaces | Stasi & communism jokes in East Germany | Feminist & queer humor | Jokes | Absurdity | Irony | Existentialism | Meaning of life |

    1h 2m

  2. 05/12/2025

    Restless Humanity: The Epic Migrations Into the Americas, Polynesia, and... Beyond? ~ Andrés Moreno-Estrada

    We are a movable species. In less than 50 thousand years, Homo sapiens has penetrated practically all corners of the earth. This is an episode about those epic migrations, with a focus on the two furthest edges of the human migratory map: the Americas in the West and the Polynesian islands in the East. In the end, we discuss emerging evidence that those branches met each other -- work coming directly out of the work of my guest, Andrés Moreno-Estrada. Enjoy! DECODING OUR STORY This is episode 3 in the "⁠Decoding Our Story⁠" mini-series, recorded live at the Salk Institute's CARTA symposium on ancient DNA. The other episodes are: "The Neanderthal Mirror: Latest Findings About the Lines Between Us" ~ David Gokhman "Beyond Race: A New Outlook on the Shape of Humanity" ~ Diyendo Massilani FACT CHECKING No errors have been found as of now. If you find an error in this or other episodes, get in touch via the form below. LINKS Articles and essays: ⁠⁠⁠OnHumans.Substack.com⁠⁠⁠ Support: ⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/OnHumans⁠⁠⁠ Contact Form: ⁠⁠⁠https://forms.gle/h5wcmefuwvD6asos8⁠⁠ ⁠⁠CARTA symposium⁠⁠ The Moreno lab⁠⁠ KEYWORDS Human population history | Human origins | Anthropogeny | Anthropology | Ancient Migration | Out of Africa | Homo sapiens | Ancient DNA | Comparative genetics | Austronesian expansion | Taiwan | Admixture | Archaeogenetics | Archaeology | Polynesia | Easter Islands | Rapa Nui | Hawai'i | Aotearoa New Zealand | Tonga Fiji | Native American origins | Latino genetics | Latinx genetics | Hispanic genetics | Indegenous genetics |

    26 min

  3. 01/12/2025

    Beyond Race: A New Outlook on the Shape of Humanity ~ Diyendo Massilani

    European thinkers once divided humanity into distinct "races". The idea stuck, even if the science moved on. The shape of humanity, it turned out, is far messier than the old race theorists ever imagined. This much is well known. Still , genetics does study different human "populations". Biological differences between these populations are reported every day. So have we simply changed words? Has anything really changed? Yes, everything has changed. To explain why, I'm glad to have Diyendo Massilani on the show. Trained in France and Gabon, Massilani runs a lab at the Yale School of Medicine, where he studies ancient DNA and human adaptations. This fall, his lab has produced one of the most interesting analysis of human biodiversity that I have ever seen. I'm proud to feature it on the podcast before publication. Our conversation begins from the counter-intuitive implications of the Out of Africa theory, and its significance for ideas about race. We then discuss Massilani's own analysis about how the level of genetic differences between modern-day humans. As always, we finish with my guest's reflections on humanity. DECODING OUR STORY This is episode 2 in the "Decoding Our Story" mini-series, recorded live at the Salk Institute's CARTA symposium on ancient DNA. The other episodes are: "The Neanderthal Mirror: Latest Findings About the Lines Between Us" ~ David Gokhman (published) "Restless Humanity: The Epic Migrations Into America, Polynesia, and... Beyond?" ~ Andrés Moreno-Estrada (5th of Dec) FACT CHECKING No errors have been found as of now. If you find an error in this or other episodes, get in touch via the form below. LINKS Articles and essays: ⁠⁠OnHumans.Substack.com⁠⁠ Support: ⁠⁠Patreon.com/OnHumans⁠⁠ Contact Form: ⁠⁠https://forms.gle/h5wcmefuwvD6asos8⁠ ⁠CARTA symposium⁠ The Massilani lab⁠ KEYWORDS Human evolution | Human origins | Anthropogeny | Anthropology | Paleoanthropology | Genetics | Homo sapiens | Ancient DNA | Comparative genetics | Human biodiversity | Admixture | Archaeogenetics | Archaeology | Mbuti | Papuans | Neanderthals

    15 min

  4. 27/11/2025

    The Neanderthal Mirror: Latest Findings About the Lines Between Us ~ David Gokhman

