A New History for Humanity – The Human Era
A New History for Humanity – The Human Era on HackerTube: recommended by 3 Hacker News commenters across 3 separate months, 2018–2025.
Kurzgesagt explains the Holocene or Human Era calendar, which adds 10,000 years to the current year to anchor dates to the start of human civilization. It argues this gives a more sensible frame for human history.
What HN commenters said
8 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
daekenOct 2025Strongly recommends
I've become an unironic proponent of HE, the Human Era. For CE dates, we just add 10000 (I'm writing this from 12025). But for BCE dates, they're subtracted and it makes things so much clearer when it comes to telling how long ago something was. E.g. the sundial was invented around 6000 HE, steel was developed around 9000 HE. Kurtzgesagt has a really great video about the subject: ▶ this video There's also a timeline in HE that covers many major historical events: [link]
in “Greg Newby, CEO of Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, has died” · View on HN
ASalazarMXFeb 2018Recommends
I'm all for leaving a religious calendar and using the Holocene calendar. Just add 10,000 to your dates and you're set. [link] If you don't mind videos, here's a good explanation of it ▶ this video
in “Anthropocene began in 1965, according to signs left in world’s ‘loneliest tree’” · View on HN
doctobogganJan 2018Recommends
It might not be what you were thinking, but the YouTube channel Kurzgesagt has 2 very good videos on the topic: [link] ▶ this video His stuff is well sourced and generally reliable.
in “Jawbone of Earliest Modern Human Out of Africa Discovered in Israeli Cave” · View on HN
tomrodMar 2025Cites it
As a sidenote, I love that you reference 1973 as 01973. I suggest considering labeling even as 11973, based on some reasonable humanist-based information.[0] [0] ▶ this video
in “Deregulated energy markets accelerate solar adoption” · View on HN
awiesenhoferDec 2021Cites it
Reminds me of the Holocene Calendar, which argues for setting the year 0 ten thousand years earlier to include all of major human history. So instead of writing 02022 AD it would become 12022 HE, for Human Era. It would mean to update these date libraries fast though... An episode of kurzgesagt about this topic: ▶ this video
in “Long Now Years: Five-Digit Dates and Y10K-Compliance at Home (02013)” · View on HN
mLubySep 2021Cites it
If we're using 5 digits, add 10K years: we're in year 12021 of this Holocene calendar. (Happy palindrome year!) 0 is pre-history, some of the very first permanent construction. An 8min video by Kurzgesagt on it: ▶ this video
in “No One Ever Saw the Snow Cruiser Again (2019)” · View on HN
Show 2 more comments
rendallJan 2021Cites it
Cesare Emiliani and Kurzegesagt make the case that we think of world civilization as much newer than it is, because our year count is now only to 2021. They argue for instead bumping our year by 10,000 to more truly reflect the age of our civilization, to 12,021, and (arbitrarily) commemorating Göbleki Tepe as its foundation [link] ▶ this video (2016 or 12016)
in “Göbekli Tepe” · View on HN
Green_manApr 2020Cites it
This reminded me of a proposal to add a leading 1 to our year[2020 -> 12020]: ▶ this video Cesare Emiliani proposed that the Construction of the Göbekli Tepe 12,000 years ago could represent a "start of civilization", creating a "holocene calendar". [link] [link] [link]
in “Our Long Bets and Predictions about 02020” · View on HN