Anthropologist Agustín Fuentes joins WIRED to answer the internet’s burning questions about human evolution. Are humans still evolving? Was there a first human? What does the family tree leading to humans look like? Is monogamy in human relationships natural or something society imposes? Did early people really live in caves? Who invented kissing? Were the Neanderthals stronger than us? Why didn’t other human-like species survive? Answers to these questions and many more await on Human Evolution Support.
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Watch more from WIRED | Tech Support:
0:00 Anthropology Support
0:13 How long have we been us?
0:58 The first human
1:38 Humans are monogamish
3:19 Monkey business
3:46 The human family shrub
7:06 Charles Xavier has entered the chat
8:23 An aside about the X-Men
9:12 Brain food
9:59 Roots
11:11 Primal fishing
11:55 Old Blue Eyes
12:45 What’s up cuz?
13:46 Tools
15:13 WALL-E humanity
16:07 Are hobbits real?
17:30 Who invented kissing?
19:29 Violence
20:19 We’re not that different, you and I
21:29 Cave, man?
23:01 The luckiest hominin
25:24 Survival of the fittest
26:44 Where did we come from, where did we go?
27:48 ELI5: Why are human kids so useless for so long?
29:09 Were the Neanderthals stronger than us?
29:53 This Charming Man
30:27 Gender roles
31:23 What came before
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@efrizaldia
September 15, 2026 at 7:50 pm
So handaxes were the rolex of stone age?
@msty_wtrs
September 15, 2026 at 7:53 pm
This man is what would’ve happened if Grant O Brian grew up as a Green brother.
@AgnosticMelon
September 15, 2026 at 8:01 pm
Omggggg finally I was waiting for that exact episode so glad it’s 5 hrs agoooo
@solomonrivers5639
September 15, 2026 at 8:03 pm
“Survival of the Fittest” certainly rolls off the tongue a lot better than “Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life”
….especially in today’s political climate
@dominicstar1
September 15, 2026 at 8:08 pm
love being 10 mins into this video and have seen 8 ads
@crissdenico
September 15, 2026 at 8:11 pm
15:54 “WALL-E is not a threat, evolutionarily speaking” sounds like something you’d hear on Philomena Cunk’s show 😂
@smudge1619
September 15, 2026 at 8:14 pm
25:22 nailed it.
took all that time…
“maybe we’re the LUCKIEST hominids, NOT the BEST”
we’ll see in a few years with AI.
we aint so lucky and definitely not the best extincting ourselves for social status…
@RFC3514
September 15, 2026 at 8:17 pm
They put unused stone tools in huge piles because when the iStone 17 came out, no one wanted to be seen buying an iStone 16.
@theafterparty2264
September 15, 2026 at 8:20 pm
this dude rocks so much
@jeremyhouston3438
September 15, 2026 at 8:20 pm
16:00 what if Lord of the Rings really happened and denisovans were the elves and neanderthals were the orcs?!
@BrianHilt-so2it
September 15, 2026 at 8:32 pm
him dropping the word “looksmaxxing” made me laugh so hard
@davidbologna-fb4hn
September 15, 2026 at 8:33 pm
I believe nothing about our past
@SaxyCalzone
September 15, 2026 at 8:33 pm
InB4 someone comes in posting religious nonsense.
@RFC3514
September 15, 2026 at 8:36 pm
26:30 – So… when are USAians likely to do that? I’m asking for 8 billion friends.
@itrasgu611
September 15, 2026 at 8:36 pm
OMG I love this guy!
@purpleiguana208
September 15, 2026 at 8:43 pm
I heard once that human babies SHOULD gestate for a year (as evidenced by the fact that babies have more conscious control over their head around 3-4 months old), but that if babies gestated for a year, the head would be too big to pass through the pelvis, and that humans evolved to effectively give birth premature. I guess this is meant to be in response to pelvic changes as early primates became more upright.
I feel like this is an interesting thing to SAY, but I don’t know how accurate it really is.
@joshnizzle
September 15, 2026 at 8:53 pm
9:51 I thought it was the advent of cooking when we discovered that with fire that helped to drive brain growth, isn’t that the consensus now?
@ViGeeMan
September 15, 2026 at 8:53 pm
31:18 “It’s a little more complicated, and much more interesting.” perfect
@kristenlouiseissa
September 15, 2026 at 8:55 pm
He is so cool. I listen to every single word he says. Brilliant man!
@darkbluemars
September 15, 2026 at 9:01 pm
When you mentioned Honey around 10:20, I had a knee jerk reaction to skip ad.
@speedylogic
September 15, 2026 at 9:03 pm
Meh
@kibu.u
September 15, 2026 at 9:06 pm
29:48 so my small mouth means i’m more evolved than others 😂
@khaluwa7676
September 15, 2026 at 9:08 pm
@wired protect me to this, justice, goonerment cyndie’s case
@esseggei
September 15, 2026 at 9:10 pm
Cheap explaining, made for people in USA
@rubykoontz1364
September 15, 2026 at 9:14 pm
Part 2!!!