Heikegani in Cosmos by Carl Sagan

[MarianoRyu]

Hmm, weren't the right names the Taira (Heike) and the Minamoto (Genji)?

[PtAltmVansanTarr]

Sagan made a mistake here, in coming from a world in which images have been proliferated everywhere. In order for the artificial selection to have worked the way he says, all the lower class people would have had to have the same access to paintings and illustrations as the 1st world middle class has today

[SovietWarMachine42]

@PtAltmVansanTarr not necessarily. I believe that most of them would, with all the wars going on at the time, know what a soldier looked like without requiring paintings.

[PtAltmVansanTarr]

No way, I don't believe that fishermen did this because they would have had to have seen masks or paintings which weren't accessible to the lower-class fishermen

[deeppurple28]

1 Year worth of college in under 8 minutes!

[Jukeboxheroswsprod]

6:44 lol baby crabs

[cjdjtmwt]

平家♂BOY

[chihatsu]

"Selling flowers and... other favors" had me laughing.

[PayBackKills]

This was pretty intense.

[newexperiment]

Possibly my favorite part of any of the Cosmos Series.

[sciencenerd213]

Heikegani is a great story.

[joesubaruson]

Classy Heike women started the business.

[magister62]

In their made-for-TV movie on this episode of their country's history, NHK didn't acknowledge the "other favours" part. It shows ALL of the Heike women Choosing suicide over becoming Genji war brides, let alone prostitutes. You can see an excerpt here on YouTube by running "Atoku becomes a sea dragon" through the search engine. I was moved enough by it to leave a comment that it was "Japan's Masada moment," LOL . . . but who can know the whole truth about what happened after 980 years.

[Fishroads]

what has an Oiran to do with the Heike legend?

theres an high rank prostitute (oiran) in this documentation

[sierpinskigasket]

Note the way Sagan pauses before he says "other favours"

[54spiritedwill54]

crab meat, mmmm

[ryanseeley99]

great story

[gydorack]

Best explanation of modern day evolution!

[memblor]

very nice.

[jayshano]

Creationism is the stupid of stupid,without a doubt.

[ShinsengumiTaicho1]

That costuming is surprisingly accurate!

[Kagura785]

I totally agree with you, even the Heike clan's family crest is drawn correctly---amazing man!!

[hawaiou]

I've just finished reading Cosmos. That story is quite remarkable and it's nice to see it on screen.

[fatmeteor]

The text describing this video suggests that Sagan "erroneoously" used the crab as an example, meaning that Sagan was in error. Is this what the poster meant?

[newgusita]

I've updated the information which source was always from wikipedia.. now it says "some experts have questioned this"... for me the story itself is fascinating beyond the scientific issues

[spawnfan101]

I agree, it's an interesting legend imo

[ubergossen]

@newgusita mm hm, the article saying that the crab was not artificially selected was pretty compelling, I just read it. Basically, other crabs have been found in different parts of the world with almost the same back pattern, which is the shell forming over certain muscles giving it that shape. And also like you said, that the crabs are too small to be eaten. Too bad cause this would be a great example of artificial selection.

But science is all about questioning things and sometimes being wrong

[clonalmachina]

I think due to extreme circustances regarding over 50% of the people in the US believing literally in the bible, we should find a new word for evolution, it has been blacklisted as religious groups: how about descent with modification...

the message needs to get out quick

[tm2jetfire]

Why should we change our language because of those creationist assholes

[mrzisme]

Seriously, let the weak minded and ignorant phase themselves out on their own, they're doing quite a nice job in the middle east, religions destroying other religions as we speak. I say, good work, kill your religious rivals and then kill yourselves, make sure you get your whole head in front of the shotgun. If the evolutionists can just find a way to get away from their crossfire, things will work out naturally.

[cypheir]

ummm... dude, the problem is, theyre aiming at us... not eachother

[mrzisme]

What? Aiming at us? Oh you must mean all the weapons of mass destruction we found in Iraq.... wait nvm... Oh you must mean the WMD's in Iran that they have a hunch might exist. Nevermind the fact that we, the United States, have over 10,000 active nuclear weapons, but because we attempt to police the world, we dont have to apply the standards we enforce on others to ourselves.

[ByronC900]

Grow up kid.

Would you really want a theocracy like Iran, that wants to destroy the world for the coming of the hidden Imam to have its hands on nuclear weapons?

Quit being such a pussy.

[mrzisme]

@ ByronC900

Dont make retarded arguments, no one wants to be like Iran, and if you ask anyone outside of the United States, they dont wanna be the bullies of the world like the US is either. Watch "confessions of an economic hitman", then come back here and make an intelligent response about whats goin on in Iraq, and potentially soon to be Iran.

[TerryOShea]

you shame the great carl sagan

[mrzisme]

To Cypheir: The problem isnt that they might aim at us, the problem is their existence in the first place. So what if we got nuked without retaliating, they're still screwed. If the US gets nuked, it effects the entire world, nuclear winter prevents crop growth around the world, u cut the food supply you kill yourself. Regardless whether or not you were the one under fire or half way around the earth. Thats the problem. Its not a finger pointing game, if 1 exists, we all lose.

[laurajackson18]

wow

[amarbleinspace]

evolution or clever-lution. you see?

[PosterKnutbag]

last two minutes are where its all at though. nice narative part as well but....

[GreenResistance]

Yeah, it's a beautiful account of artificial selection, and a very plausible one, too. Unfortunately, it isn't accurate. Many crabs have markings that look like human faces, and it turns out that the fisherman throw back ALL the heikegani they catch--these crabs are just too small for them to sell. Check out Joel W. Martin's article in the journal "Terra."

[dwringer]

That'd be a valid criticism, if this hadn't been going on for centuries. Just because the modern economy requires all such crabs to be cast back into the sea does not even come close to indicating that this was the case in prior generations.

[newexperiment]

Economy? What does that have to do with anything? He says "a fisherman seeing a face might be inclined to throw it back" ?

....

I think you're retarded.

[w3zz1d3]

oh shit mister crab will survive

[tigeroak]

Evolution is a fact,not a theory.

[goodsirknight]

crab meat, mmmm

[kubikmaster]

Holly Crab!

[fatmeteor]

nice

[daamsi]

i just found the cosmos book and i read this chapter, really great!! thanks for upload!

[rubenc83]

Same here. I just bought it on Tuesday, along with Richard Dawkins' new book The GOD Delusion. I'm enjoying both so far.

[BlytheG]

Great segment, one of my favorite parts in the Cosmos series. Only Sagan could explain artificial selection so elegantly.