What happens when we step outside the inherited architecture of Western storytelling? In SPRING, SUMMER, ASTEROID, BIRD Henry Lien @henrylienauthor.bsky.social explores the textures, philosophies, and narrative instincts of Eastern story traditions. humanjourney.us/book-reviews...

In his book THE END OF EVERYTHING, American military historian Victor Davis Hanson looks at a particular type of armed conflict, the “war of annihilation”, to understand how and why successful societies found themselves in showdowns that were not just unwinnable, but unsurvivable. bit.ly/4ybL863

The challenges of the twenty-first century demand more than scientific knowledge—they require scientifically literate citizens. Learning to think critically about evidence is becoming an essential part of humanity’s social and intellectual evolution. humanjourney.us/health/educa...

Teaching Science for Citizenship

Science education is about more than preparing future scientists. It is about developing the curiosity, critical thinking, and discernment.

humanjourney.us

Human rituals—bizarre and seemingly pointless ceremonies—pervade every documented society, from handshakes to hexes, and from birthday parties to parades. In RITUAL, scientist Dimitris Xygalatas (@xygalatas.bsky.social) takes us on a journey through the rich tapestry of human rites. bit.ly/4vzo2EO

As digital culture consumes our lives, the number of people who are giving up on book reading, including younger people, seems to be on the rise. Does this presage a kind of cultural collapse or the readjustment to a different mode of learning? Our latest from The Human Journey blog. bit.ly/4erJO5L

Are We in the Twilight of the Age of the Book?

As digital culture explodes, people appear to be giving up reading books. Is this the cultural disaster it appears to be? Or something else?

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We’ve created a new website for The Human Journey project! In the coming months we’ll be rolling out some fascinating new content, largely on our blog and book review sections, so watch this space for more. Our thanks go to the Will J. Reid Foundation for supporting the project. humanjourney.us

Two previously friendly factions within the world’s largest-known group of chimpanzees in Uganda have fallen out and are engaged in a rare case of clan warfare. www.nbcnews.com/science/scie...

Infants torn from mothers, testicles ripped off: Study describes vicious chimpanzee infighting

Researchers observed intense violence between two formerly friendly sets of chimpanzees in Uganda. The findings may have implications for humans.

nbcnews.com

Around 1200 BC, the most sophisticated network of civilizations the ancient world had ever produced collapsed within a single generation. That late Bronze Age calamity, occurring violently and suddenly, affected Egypt, Anatolia, the Aegean, the Levant, parts of Libya, and the Balkans. 1/2

New research indicates humans experimented with symbolic writing as much as 40,000 years ago. This recontextualizes the history of human communication, given the earliest known written languages are Mesopotamian dating back to around 3000 BCE. bit.ly/4bgcRYw

Earliest known writing dates back over 40,000 years

Stone Age artifacts in Germany are editing writing's timeline.

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Economists have long used forecasting and predictions to approach the unknown. But the accuracy of such crystal balling is more often flawed than not—and for a variety of complex and interrelated reasons. bit.ly/4l1rmEd

In Fluke, political scientist Brian Klaas explores the phenomenon of random chance and the outsize impact it has on shaping the future. bit.ly/4eNiKOd

About a decade ago, a baker in a small mountainous village in southern Austria noticed his cow doing something unusual... My latest for @science.org about the first documented case of tool use in cattle!

No bull: This Austrian cow has learned to use tools

First evidence for tool use in cattle includes a skill previously seen only in humans and chimpanzees

science.org

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. bit.ly/3ZlYKwH

End Times: Elites, Counter Elites, and the Path of Political Disintegration

In ‘End Times’ Peter Turchin examines the socio-economic factors that repeatedly throw societies into crisis and often violent collapse.

humanjourney.us

The adult takeover of childhood has created a crisis of anxiety in both children and parents. Author Lenore Skenazy lays out the unexpected benefits of letting our kids be more “free range” — and shows why the most teachable moments happen when parents aren’t there. bit.ly/4aPoNC9

Why you should spend less time with your kids

Whether it’s micromanaging playtime, constantly hovering or incessantly texting, the adult takeover of childhood has created a crisis of anxiety in both children and parents, says Lenore Skenazy, cofo...

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Our perception of time is inherently skewed by our self-centered view of life. But as Hugh McGilvery writes, while most of us may never grasp time’s true nature, there are things we can do to gain a less self-centered perspective—and which brings its own benefits. bit.ly/3YUI0t3

"Style-shifting", a linguistics term which describes changes in our patterns of speech around different people, reflects one idea in brain research that we all embody many personas that reveal themselves according to the circumstances we find ourselves in. bit.ly/4oQwJGB

Style-Shifting: Why We Speak Differently Around Friends

Style-shifting, which describes changes in our patterns of speech with people, reflects the idea that we all have multiple personas.

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Concrete underpins modern life—but its production carries a staggering environmental cost, with global demand only set to grow. New solutions offer promising pathways to make concrete less polluting and to rethink how we build. bit.ly/48J46Fh

Why We Should Care About Concrete

Concrete underpins modern life—but its production carries a staggering environmental cost, with global demand only set to grow.

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In their book, 'God 4.0', authors Robert Ornstein and Sally Mallam combine ancient teachings with modern science to come up with a new psychology of spiritual experience. The result is a stunning unification of science and tradition towards a revolutionary concept of self-development bit.ly/3KBknnz

Is our cherished and time-honoured understanding of male and female brains still accurate? A close look at how we embraced some of those notions to begin, with may hold the answer to this question. humanjourney.us/blog/conditi...

An article by the late Afghan writer Idries Shah on the original purpose and little-known technical craft of storytelling for awakening human consciousness. bit.ly/3VjPebe

The Sufi Teaching Story

For thousands of years, the Sufis have been using carefully constructed "teaching stories" to stimulate and stabilize an expanded consciousness.

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Given the unreliability of economic forecasts, is there a way to make our predictions in economics a little more accurate, or, at the very least, more useful? bit.ly/43kWt5Z

In some cultures, especially those of the Middle East, stories or ‘fairy tales’ have several functions. Beyond providing entertainment, inculcating morals, and passing on culture, they also provide the basis for more advanced instruction later in life. bit.ly/4oRprCH

The Teaching Story - A Unique Literary Form

In some cultures, traditional stories or “fairy tales” have several functions spanning entertainment to the refinement of perception.

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In OUR DOLLAR, YOUR PROBLEM Kenneth Rogoff, Harvard University professor and former chief economist at the IMF, explains why the primacy of the US dollar has endured for so long, while its future remains highly untenable. bit.ly/3LmLtPf

Our Dollar, Your Problem

An American economist explains why the primacy of the US dollar has endured, while its future remains untenable owing to the debt crisis.

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A meta-story is a special kind of narrative. It conveys overarching insights and a bigger picture beyond the explicit tale presented. The most impactful meta-stories accustom the reader's mind to an alternate consciousness: one that is illogical, incongruous, and timeless. bit.ly/3uEYCvg

New discoveries on the Greek island of Naxos, long thought to be uninhabited until around 7,000 years ago, is rewriting assumptions about human and Neanderthal migration, navigation and life in the Aegean. bit.ly/3W4pyhW

A Greek Island’s First Settlers Weren’t Human

An archaeological dig on Naxos is overturning our assumptions about who Neanderthals were — and how they differed from Homo sapiens

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Can we move beyond the common human tendency to think in largely dualistic terms? The wellbeing of our societies, and even their survival, may in part, depend on it. bit.ly/3RZneWK