Picture the future 100 years from now. What do you imagine? Flying cars? Space colonies? AI talking toasters?

But if we can't sustain an endlessly growing economy - even with a transition to green energy - what does a realistic and positive future look like?

Alex joins the hosts of Crazy Town to imagine life in the 22nd century: walking from our family farms into communal villages, living off the land in a low-energy lifestyle, taming our pet donkeys, and resisting our local warlords.

It's not the future the movies told us to expect. But it might be a future we enjoy living in.

CITATIONS

• Crazy Town podcast

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.

Music: Celestial Soda Pop

By: Ray Lynch

From the album: Deep Breakfast

Courtesy Ray Lynch Productions © Ⓟ 1984/BMI

All rights reserved.

What does a livable future look like 100 years from now? If we unlocked unlimited green energy, what would we actually do with it? And are our dreams of a renewable-energy utopia sometimes just as delusional as the fossil-fueled drill baby drill mentality?

In this two-part series, Alex is joined by the hosts of Crazy Town—Jason Bradford, Rob Dietz, and Asher Miller—a research biologist, ecological economist, and Executive Director of the Post Carbon Institute, who bring a depth of knowledge as well as dad jokes. Together, they explore the implications of exponential energy growth on a finite planet, the hard truths behind a renewable-energy future, and which expectations we need to rethink as we chart a path forward.

Along the way, we encounter an Olympic athlete attempting to toast bread using a bicycle. We also step inside a billionaire's latest invention: a time-travel device promising to fling us ahead one hundred years. Will the future be a gleaming techno-utopia powered by infinite green energy? A scorched wasteland of collapse? Or something else entirely—a lower-energy world that future generations might actually enjoy living in?

Stay tuned for Part 2 where we take the full leap into the time machine and imagine what life a century from now could really look like in a post high-energy future.

CITATIONS

• The Toaster Challenge, Olympic Cyclist Vs. Toaster: Can He Power It?, 2015
• Tom Murphy, Galactic-Scale Energy, Do the Math, 2011.
• Tom Murphy, Limits to Economic Growth, Nature Physics, August, 2022.
• Solar Freakin' Roadways, Indiegogo, 2014
• Crazy Town podcast

ADDITIONAL MUSIC

• Modified version of "Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30" by Strauss, from classicals.de — licensed under CC BY 4.0

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.

Music: Celestial Soda Pop

By: Ray Lynch

From the album: Deep Breakfast

Courtesy Ray Lynch Productions © Ⓟ 1984/BMI

All rights reserved.

This is the first 30 minutes of a longer conversation. The full conversation is available on the Human Nature Odyssey Patreon.

===

In 1991, a group of artists, inventors, and visionaries set out to live inside a sealed desert enclosure for two years—a bold experiment to see if humans could survive in a self-contained environment. The project made headlines, sparked controversy, and became a cultural sensation. Spaceship Earth is the riveting documentary that tells the nuanced story of the people behind this audacious experiment.

In this bonus conversation, Jake Marquez and Maren Morgan from the Death and the Garden podcast join me to explore the legacy of Biosphere 2. Together, we discuss what makes a tribe function, and why the experiment's worth revisiting today.

A horrific zombie apocalypse has ravaged the world—but hardly anyone seems to notice. One lone podcast sets out to interview those navigating this strange new reality: from people attending mindful zombie retreats and binging zombie media, to those stockpiling shotguns and fortifying bunkers, to others disappearing into the woods to build something entirely new.

CREDITS

This is an original script written by Alex Leff

VOICE ACTING CREDITS

Jason Bradford

Rob Dietz

Jake Gibson

Maia Kinney-Petrucha

Jessie Lian

Jake Marquez

Asher Miller

Maren Morgan

Ray Tannheimer

Maggie Weiler

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.

Music: Celestial Soda Pop

By: Ray Lynch

From the album: Deep Breakfast

Courtesy Ray Lynch Productions © Ⓟ 1984/BMI

All rights reserved.

This is the first 30 minutes of a longer conversation. The full conversation is available on the Human Nature Odyssey Patreon.

===

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there was an old Republic that, out of fear of a phantom menace, voted to consolidate authoritarian power—unknowingly sealing its own demise. It transformed into an Empire, bent on wielding its weapons of mass destruction to conquer all who dared resist.

