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PODCAST

Human Nature Odyssey

Human Nature Odyssey explores the myths, systems, and stories shaping our unraveling world. Blending history, mythology, philosophy, ecology, and cinematic audio storytelling, the show uses the past to better understand the present — and the possible futures we"re creating. You are living the latest chapter in a 10,000-year human story. Join documentary filmmaker and storyteller Alex Leff on a cinematic audio journey through civilization, collapse, meaning, and myth, in search of clearer ways to

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

46:18

11 - Capitalism & Monopoly: Why The Best Board Games...

Human Nature Odyssey ·

2024/11/26

Looking for a game to play over the holidays? Why not try the real world global economy? Too late, you’re already playing it! In this episode, we use Immanuel Wallerstein’s World-Systems Analysis as our instruction manual to the game of colonization and exploitation. We explore how dominant countries rise and fall, the dance between capitalism and the state, and the unexpected truth about what real power looks like. Join us for a deep dive into empires, markets, mafias, and everyone’s favorite

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41:36

10 - Against Leviathan: An Anarchist Fairytale of the...

Human Nature Odyssey ·

2024/10/24

Gather around the campfire for a ghost story about the most destructive monster in history: civilization itself. In this episode, we delve into the countercultural writings of Fredy Perlman, whose strange 1983 book “Against His-Story, Against-Leviathan”—riddled with grammatical errors and misspellings—blends myth and history to explore the nature of power, subjugation, and the struggle between the rulers and the ruled. Our journey takes us back to ancient Sumer, where egalitarian hunter-gatherer

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45:52

Out of Society and Into the Wild: The Legend of...

Human Nature Odyssey ·

2024/09/19

In the spring of 1992, twenty-four-year-old Christopher McCandless left society behind, hitchhiking 3,000 miles into the Alaskan wilderness. Two years earlier, Chris had donated his entire life savings to Oxfam, burned his social security card, and headed west seeking life on his own terms - without telling a soul, particularly his parents. In this episode, we delve into Into the Wild's larger cultural implications, exploring the conflict between self and society, community and solitude

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55:58

Can We Escape Modern Civilization? A Conversation...

Human Nature Odyssey ·

2024/08/29

Is it possible to escape industrialism, capitalism, imperialism or are we trapped? Crazy Town podcast hosts Jason Bradford, Rob Dietz, and Asher Miller join us for a wide-ranging discussion of big topics like modern civilization’s converging crises, the concept of 'red pilling', and the 1993 Bill Murray classic film Groundhog Day. With equal parts humor and in-depth analysis, Asher, Rob, and Jason safeguard their sanity while probing crazy-making topics like climate change, overshoot, runaway

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37:19

Death in the Regenerative Garden: Rethinking Food,...

Human Nature Odyssey ·

2024/07/25

What death is required for life to grow? In our culture’s resistance to death we seem to have caused so much of it. And what if humans aren't inherently a destructive force on the planet? How might we actually be another symbiotic part of our ecosystems? Jake Marquez and Maren Morgan are the hosts of Death in the Garden, a podcast exploring the complex intersection between myth, civilization, climate change. Mandy Magill is a regenerative agriculture educator and cofounder of the Earth Regeneration

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47:15

Worldbuilding and Experience Design for Society with...

Human Nature Odyssey ·

2024/06/13

Civilization is an interactive immersive experience. Worldbuilding isn't just for sci-fi and fantasy, but how we can change our society. Abraham Burickson, co-founder of Odyssey Works—an organization dedicated to crafting personalized, immersive experiences—has long been captivated by the transformative power of design. Whether in the structure of a building or the verses of a poem, he explores how these creations shape our perceptions and interactions with the world. In his latest book, Experience

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45:46

08 A Conversation with Rennie MacKay Quinn (wife of...

Human Nature Odyssey ·

2023/12/14

In this very special episode, author Daniel Quinn’s wife Rennie Mackay Quinn joins us for her first ever interview: sharing untold stories, new insights, and reflections on her life and journey with her beloved late husband & Daniel Quinn. Rennie tells us about the 15 years it took Daniel to write Ishmael, the childhood dream that sparked it, how the word "hamburger" changed their lives, how they navigated the response and acclaim to Ishmael, and much more. CITATIONS Ishmael by Daniel Quinn (1992)

