The Human Journey

In his book, ‘End Times: Elites, Counter-Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration’, Russian-American complexity scientist Peter Turchin examines the interplay of factors that, he asserts, repeatedly throw societies into decay, crisis, and often violent collapse. Turchin argues that the current instability in the United States shares the same causes as numerous other political crises in history that have ended in cataclysm. https://bit.ly/3ZlYKwH

Researchers have discovered that the 6-tonne altar stone at the heart of the ancient Stonehenge monument in southern England was transported all the way from northeast Scotland. It was carried much further than any other stone in the megalithic structure.

The runaway train of technological progress, and the complications it creates, has outpaced our ability to biologically adapt and evolve. At a fundamental level, our minds remain attuned to Stone Age conditions and challenges. A new section for The Human Journey Project entitled ‘Our Mind in the Modern World,’ looks at aspects of this disconnect. It also explores our potential to transcend our limitations and rise to the new challenges that face us. https://humanjourney.us/our-mind-in-the-modern-world/

In his book ‘The WEIRDest People in the World’ Joseph Henrich argues that the Catholic Church’s medieval edicts on marriage undermined the foundations of kin-based societies and created the more analytical and individualistic culture in the Western world—for better and for worse. https://bit.ly/3yBY0VZ

The hijacking of childhood by screen-based technologies has disrupted the neurological development of kids. Among the consequences for them are social anxiety, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, addiction and depression. American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s book ‘The Anxious Generation’ explores this growing phenomenon and makes suggestions on how to mitigate this devastating trend. https://lnkd.in/gxh5N9p8

In 'On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century,' author Timothy Snyder warns that the wave of discontent and division washing over the Western world is leading to a rise in demagogues and a loss of liberty that needs to be checked. https://bit.ly/3uYiAAW

Though to some degree unthinkable, can the notion of debt forgiveness – what our ancient ancestors called a 'Jubilee' – be a tenable and useful practice in the modern day? https://bit.ly/4fj1aSi

“The new, franchised self-improvement courses are neither the instant self-transcendence-fantastic-enlightenment panaceas that their followers resolutely contend, nor are they, as most academics contend, entirely lacking any phenomena of interest. Most self-awareness programs provide some of the rudiments of a once-complete technology of consciousness. In the absence of anything more highly developed, such programs impress their followers, and yield great benefits to their leaders-after all, a simple tape recorder might be enough to convince a primitive tribe that the bearer was a representative of the deity.” ‘The Mind Field’ is Robert Ornstein’s classic work in which he lays out the limitations of both excessive rational skepticism and fetishistic ‘new age’ credulity around the topic of personal self-development – towards providing a practical spiritual psychology relevant to modern life. https://bit.ly/46bkBIq

We evolved to pay less attention to the slow-moving dangers that threaten our world. Luckily there are ways to overcome this handicap and be more in tune with the bigger picture. The latest from The Human Journey blog. https://bit.ly/4cUgqmt

Archaeologists have found and dated the world’s oldest known picture-story: a 51,000 year-old cave painting on an Indonesian island. It’s almost 6,000 years older than the previous record holder, found about 10km away.