The Enlightenment worked, says Steven Pinker. By promoting reason, science, humanism, progress, and peace, the programs set in motion by the 18th-Century intellectual movement became so successful we’ve lost track of what that success came from. Some even discount the success itself, preferring to ignore or deny how much better off humanity keeps becoming, decade

Photojournalist 
Christopher Michel has traveled literally to the ends of the Earth. From the North Pole to Antarctica and even 70,000 feet up into near space. He brings back evidence and observations from his travels. “Big Here” is the corollary to the Long Now, from Brian Eno’s original essay: http://staging.longnow.org/essays/big-here-and-long-now/, and Chris will truly expand

Travel the ancient Silk Road with an archaeologist researching a revolutionary idea. Nomadic pastoralists, far from being irrelevant outliers, may have helped shape civilizations at continental scale. Drawing on his exciting field work, Michael Frachetti shows how alternative ways of conceptualizing the very essence of the word “civilization” helps us to recast our understanding of

Civilization’s health hangs on how we manage food, water, energy, and climate. Two conflicting visions dominate how we think about them. Each vision had an original creator and exemplar—the “prophet” William Vogt, author of “Road to Survival”, and the “wizard” Norman Borlaug, mastermind of The Green Revolution in agriculture. The prophet says to repent and

Based on four decades in technology and media, constantly in the eye of innovation, O’Reilly is starting vital conversations about our future. Be ready for keen details on how we got here, a frank assessment of emerging challenges, and a bold call to action for the sake of the generations on the horizon. Tim O’Reilly