The tragic fate of the Moriori people in the Chatham Islands serves as a poignant illustration of how environmental factors and cultural evolution can shape societies. By the 19th century, the Moriori—a small, isolated population of hunter-gatherers—faced annihilation and enslavement at the hands of Maori invaders, who arrived armed and organized after centuries of agricultural … Read more
Growth Modes and Big History Not long ago, our ancestors were still swinging through African trees. In evolutionary terms, the rise of Homo sapiens was a rapid ascent. Small shifts in posture, thumbs, and brain organization led to an extraordinary leap in cognition. Humans became capable of abstract thought, complex communication, and the cultural accumulation … Read more
The years since the 1970s have been a whirlwind of financial turbulence, marked by wild swings in the prices of commodities, currencies, real estate, and stocks. Financial crises, once relatively rare, have become unsettlingly frequent, with their roots often in the same recurring patterns of speculation, euphoria, and collapse. From Japan’s real estate bubble in … Read more
Russia, the largest country in the world, spans six million square miles, crossing eleven time zones. Its immense geography defines its history, politics, and worldview. From the forests and steppes of European Russia to the frozen expanses of Siberia, this vastness has shaped a nation both unified by its strategic vulnerabilities and divided by its … Read more
In World Order, Henry Kissinger chronicles three monumental events that forever altered Europe’s landscape: the Peace of Westphalia, the French Revolution, and the Treaty of Versailles. Each event remade Europe’s politics and people, shifting them from a continent of warring dynasties and religious allegiances to a web of nations bound by the tenuous threads of … Read more
In Lost, Episode 3, the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 face a grim reality: stranded on a mysterious island with no apparent chance of rescue. Amid the chaos, Sayid, the former soldier and communications officer, uncovers a chilling truth—a distress transmission that has been looping for 16 years, a haunting signal that offers little hope … Read more
The Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman (co-founder of Deep Mind) is a sweeping and provocative exploration of the transformative potential – and existential risks – posed by the rapid advance of artificial intelligence (AI) and synthetic biology. Drawing on a wealth of research and insider knowledge, Suleyman argues that these technologies represent not just incremental … Read more
This chapter from The Perfect Weapon provides an in-depth look at Chinese cyber espionage activities targeting the United States government and corporations in the early-to-mid 2010s. It reveals details about specific hacking groups, major breaches, and the U.S. government’s attempts to curtail this activity. At the center of much of this activity was People’s Liberation Army Unit … Read more
Imagine you’re playing a really advanced video game, so advanced that the characters in it think they’re real. Now, what if our whole world was like that game, and we were all just characters in it? That’s the basic idea behind the simulation argument. Nick Bostrom, a philosopher, says we should consider three possibilities about … Read more
“The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis is a profound and thought-provoking work that delves into the intricacies of human nature, temptation, and spiritual warfare. Written in the form of a series of letters from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his nephew, Wormwood, a junior tempter, the book offers a unique perspective on the moral and … Read more