    Genetics is rewriting the human story. This week, On Humans takes you behind the scenes of this rapidly evolving frontier via three live-recordings, captured at the Salk Institute's CARTA symposium on ancient DNA. The first episode explores the differences between us and the Neanderthals. For centuries, we tried to understand Neanderthals through stones and bones alone. Now genetics is offering a new tool, allowing researchers to see how ancient bodies and brains developed. In this opening episode, David Gokhman explains what these new tools are revealing about us, Neanderthals, and the lines between us. UP NEXT "Beyond Race: New Surprises About the Shape of Humanity" ~ Monday Dec 1st with Diyendo Massilani "Restless Humanity: The Epic Migrations Into America, Polynesia, and... Beyond?" ~ Friday Dec 5th with Andrés Moreno-Estrada FACT CHECKING No errors have been found as of now. If you find an error in this or other episodes, get in touch via the form below. LINKS Articles and essays: ⁠OnHumans.Substack.com⁠ Support: ⁠Patreon.com/OnHumans⁠ Contact Form: ⁠https://forms.gle/h5wcmefuwvD6asos8 CARTA symposium Gokhman's lab KEYWORDS Human evolution | Human origins | Anthropogeny | Anthropology | Archaeogenetics | Archaeology | Paleoanthropology | Genus Homo | Neanderthals | Ancient DNA | Comparative genetics | Archaeogenetics | Language evolution | Origins of language | Symbolic culture | Extinction | Species concept

    22 min
  5. Can We Tell a (True) Story of Human Origins? Live from UC San Diego

    24/11/2025 · BONUS

    Can We Tell a (True) Story of Human Origins? Live from UC San Diego

    The science of human origins keeps producing new theories. But are we any closer to telling a true story of human origins? Or are we simply drowning in data?  Earlier this November, the chair of UCSD’s Department of Anthropology invited me to explore this question in a campus talk. My optimistic claim was that underneath many of the field’s important debates, a powerful story has been emerging. At its core, this is a story about calories, cooperation, and climate change. And at the centre of it are not men hunting or women gathering. At the centre of it are children playing and learning. Here is the recording from the talk . Check out also my Substack essay inspired by this talk, with many of the pictures and graphs from the slides! PS. I was in San Diego to attend a CARTA symposium on the role of genetics in the study of human origins. I managed to record three episodes behind the scenes. Live recordings coming soon! FACT CHECKING No major errors have been found yet. As a small correction, the mention about macaques vs giraffe's should have been about neurons in the cortex, not total neurons in the brain. The main idea doesn't change. If you find an error in this or other episodes, get in touch via the form below. LINKS Articles and essays: OnHumans.Substack.com Support: Patreon.com/OnHumans Contact Form: https://forms.gle/h5wcmefuwvD6asos8 KEYWORDS Human evolution | Human origins | Anthropogeny | Anthropology | Paleoanthropology | Genus Homo | Australopithecins | Human brain | Comparative neuroanatomy | Human tool cultures | Alloparenting | Cooking hypothesis | Expensive tissue hypothesis | Life history | r vs K strategies |

    42 min

  6. 05/11/2025 · BONUS

    Epilogue: Is the Brain Free to Choose? ~ Tim Coulson

    You decided to start reading this. But could you have chosen otherwise? In this short epilogue to this fall's brain science -series, Oxford biologist Tim Coulson gives his defense of free will. (The episode is an unheard clip from the conversation with Tim Coulson, originally recorded as part of the Origins of Humankind -series in March 2025. ) LINKS For highlights, longer quotes, and references, see my essay at OnHumans.Substack.com. Tim Coulson's book is called The Universal History of Us (in the UK) and The Science of Why We Exist (in the US). For more episodes on the human brain, check ⁠⁠OnHumans.Substack.com/Brain⁠⁠ Want to support the show? Join the club at ⁠⁠Patreon.com/OnHumans⁠⁠ MENTIONS Names: Albert Einstein | Niels Bohr Terms and concepts: free will | many worlds -interpretation vs the Copenhaguen interpretation of quantum mechanics | Brownian motion | Quantum biology | stochasticity vs determinism | neural integration vs complexity | chance & necessity | philosophy | physics | biology | neuroscience

    16 min

  7. 17/10/2025

    Can the Brain Understand Itself? The Glories and the Limits of Neuroscience ~ Matthew Cobb

