Human Nature Odyssey

• Death in the Garden with Jake Marquez and Maren Morgan (Bonus Episode)

  If you are reading this that means you are about to listen to a special and temporary episode that in a month will only exist on the HNO Patreon. On our odyssey, we're going to need friends to help us along the way. Jake and Maren are exactly that - as well as hosts of their own podcast Death in the Garden.  All you have to do is visit their website and you'll immediately know why I wanted to talk with them. In their own words, DITG is a "quest for ecological & cultural regeneration." In it they "question the direction of industrial civilization."  Here's their origin story: "Feeling dislocated and helpless to make the world a better place, despair took over. Jake and Maren met each other at just the right time, and emboldened within each other a shared passion to do somethingabout the wrongness they had always felt. They began with a hypothesis of how to solve the problems of the world, and found themselves on a quest that shocked and surprised them as they began to untangle the web of interconnected problems that we face as a species. Instead of coming to a conclusion about what can be done to solve the problems of the world, their path follows the questions and quandaries they faced in making this film, and instead have arrived at a thesis as to how we got here, and what we do about it, well, that remains to be seen." This was a fun conversation. You'll certainly learn a lot about them and their story - and you'll also learn more about mine.     Join us on Patreon and get exclusive access to audio extras, writings, and notes.

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• Astrophysics for a New Stone Age with Tom Murphy

  What will happen to our scientific knowledge if civilization collapses? Will astrophysics survive a future stone age? In this episode, we rest from our journey to talk with astrophysicist Tom Murphy, who’s been on an odyssey of his own—moving from academia to a growing concern about the collapse of civilization, to an ever expanding appreciation of the cosmos. Together we’ll gaze at the grandeur of the stars and marvel at the complexity of one of our oldest cousins: the amoeba. If you’re seeking a moment to marvel at the interconnectedness of life on Earth and the universe its interwoven with, this is the episode for you. Tom Murphy is an Emeritus Professor of Physics and Astronomy/Astrophysics at the University of California, San Diego.  After a career studying colliding galaxies and testing General Relativity using lasers to the moon, Murphy retired early to shift focus onto Planetary Limits and the intrinsic incompatibility between modernity and ecological longevity.  Creator of a textbook on energy, the Do the Math blog, and the Metastatic Modernity video series, his main plea is that you bypass these resources and read the book Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn.   Join us on Patreon and get exclusive access to audio extras, writings, and notes.   More from Tom: Do the Math blog Metastatic Modernity       Music: Celestial Soda Pop By: Ray Lynch From the album: Deep Breakfast Courtesy Ray Lynch Productions © Ⓟ 1984/BMI  All rights reserved. 1.  Amazon: Celestial Soda Pop  https://amazon.com/music/player/albums/B000QQXURI     2.  iTunes:  https://music.apple.com/us/album/celestial-soda-pop/3242445?i=3242425 3.  Spotify:   https://open.spotify.com/track/2THDVIVytLuGX7S7UghuC1?si=20ea63807bba401f  

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• 11 - Capitalism & Monopoly: Why The Best Board Games Make The Worst Reality

  Looking for a game to play over the holidays? Why not try the real world global economy? Too late, you’re already playing it!  Have you ever noticed how the most popular board games just so happen to reflect core components of our civilization? Settlers of Catan involves the extraction of raw materials. Risk is the imperialism and war between nations. Monopoly demonstrates the pitfalls of capitalism. Now in the real world, I rarely celebrate resource extraction, imperialism, or capitalism. But the board game versions are so much fun. Maybe that’s why we’re all playing it at a global level. As horrible as the side effects of these things are, enough people are having so much fun playing.  And not just those winning. Sure, winning is awesome. But don’t count out how much fun it is to be down just enough to think if you keep trying you can get back in it. Your competitiveness takes over and you can’t put the game down.  And then for even more people, they have no choice in the matter, they have to play, even though there’s no hope for winning, they’re just trying to survive and stay in the game.  At this point, most of the world has been roped into this game of conquering, exploitation, and finance. We’re so convinced this is just normal life, most people don’t even think they’re playing a game. But unlike most board games, it doesn't come with an instruction manual. That is… until now.  In this episode, we use sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein’s seminal text, World-Systems Analysis, as our instruction manual to the game of colonization and exploitation. We explore how dominant countries rise and fall, the dance between capitalism and the state, and the unexpected truth about what real power looks like.  Join us for a deep dive into empires, markets, mafias, and everyone’s favorite Monopoly piece: the thimble. Macro-economics has never been this entertaining and fun for the whole family.   If you’d like to support Human Nature Odyssey, please subscribe wherever you enjoy your podcasts, leave us a review, and visit humannatureodyssey.com. Join us on Patreon and get exclusive access to audio extras, writings, and notes.   CREDITS Additional Writer ... Weslie Lechner Voice Acting ... Patrick Boylan and Weslie Lechner   CITATIONS World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction [book] by Immanuel Wallerstein (2004) The Emergence of France [article] by Gabriel Fournier and John Frederick Drinkwater (2024) The secret history of Monopoly: the capitalist board game's leftwing origins [article] by Mary Pilon (2015)   Music: Celestial Soda Pop By: Ray Lynch From the album: Deep Breakfast Courtesy Ray Lynch Productions © Ⓟ 1984/BMI  All rights reserved.   1.  Amazon: Celestial Soda Pop  https://amazon.com/music/player/albums/B000QQXURI     2.  iTunes:  https://music.apple.com/us/album/celestial-soda-pop/3242445?i=3242425 3.  Spotify:   https://open.spotify.com/track/2THDVIVytLuGX7S7UghuC1?si=20ea63807bba401f    