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39:27

07 After 'Ishmael' by Daniel Quinn

Human Nature Odyssey ·

2023/11/16

In this climactic culmination of the Ishmael series, we ask the question : how do we transform an entire society? Ishmael doesn’t give us the “10 Simple Steps to Save the World” instead, he offers us a map and compass to navigate our intergenerational civilizational transformation ourselves. Where we go from here is up to us. We’ll meet the fantastical Prince who first concocted the criminal justice system, have a final reckoning with our Taker Mythology hat, and return to the abandoned land of

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35:46

06 A Civilization That Flies

Human Nature Odyssey ·

2023/10/05

Is it possible to build a civilization that flies? (metaphorically speaking of course) How did we eventually learn to fly? It wasn’t by defying gravity and disobeying aerodynamics but by learning how to work with them. Daniel Quinn, in his novel Ishmael, argues there are laws of nature that we have to learn to live within, rather than resist, if we are to continue as a society. In this episode we explore what this “Law of Life” could be. This is an episode of short stories, cinematic sound effects,

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46:34

05 Adam, Eve, and the Agricultural Revolution

Human Nature Odyssey ·

2023/09/07

Who first told the story of the Garden of Eden? Could it have been a way to explain the unfolding Agricultural Revolution from the perspective of the people who were there? The Garden of Eden has been told and retold for thousands of years. Why do we keep telling it? With insight from modern biblical scholarship, we investigate the origins of this ancient story and what warning this active myth still has yet to be heeded today. It’s an adventure to the far flung lands of Alex’s 5th grade classroom

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33:00

04 Takers and Leavers

Human Nature Odyssey ·

2023/08/10

In this episode we take a step back from Ishmael to better view the philosophical context it was written in. We explore the history of the terms “civilized” and “primitive” and how their definitions have evolved over time. Topics include: Rome’s influence on Western European colonization, noble savage theory, primitivism, and the rise of the identity “indigenous”. When we say civilization who do we include and exclude? Who is civilized and what does that mean? If you’d like to support Human

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43:15

03 Imaginary Games for Grown Ups

Human Nature Odyssey ·

2023/07/06

Ishmael theorizes our culture is held captive by a story, a mythology we take for granted, act out every day, and is leading to the destruction of the world. So in this episode we tell this story out loud, from beginning, to middle, to end. Along the way we chat with a 6-year-old animal expert, discuss adult imaginary games, analyze the subliminal cultural messages conveyed in religion and philosophy, and meet a sassy imaginary top hat with a poorly performed Brooklyn accent. Taker Mythology, the

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37:27

02 Your Call To Adventure

Human Nature Odyssey ·

2023/06/08

Why can’t we seem to stop destroying the world? Like seriously though? Ishmael, the telepathic gorilla from Daniel Quinn’s philosophical novel, suggests we’re captives of a society where our individual society depends on our collective destruction. As we embark on our quest through the landscape of ideas in Quinn’s novel, we’ll travel to a dystopian future where Nazi Germany won the war, meet our long lost furry and feathery cousins, explore a sinister layer where villainous henchman plot the end of

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20:01

01 Self-Help Guide for Society

Human Nature Odyssey ·

2023/05/04

We’re all on our own quest to live more meaningful, healthy, and fruitful lives. To more fully understand the situation we’re in, we’re going to have to expand our scope in geography and time. This is a sociological examination of the personal, and a psychological examination of the social. Alex takes you back in time to a fateful childhood summer when the world was a magical place to explore, yet seemed like it was ending just as he was getting to know it. It was then that Alex first read Ishmael

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03:07

Human Nature Odyssey Trailer

Human Nature Odyssey ·

2023/04/13

You are living the latest chapter in a 10,000 year story. Join storyteller Alex Leff on a search for better ways to understand and more clearly experience the incredible, terrifying, and ridiculous world we live in. The first stop on our quest through a landscape of ideas and stories is the 1992 novel Ishmael by Daniel Quinn about a telepathic gorilla with great hope for humanity. Next episodes every month beginning May 4th, 2023. === Music: Celestial Soda Pop By: Ray Lynch From the album: Deep

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