    Science has learned much about the brain. But how well do we understand this organ of the mind? Are we even close to cracking the neural code? Is a groundbreaking theory of consciousness just around the corner? In this final episode of the brain science -series, Matthew Cobb takes us on a tour of the story of neuroscience. We meet many colourful characters, but this is not just a history for history’s sake. More importantly, this is a reflection on the increasingly clear limits that brain science is coming up against — limits often left invisible behind the thirst for stories about new discoveries.  Enjoy! FACT CHECKING Contrary to the precise phrasing in the episode, a handful of new psychiatric drugs have entered the market recently. The general observation remains well-supported. If you spot an error in this or other episodes, please reach out on ⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠ or via ⁠⁠email⁠⁠. LINKS Matthew Cobb’s book is ⁠The Idea of the Brain: The Past and Future of Neuroscience ⁠ For more episodes on the human brain, check ⁠OnHumans.Substack.com/Brain⁠ Want to support the show? Join the club at ⁠Patreon.com/OnHumans⁠ MENTIONS Names: Matthew Cobb | Galen | Aristotle | Andreas Vesalius | William Harvey | William Shakespeare | Queen Victoria | Karl Marx | Pierre Paul Broca | René Descartes | Eve Marder | David Marr | Francis Crick | Geoffrey Hinton | John Hopfield | Warren McCulloch | Walter Pitts | John von Neumann | Alan Turing | Kenneth Craik | Sir John Eccles | Elon Musk | Nicolaus Copernicus | Galileo Galilei Terms and concepts: recurrent laryngeal nerve | phrenology | localization of function | strokes/aphasia | Broca’s area | plasticity | hemispheric lateralization | corpus callosum | split-brain | consciousness | anesthesia (halothane, etc.) | drugs & neuromodulators | SSRIs | serotonin | dopamine | psychedelics | obster stomatogastric ganglion | three-body-problem | EEG “brainwaves” (gamma, theta, etc.) | David Marr’s levels | neural code | PDP / connectionism | backpropagation | LLMs (e.g. ChatGPT, DeepSeek) | biological plausibility vs engineering | von Neumann architecture | McCulloch–Pitts logical neurons | neural correlates of consciousness (NCC) | “Jennifer Aniston” cells | single-unit recording | connectomics | Human Brain Project | cochlear implants | BCI / robotic arm control | tetraplegia | problem of consciousness | enactive cognition

    1 hr

  8. 02/10/2025

    From Alcohol to Antidepressants: What Drugs Teach Us About Brain Chemistry ~ Judy Grisel

    Dopamine. Serotonin. Endorphins. We have all heard these terms. And these are not just scientific curiosities. Few are those who have never wondered if their brain chemicals are "just off balance". So how accurate are the popular theories about these mythic molecules? To guide us through the topic, I'm joined by Judy Grisel—an ex-addict and a world-leading neuroscientist of addiction. We will discuss all the main elements of brain chemistry by using drugs and addictions as a window into the topic. Towards the end, we also search for ways to better help those who struggle with addiction. As always, we finish with my guest's reflection on humanity. DIG DEEPER This episode is part 4 of this autumn's brain science series. See more at ⁠⁠OnHumans.Substack.com⁠/brain⁠⁠ Judy Grisel’s book is Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction Want to support the show? Join the club at Patreon.com/OnHumans. FACT-CHECKING No major mistakes have been found so far.As a minor note, the SSRI study we mention in healthy volunteers primarily assessed cognitive processing (reinforcement learning/sensitivity) rather than self-reported “emotional flattening”; however, general blunting of emotional responses in healthy participants has been reported by earlier researchers. If you spot an error in this or other episodes, please reach out on Substack or via email. KEYWORDS Names mentioned: Kent Berridge | Mark Lewis | Barbara Sahakian | Trevor Robbins Technical concepts: dopamine | wanting vs liking | serotonin (5/HT) | serotonin receptor 2A | selective serotonin uptake inhibitors SSRIs | GABA vs glutamate | endorphins | endocannabinoids | alcohol | cocaine | MDMA | psychedelics | behavioral addictions (e.g. porn) | runner's high | cannabis / THC | neurogenesis & pruning | brain plasticity | SSRIs | MDMA (SERT reversal) | emotional blunting | opponent-process theory (A→B) | addiction as disease vs learned state | meaning, motivation, recovery

    58 min
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About

Where do we come from? How did we get here? And what kinds of creatures are we? On Humans features conversations with leading scholars about human nature, human condition, and the human journey. From the origins of war to the biology of love, each episode brings fresh insights into perennial questions about our self-understanding. The show now unfolds in series of episodes built around a chosen theme, offering ever-deeper dives into some of the biggest questions in science, philosophy, and history. Welcome to the journey!

Information

  • Creator
    Ilari Mäkelä
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2025
  • Episodes
    98
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Ilari Mäkelä
  • Show Website
    On Humans

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