Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Heroism and hope in these times are only possible against a backdrop of total relinquishment to the possibility that we won’t be able to control our own fate. But on a deeper level, this will be the way for us to reconnect with our origins, to become one again with the natural world.
As AI is “improved,” it has more “hallucinations.” When will the public and investors realize that reliability will always be a problem when there is no judgement based on lived experience?
Modernity’s inevitable failure need not be humanity’s ultimate failure. Modernity never could have worked in the long term, and represents only a small sliver of human existence.
Only by belonging to the world and living in the hands of the gods did we get to be humans.
Asked if he could fathom trading modern life for a pre-agricultural lifestyle, Alan admits that he cannot. Meanwhile, Leavers exposed to modernity have consistently tried to return to their Leaver lifestyles—often rendered impossible by the destructive acts of Takers.
If you close your eyes, you can feel the energy of land and creek, rocks and bluffs, grasses and red cedar trees, blue sky and snow, all of it together.
In many ways, then, the real challenge in times of ecological collapse, the rise of authoritarian governments, capitalist crisis, and war-mongering militarization is to truly understand these systems, their evolving nature in relation to contemporary societies, their potential interface with modern institutions of governance, and how to strengthen overall governance for the purposes of justice and sustainability.
Ishmael asks Alan to define culture, working out in steps that culture is the accumulated knowledge that defines a people, passed down to—and refined/amended by—future generations. This transmission goes beyond mere information, encompassing “beliefs, assumptions, theories, customs, legends, songs, stories, dances, jokes, superstitions, prejudices, tastes, attitudes.”
Changing how we live and transforming our societies can feel impossible, but that shouldn’t be surprising when the ethical beliefs that shape us are so rarely subject to scrutiny or discussion. What if we build a social movement that pulls growing numbers of people out of those habits of passivity and helps us cultivate our moral agency?
Today, Nate is joined by neuroscientist and best-selling author, Maren Urner, to discuss the critical role of journalism in democracy, the importance of rebuilding trust in media, and how neuroscience can inform our understanding of media consumption.
As long as we prioritize human well-being to the exclusion of the rest of the community of life, we make ourselves enemies of life.
Imagine a Europe that stops measuring its virtue by comparison and starts measuring it by consequence. That actually asks “Who do we harm? And how do we stop?” That does not seek to escape its past, but commits to repairing its present.
