“The advantage of such shortcut responding lies in its efficiency and economy; by reacting automatically to a normally informative trigger feature, an individual preserves crucial time, energy, and mental capacity. The disadvantage of such responding lies in its vulnerability to silly and costly mistakes.” – Robert Cialdini, in Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion David Sobel, MD, MPH, …
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Featured Book Guns, Germs, and Steel The Fates of Human Societies Jared DiamondPaperback edition 1999 Geographical and ecological advantages, not differences in people, gave Eurasians a head start on the rest of the world. At the time of colonization, the Europeans had a food production system in place that produced enough surplus to allow large …
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Choose a topic area to explore or browse the featured stories below. Biological Evolution Language Tools & Technology Evolution of Ideas Sustainability Economy Health & Education Intercultural Understanding Discovering Our Distant Ancestors Watch: Spencer Wells takes us, as he says, on a journey that began “a long time ago [when] your family were on the brink of …
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Featured Book Natural Capitalism Creating the Next Industrial Revolution Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins & L. Hunter Lovins10th Anniversary Paperback Edition 2010 The word “capitalist” commonly refers to an individual who puts up money for projects and is focused on profits. In some circles, the word is a pejorative, with allusions to crooked financiers and others …
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Featured Book Beyond the Hole in the Wall Discover the Power of Self-Organized Learning Sugata MitraKindle edition 2012 As every parent knows, children seem to have little difficulty in figuring out various digital devices, and we all know that they are natural born learners. Sugata Mitra’s now famous experiments have shone light on the immense capacities that …
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About Us “This is a civilization that is going down, not because it hasn’t got the knowledge that would save it, but because nobody will use the knowledge.” —Idries Shah The Human Journey website is a project of The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK). For 50 years, under the direction of the late Robert …
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Saint Augustine, Phillippe de Champaigne “The Greatest surprise of human evolution may be that the highest form of selfishness is selflessness.” – Robert Ornstein, God 4.0 Robert Ornstein, PhD; David Sobel, MD, MPH; and Sally MallamContributing Writers The content of this section, unless indicated, represents Robert Ornstein’s award-winning Psychology of Evolution Trilogy and Multimind. It is reproduced here by …
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It’s as if we had the unassembled parts of a bicycle, and knew, through analogy (the shapes perhaps) that there was a relationship between the handles and our hands, the pedals and our feet, and so on. We may even have an idea that these are a necessary part of what is known as ‘a …
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Featured Book Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin by Fiona Hill, Clifford G. GaddyReviewed by George Kasabov For those of us in the democratic West, the rise of authoritarianism in countries like the USA and Hungary has come as a nasty surprise, one that is difficult to accept. Though if we were to look back …
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RECOMMENDED
by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins & L. Hunter Lovins
Most businesses still operate according to a world view that hasn't changed since the start of the Industrial Revolution. Then, natural resources were abundant and labor was the limiting factor of production. But now, there's a surplus of people, while natural capital natural resources and the ecological systems that provide vital life-support services is scarce and relatively expensive. In this groundbreaking blueprint for a new economy, three leading business visionaries explain how the world is on the verge of a new industrial revolution. Natural Capitalism describes a future in which business and environmental interests increasingly overlap, and in which companies can improve their bottom lines, help solve environmental problems and feel better about what they do all at the same time. Citing hundreds of compelling stories from a wide array of sectors, the book shows how to realize benefits both for today's shareholders and for future generations and how, by firing the unproductive tons, gallons, and kilowatt-hours, it's possible to keep the people who will foster the innovation that drives future improvement.
The relationship between people and their god(s) was of primary importance all over the world. As populations grew, settlements became cities. Order was achieved through religious hierarchy—priests and leaders ensured that they had access to “secrets” using religion to stay powerful. “As the problems and challenges facing humankind have changed, so have their religious and …
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Chinese Axial Age philosophers expressed a new ethic in response to social and cultural upheaval. Instead of simply serving our own interests or the interests of friends, family, clan and nation, we should accept responsibility for our own life, actions and thoughts. They taught that we are capable of a higher morality, the achievement of …
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