Why cooperation > competition in diverse ecosystems Photo by Hiroko Yoshii on Unsplash How did patriarchy evolve in the social structure of a primarily cooperative species? I began asking myself questions like this after a couple of archaeological experiences in England and Egypt. I realized we must understand — as well as possible…
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A Meaningful Series of Events
Our Pathway to Modernity Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash Who We Were We can only speculate about human societies 10,000 years ago, inferring from limited evidence that we transitioned from nomadic to sedentary life. As food storage became reliable, settlements grew. Brain development and cultural sophistication followed. The narrative varies — some…
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Yet Somehow We Got Egypt
The Mystery “Our understanding of early human existence comes from a handful of bone fragments that would fit on this table”. This was the answer to a question I didn’t know I needed. Our tour guide, an archaeology PhD with the personality of Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool, verified what I’ve…
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At Best, We’re Bad Scientists
And most of us aren’t even scientists. But we think we are. have a B.S., an M.S., and a PhD. Depending on your position in the ‘street vs book smarts’ debate, I may or may not be smart. Personally, I think degrees are overrated. I also think I’m smart. But…
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Here’s Why Money is Scarce
Don’t give me your abundance bs Photo by Alexander Mils on Unsplash In 1997 I had a job paying ten dollars an hour, and I was the righest guy I knew. I was 25 years old, had an undergraduate degree, and had worked in a part-time government field position for two years. Minimum…
How Can We Be More Gentle With Ourselves?
Gentleness, precision, and letting go. Pema Chodron, in ‘The Wisdom of No Escape’, shares with us a secret formula for life. I see it now as an almost mathematical equation describing the hidden homeostatic mechanism balancing what it means to be human. It goes a little something like this…. Life…
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Reductionism, Individualism, and the Fall of the Human Species
Fellow humans, your shortsightedness is showing One of the downsides to human evolution is that we’re not very good at seeing things from outside our perspective. Simultaneously, we struggle to live in the moment, spending most of our time worrying about the past or the future. We are in our…
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A Codependency Manifesto
What loving yourself really means. We’ve all heard it. To love someone else, you have to love yourself first. I can’t tell you how many times this has been said to me in therapy. I even conducted a lengthy podcast interview series, and nearly every guest said the same thing. …
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I Made Peace With My Anxiety, Can I Make Peace With Yours?
Differential healing in relationships Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash Self-help is a funny thing. It both defines and sickens me. While I firmly believe the only healthy growth is the personal kind, I also wish I could leave it alone. Sometimes, I secretly envy the rugged hypermasculine individuals who cry ‘woke’ and…