The Empire Crumbles: Part I—The Big Picture
Don’t cower in front of your screen. Get out and join with others in projects to make your town stronger and more socially and environmentally sustainable.
Editor’s picks
Crazy Town: Episode 118. Choose your AI Adventure: Immiseration or Extinction
Jason and Asher replace Rob with a much more humane and humble co-host, Elon Musk, to explore the feasibility of harnessing the entire sun to power AI superintelligence. We come away perplexed that not much of the excellent reporting on the environmental, energy, and financial risks of the AI boom address the googleplex-sized elephant in the room – that both AI success and failure lead to immiseration.
Human Nature Odyssey: Episode 19: Modern Myths – Flat Earth, Space Colonization, and the Stories We Tell to Escape Reality
This episode explores two powerful beliefs. One is the belief that humans could, and should, live in space: that we’re destined to leave our planet behind and colonize the stars. The other is the belief that we’re not on a planet at all—that the Earth is actually… flat.
Democracy Rising 34: On Ghosted Nature, Moloch, Alternate Futures, Shatter Zones, Elites, Power Laws, and [d]emocratic Crypto-Revolution
Perhaps our long experience of sitting around campfires together and talking about what’s going on in the world around us, and what we ought to do about it next, can be recovered and put to good use again.
Nourishing the Bioregional Economy: Essential Resources
In a recent article I summarized arguments for reversing the trend toward globalization of economies and cultures, aiming instead for the flourishing of communities rooted in their bioregions (i.e., regions defined by characteristics of the natural environment rather than human-imposed borders). For readers receptive to those arguments, the fundamental follow-up question is, “How?”
Bioregionalism, Commoning, and Relationalized Finance
Bioregionalism offers a practical, politically accessible space for addressing climate change, social inequality, the eclipse of democracy, out-of-control oligarchs, and capitalist growth.
Growing the Nourishment We Seek
The garden is a profoundly simple setting for reconnecting with the earth, with one another, and with ourselves.
Human Nature Odyssey: Time Machine 2126 (Part 2) – Techno-Utopia or Apocalypse?
What does a realistic and positive future look like? Alex joins the hosts of Crazy Town to imagine life in the 22nd century: walking from our family farms into communal villages, living off the land in a low-energy lifestyle, taming our pet donkeys, and resisting our local warlords.
Crazy Town: Episode 116. Sane Town: A Realistic Vision of Life 100 Years from Now
Picture the future 100 years from now. What do you imagine? Flying cars? Space colonies? AI talking toasters? But if we can’t sustain an endlessly growing economy what does a realistic and positive future look like?
Human Nature Odyssey: Time Machine 2126 (Part 1) – Has Green Energy Saved Us Yet?
What does a livable future look like 100 years from now? If we unlocked unlimited green energy, what would we actually do with it? And are our dreams of a renewable-energy utopia sometimes just as delusional as the fossil-fueled ‘drill baby drill’ mentality?
Crazy Town: Episode 115. Toasting Bread Is WAY Harder Than You Think: The Challenges of a Renewable Energy Future
If we unlocked unlimited green energy, what would we actually do with it? And are our dreams of a renewable-energy utopia sometimes just as delusional as the old fossil-fueled, drill-baby-drill mentality? Alex Leff of the Human Nature Odyssey podcast hosts this special Crazy Town highlights compilation.
Broadening Science and Bridging Divides in a Complex, Interconnected World
Investment in science is a pillar for any dynamic, equitable modern society, and promoting scientific literacy across all levels of society can help foster innovation, dialogue, and consensus that crosses disciplinary and cultural boundaries.