But don't worry—this is just a story. It has nothing to do with us. After all, it all happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Right?

Jake Marquez and Maren Morgan are fellow podcasters, filmmakers, and friends. We continue our mid-month bonus series where we take something from the zeitgeist and view it through a broader civilizational lens.

What insights can our ancient past shine on our political future?

Were hunter-gatherers the ultimate traditionalists—or proto-communists?

Is it possible hunter-gatherers lived with greater equality and more political freedom than most societies today?

And why do both communism and capitalism, despite being sworn enemies, rest on the same assumption of endless growth?

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt argues that humans are wired with both liberal and conservative tendencies—and that societies function best when those forces stay in balance. Where can we find the liberal and conservative elements in our hunter-gatherer past? And how might it reframe our political future?

In The King Is Dead, Now What? we explored modern political history. Now we zoom out, connecting the dots to a much broader civilizational story.

Plus, we're debuting a new segment: The State of Civilization, featuring our up-and-coming optimistic reporter Jeff Opolis, reporting on the fantastic news coming from civilization right now. Everything is great! Or… is 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.

Additional music for this episode by Adam Tell, from the albums Peripheries, This Time With Feeling, and Object Impermanence. Courtesy of Adam Tell. All rights reserved.

CITATIONS

Haidt, Jonathan. "The Moral Roots of Liberals and Conservatives." TED, 2008.

Fiddler on the Roof. Directed by Norman Jewison, United Artists, 1971.

"Net Energy and Sustainability, or… The Story of the Overstuffed Strongman." Crazy Town podcast, Post Carbon Institute, 2021.

Ryan, Christopher. Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress. Avid Reader Press, 2019.

"Ken Burns." The Joe Rogan Experience, episode 1745, Spotify, 2022.

Cronon, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. Hill and Wang, 1983.

Marx, Karl. Critique of the Gotha Programme, 1875.

Hyde, Lewis. The Gift: Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property. Vintage, 1983.

Kimmerer, Robin Wall. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions, 2013.

Norberg-Hodge, Helena. Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh. Sierra Club Books, 1991.

Ho, Fred. A World Where Many Worlds Fit. Big Red Media, 2008.

World Health Organization. (2024, July 24). Hunger numbers stubbornly high for three consecutive years as global crises deepen.

Colquhoun, P. A Treatise on the Police of the Metropolis.

Elhacham, Emily, et al. "Global Human-Made Mass Exceeds All Living Biomass." Nature, vol. 588, no. 7838, 2020, pp. 442–444.

Music: Celestial Soda Pop

By: Ray Lynch

From the album: Deep Breakfast

Courtesy Ray Lynch Productions © Ⓟ 1984/BMI

All rights reserved.

This is the first 30 minutes of a longer conversation. The full conversation is available on the Human Nature Odyssey Patreon.

===

Jake Marquez and Maren Morgan are fellow podcasters, filmmakers, and new friends. Starting today, the three of us are joining forces to create monthly bonus episodes where we'll seek to better understanding this self-destructive civilizational 10,000 year predicament we find ourselves in.

In this episode we discuss artificial intelligence. We found that despite all our philosophical overlap we were advocating two different approaches when it came to AI. I was exploring the idea of a cautious adoption, Maren argued for more of an abstinence policy.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, every good conversation ends with the same conclusion: oh yeah, balance. We find ourselves there eventually. But the road we take is filled with insights, questions, and jokes.

Christopher Ryan joins the odyssey to discuss human nature - shouldn't be surprising - it's in the name! What's universal, what's cultural, and what's personal? Can we really change the culture we live in? And are some societies better suited to human well-being than others?

Christopher Ryan is the New York Times bestselling author of Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for Modern Relationships as well as the book Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress. He also hosts the long-running podcast, Tangentially Speaking," which has been downloaded over 30 million times.

You can learn more about Christopher here.

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

Breaking news: The Soviet Union has collapsed! The Berlin Wall has crumbled! Communism has fallen! Capitalism wins! USA! USA!

But wait… what's this? Russia has been overtaken by oligarchs and an authoritarian dictator. Oh no… Well, at least that could never happen in the United States. Right?

This is the climactic Part Three of our three-part series on the history of the left/right political spectrum.

