A short hypnotic video tells the evolution of our species with a dramatic flipbook animation

Time is relative, and there’s even something illusionist about it, and this is especially true when we try to condense the entire history of humanity, from its unicellular origins to our present form, within a small flipbook. This video does just that. It shows a small book made by graphic artist Jurien Moller, and it tells the story of the species: 550 million years of evolution in just a few seconds.

As though by magic, the eras of human history, immeasurably temporal, pass quickly between the fingers of Moller’s flipbook. Among many other things, it’s a paper-made reflection of time and the overwhelming miracle of the evolution of humankind, the personal interpretation of someone who has marvelled over all these things.

This is the video, and we would recommend reducing the playback speed to 0.5 or even 0.25 in the settings to better digest the description texts.