Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
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.
The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is known around the world. Why does it have such sticking power?
The Leaver story does not bestow power on its enactors. It affords lives that work well for them. It’s not an existence dominated by striving and angst; by confusion and adversaries.
In this short edition of Frankly, Nate dives into the theme of unintended consequences across energy, environmental issues, and social movements. Through this lens, we understand the importance of looking two or three steps ahead of today’s actions and see the – sometimes unwanted – ripple effects in the future.
People get broken all the time, there’s no art in that, but there is an art in making spaces where we can be broken open with a chance of healing.
A revolutionary movement has to have a revolutionary goal – the overthrow of the corrupt, rotten structures of end stage capitalism and the replacement of decayed structures with new, responsive institutions.
Lion encounters with gazelles are not war-like massacres, or expressions of hatred: just satisfaction of hunger in the way ecological relationships and evolution set them up to work. Once the lions have a gazelle down, the other gazelles go about grazing in close proximity to the lions, justifiably unconcerned.
It strikes me that we are now at a crucial tipping point where a large number of people have been activated to the dire state of things when it comes to our many crises and challenges but whose behaviours are not commensurate with their understanding.
