THE VIDEO SHELF · holocene calendar
A New History for Humanity – The Human Era
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.
Why HN readers recommended it
Linked whenever year numbering or the Holocene calendar comes up as the accessible introduction to the idea.
This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.
Video & recommendation details
- Creator / channel
- Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
- Topic
- holocene calendar
- Format
- explainer
- Level
- general
- HN recommenders in dataset
- 3
- HN mentions in dataset
- 8
- Recommendation years in dataset
- 2018–2025
These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.
From the original HN conversations
Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.
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. …
daeken on Hacker News · 2025-10
In Greg Newby, CEO of Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, has diedIt might not be what you were thinking, but the YouTube channel Kurzgesagt has 2 very good videos on the topic: [LINK] [VIDEO] His stuff is well sourced and generally reliable.
doctoboggan on Hacker News · 2018-01
In Jawbone of Earliest Modern Human Out of Africa Discovered in Israeli CaveI'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 [VIDEO]
ASalazarMX on Hacker News · 2018-02
In Anthropocene began in 1965, according to signs left in world’s ‘loneliest tree’
Summaries, classifications and recommendation records are from the HackerTube source dataset. Read about this library and its limitations.