After the youth protests of the 1960s failed to topple governments, left-wing radicalism shifted its focus—from revolution to championing social equality through pop culture. But as culture wars raged, neoliberalism—liberalism and capitalism's love child—conquered the globe, fueling deregulation, rising corporate power, and deepening economic divides that hollowed out democracy itself.

Just three decades after the Cold War, the old adversaries—Russia and the U.S.—found themselves on eerily parallel paths, ushering in a new era of oligarchy and a return to right-wing rule—like the one the French Revolution fought against all those years ago.

Join us as we trace how the world drifted from dreams of liberation to authoritarian control—and how a new generation began planting the seeds of liberty and equality once again.

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

"Vietnam War." Encyclopaedia Britannica.

"Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics." National Archives.

Thatcher, Margaret. Speech to the Conservative Women's Conference. May 21, 1980.

Wong, Edward. "China's Black Cat, White Cat Diplomacy." Foreign Policy, July 10, 2009.

Reagan, Ronald. Speech at Reagan-Bush Rally in Warren, Michigan. October 10, 1984.

"Distribution of Household Wealth in the U.S. since 1989." Federal Reserve.

Davidson, Amy. "Exploring Occupy Wall Street's Adbusters Origins." NPR, October 20, 2011.

"Youth Voting in 2016 Primaries and Caucuses." CIRCLE, Tufts University.

Kestenbaum, David. "How Shock Therapy Created Russian Oligarchs and Paved the Path for Putin." NPR, March 22, 2022.

Steele, Jonathan. "How Football Conquered Russia." The Guardian, July 2, 2003.

Harding, Luke. "Roman Abramovich: The Billionaire Oligarch with a Backstory Shrouded in Secrecy." The Guardian, March 21, 2022.

Keats, Jonathon. "Design of Dissent." Forbes, October 28, 2019.

Birnbaum, Michael. "Occupy Wall Street Protests Go Global." The Washington Post, October 15, 2011.

Jojo Rabbit. 2019. Directed by Taika Waititi.

Music: Celestial Soda Pop

By: Ray Lynch

From the album: Deep Breakfast

Courtesy Ray Lynch Productions © Ⓟ 1984/BMI

All rights reserved.

In the The King Is Dead, Now What? we're exploring the history of the left / right political spectrum and the 250 year struggle for democracy.

In Part 1 we started telling the story that began with the French Revolution of 1789, when those in favor of monarchy sat on the right wing of the national assembly room and those in favor of revolution sat on the left wing.

In the wake of the 1848 revolutions, the struggle between left and right gave rise to three major political ideologies—conservatism, liberalism, and radicalism—each offering a distinct vision for society. These competing forces would ignite a global struggle for power.

In this episode, we trace the ongoing clash between these ideologies, imagining them as bickering gods, each vying for control of the human realm. From the Russian Revolution and the collapse of monarchies after World War I to the rise of fascism, the global conflict of World War II, the Cold War standoff between the U.S. and Soviet Union, and the global youth protests of 1968, we explore how these powerful ideas collided, evolved, and continue to shape the struggle for power, equality, and freedom.

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.

Articles

Narewska, Elli. "Tsar Nicholas II Abdicates." The Guardian, March 3, 2017.

Hoffmann, David L. "The October Revolution in Russia" Ohio State University Origins, 2017 "The Paris Riots of 1968, Part 1." CBC Radio, April 24, 2018.

Keats, Jonathon. "Design of Dissent." Forbes, October 28, 2019.

Baker, Peter. "CIA Helped Arrest Mandela." Time, February 2023.

Statista. 2022. "Second World War: Share of Total Population Loss." BBC Bitesize. "The Vietnam War: Casualty Statistics." U.S. National Archives. "Vietnam War Casualty Statistics." ECPAT International. "How Many Vietnamese Died in the Vietnam War." Horner, Sam. "The Birth of the Soviet Union and the Death of the Russian Revolution." JSTOR Daily, 2021.

YouTube

"Days That Shook The World: Russia's Two Revolutions of 1917" Epic History. Mar 8, 2022

Films

Jojo Rabbit. 2019. Directed by Taika Waititi.

Music: Celestial Soda Pop

By: Ray Lynch

From the album: Deep Breakfast

Courtesy Ray Lynch Productions © Ⓟ 1984/BMI

All rights reserved.