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• 10 - Against Leviathan: An Anarchist Fairytale of the Origin of Civilization

  Gather around the campfire for a ghost story about the most destructive monster in history: civilization itself.  In this episode, we delve into the countercultural writings of Fredy Perlman, whose strange 1983 book “Against His-Story, Against-Leviathan”—riddled with grammatical errors and misspellings—blends myth and history to explore the nature of power, subjugation, and the struggle between the rulers and the ruled. Our journey takes us back to ancient Sumer, where egalitarian hunter-gatherer communities transformed into peasants and slaves bound by a mysterious force even the rulers couldn’t control.  We trace the rise of the first Lugals, the original kings of Mesopotamia, from Urukagina of Lagash, whose reforms sowed the seeds of his downfall, to Sargon of Akkad, who conquered all of Sumer only to become part of the Leviathan’s vast machinery. Together, we’ll explore how power and control first took root in the world's earliest cities—and how those ancient systems still shape our world today. This is a spooky episode. The hair on the back of your neck might stand up. But we can stay seated and relax. It is just a story after all. A fairytale, as Fredy would call it.   If you’d like to support Human Nature Odyssey, please subscribe wherever you enjoy your podcasts, leave us a review, and visit humannatureodyssey.com. Join us on Patreon and get exclusive access to audio extras, writings, and notes.   CITATIONS Against His-Story, Against Leviathan [book] by Fredy Perlman (1983) Sargon of Akkad [article] by Joshua J. Mark (2009) Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles [book] by Albert Kirk Grayson (1975) Akkadian Empire victory stele circa 2300 BC from Louvre Museum   Music: Celestial Soda Pop By: Ray Lynch From the album: Deep Breakfast Courtesy Ray Lynch Productions © Ⓟ 1984/BMI  All rights reserved.   1.  Amazon: Celestial Soda Pop  https://amazon.com/music/player/albums/B000QQXURI     2.  iTunes:  https://music.apple.com/us/album/celestial-soda-pop/3242445?i=3242425 3.  Spotify:   https://open.spotify.com/track/2THDVIVytLuGX7S7UghuC1?si=20ea63807bba401f   Additional Credits Vanhan ajan sota, taistelu, miekkailu / Ancient, old time battle, combat, horses snorting and galloping, men shouting and barking, fencing, swords clanging, mix by YleArkisto -- https://freesound.org/s/258207/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

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• 9 - Out of Society and Into the Wild: The Legend of Christopher McCandless

  In the spring of 1992, twenty-four-year-old Christopher McCandless left society behind, hitchhiking 3,000 miles into the Alaskan wilderness. Two years earlier, Chris had donated his entire life savings to Oxfam, burned his social security card, and headed west seeking life on his own terms - without telling a soul, particularly his parents.  In this episode, we delve into Into the Wild's larger cultural implications, exploring the conflict between self and society, community and solitude. Philosophers like Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and John Locke will weigh in. As well as George Carlin and Malcolm and the Middle.   We’ll investigate the concept of “wilderness” - how Euro-American settlers viewed it versus their Native American counterparts. And for those of us who dream of escaping the troubles of society, we’ll explore McCandless as an inspiration and cautionary tale.    If you’d like to support Human Nature Odyssey, please subscribe wherever you enjoy your podcasts, leave us a review, and visit humannatureodyssey.com. Join us on Patreon and get exclusive access to audio extras, writings, and notes.   CITATIONS Into the Wild [book] by Jon Krakauer (1996) Into the Wild [film] directed by Sean Penn (2007) George Carlin’s appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien (1996) Malcolm in the Middle [sitcom] (2000-2007) How Chris McCandless Died [article] by Jon Krakauer (2016) Myths of Wilderness in Contemporary Narrative [book] by Kylie Crane (2012)     Music: Celestial Soda Pop By: Ray Lynch From the album: Deep Breakfast Courtesy Ray Lynch Productions © Ⓟ 1984/BMI  All rights reserved.   1.  Amazon: Celestial Soda Pop  https://amazon.com/music/player/albums/B000QQXURI     2.  iTunes:  https://music.apple.com/us/album/celestial-soda-pop/3242445?i=3242425 3.  Spotify:   https://open.spotify.com/track/2THDVIVytLuGX7S7UghuC1?si=20ea63807bba401f

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