Globalization is a contemporary term, but not a uniquely contemporary phenomenon. New research shows that cultural and scientific exchanges took place regularly starting all the way back in ancient and even pre-historic times. Just as there is only one history of life on this planet, there is also only one history of knowledge. Of course, there have been major losses of knowledge and innumerable new beginnings, and there may be as many perspectives on knowledge as there are cultures. But variety, contingency and catastrophic interruptions are also familiar from the history of life on our planet. In both cases, what we discover is that there is a thread of historical continuity on a global scale, with self referential, cumulative effects.

In this episode historians of science Sonja Brentjes and Pietro Daniel Omodeo discuss the long history of knowledge transmission in the Mediterranean basin and beyond, touching on the social, cultural and political aspects of such complex processes and their repercussions to the present day.  

“The Evolution of Knowledge” is a podcast created by SISSA-ILAS and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. Written and produced by Diego Visintin, Sophia Grew and Lorenzo Carta. Music by Gregor Quendel.