I have had a great time learning new things about humans in this course. Often, I find myself talking poorly of online courses/summer courses, but truly this has been enjoyable and enlightening. One of the things I think about often, throughout the past seven weeks or so of the course as well as randomly in my day-to-day activities is how we and life as we know it now fit into the story of the Earth and evolution. It is mind-blowing but humbling to me to have these philosophical thoughts because I know I am a part of a bigger picture. I think this might be scary for some people, but to me it is almost selfish to think we are individually special when collectively we are a force to be reckoned with. Because of this we have been able to discover so many amazing things about ourselves and we will not stop searching. Humans are continually evolving in their technology to seek out this information, as well as in other things. I loved how the lecture described the gene flow and how populations moving because of other things keeps up with the current of human variability and biology. It all comes back to the same humbling thought to me about our existence and complexity. Without our advantageous adaptations we would not have “made it to the top.” But because we are, we have been able to ponder things like sailing the sea, creating warfare and domesticating animals or plants. With these things as examples, and plenty more, humans have been able to literally grow in size, in population, and in territory. The lecture explains this similarly through colonialism and the Irish Potato Famine. Something that stuck out to me was the suggestion of a deeper purpose of things like ideologies. The lecture says “you are less likely to make with someone if they have a different religion than you do” to describe the various ways gene flow can be restricted. This relates to the idea of individual differences, personality, and uniqueness in that we are all different yet complex enough to have thoughts, perspectives, and beliefs on the very things we created: politics, time, marriage, religion, and more. It is like these concepts themselves have become advantageous in our use of them.  The lecture describes this as a “cultural rule.” Culture is something that truly makes us human. I saw something on Twitter the other day that said something about how the brain named itself “the brain,” and this sort of reminds me of the types of things I am talking about. Humans are incredible, and it is not until you reflect on our past that you can appreciate the present and hope for the future. It is hard to imagine how life will be even in just our own lifetimes, but I think a lot of people fail to think further than that. I find comfort in knowing I am a single domino in the line of many. This last lecture has allowed me to think about my philosophical thoughts critically, and I am truly in awe by us.