Human Nature Odyssey
Alex Leff
Recent Episodes
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.
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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.