Society featured

In my new book, Wicked Problems for Archaeologists, I examine a few creative ways that we can use archaeology to help directly address some of the global challenges that threaten both human and planetary health.

I can’t say I find these days easy to take. Some days I wake with a sense of dread, not sure what the day will bring. These four touchstones help me navigate, and find shards of sunlight in the dark skies. I hope they help you, my readers, as we ready ourselves for the days ahead.

If we place equality only as an aim for the distant future, then we have already lost the fight. Instead, let it be the foundational basis on which we begin building, from today, a more just and democratic society.

Many argue that we are experiencing a global polycrisis right now, which not only makes revolutions more likely to arise as these stresses grow, but also more likely to spread to other regions when they do occur.

In today’s conversation, Nate is joined by professor of psychology and cognitive scientist John Vervaeke to discuss the state of ‘the meaning crisis’, including the social and cultural contexts that have fostered such pervasive loss of connection and purpose.

But I think what makes Parable so popular and intellectually stimulating (aside from the fact that it’s a very exciting book!) is that it takes first principles—effectively social emotions—and develops them into a new politics for the challenges of the world the novel presents.