What will happen to our scientific knowledge if civilization collapses? Will astrophysics survive a future stone age?

In this episode, we rest from our journey to talk with astrophysicist Tom Murphy, who’s been on an odyssey of his own—moving from academia to a growing concern about the collapse of civilization, to an ever expanding appreciation of the cosmos.

Together we’ll gaze at the grandeur of the stars and marvel at the complexity of one of our oldest cousins: the amoeba. If you’re seeking a moment to marvel at the interconnectedness of life on Earth and the universe its interwoven with, this is the episode for you.

Tom Murphy is an Emeritus Professor of Physics and Astronomy/Astrophysics at the University of California, San Diego. After a career studying colliding galaxies and testing General Relativity using lasers to the moon, Murphy retired early to shift focus onto Planetary Limits and the intrinsic incompatibility between modernity and ecological longevity. Creator of a textbook on energy, the Do the Math blog, and the Metastatic Modernity video series, his main plea is that you bypass these resources and read the book Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn.

Join us on Patreon and get exclusive access to audio extras, writings, and notes.

More from Tom:

Do the Math blog

Metastatic Modernity

Music: Celestial Soda Pop

By: Ray Lynch

From the album: Deep Breakfast

Courtesy Ray Lynch Productions © Ⓟ 1984/BMI

All rights reserved.

1. Amazon: Celestial Soda Pop

https://amazon.com/music/player/albums/B000QQXURI

2. iTunes:

https://music.apple.com/us/album/celestial-soda-pop/3242445?i=3242425

3. Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/track/2THDVIVytLuGX7S7UghuC1?si=20ea63807bba401f

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 Monopoly piece: the thimble. Macro-economics has never been this entertaining and fun for the whole family.

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.

CREDITS

Additional Writer ... Weslie Lechner

Voice Acting ... Patrick Boylan and Weslie Lechner

CITATIONS

World-Systems Analysis: An Introduction [book] by Immanuel Wallerstein (2004)

The Emergence of France [article] by Gabriel Fournier and John Frederick Drinkwater (2024)

The secret history of Monopoly: the capitalist board game's leftwing origins [article] by Mary Pilon (2015)

Music: Celestial Soda Pop

By: Ray Lynch

From the album: Deep Breakfast

Courtesy Ray Lynch Productions © Ⓟ 1984/BMI

All rights reserved.

1. Amazon: Celestial Soda Pop

https://amazon.com/music/player/albums/B000QQXURI

2. iTunes:

https://music.apple.com/us/album/celestial-soda-pop/3242445?i=3242425

3. Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/track/2THDVIVytLuGX7S7UghuC1?si=20ea63807bba401f

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 communities transformed into peasants and slaves bound by a mysterious force even the rulers couldn’t control.

We trace the rise of the first Lugals, the original kings of Mesopotamia, from Urukagina of Lagash, whose reforms sowed the seeds of his downfall, to Sargon of Akkad, who conquered all of Sumer only to become part of the Leviathan’s vast machinery.

Together, we’ll explore how power and control first took root in the world's earliest cities—and how those ancient systems still shape our world today.

This is a spooky episode. The hair on the back of your neck might stand up. But we can stay seated and relax. It is just a story after all. A fairytale, as Fredy would call 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.

CITATIONS

Against His-Story, Against Leviathan [book] by Fredy Perlman (1983)

Sargon of Akkad [article] by Joshua J. Mark (2009)

Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles [book] by Albert Kirk Grayson (1975)

Akkadian Empire victory stele circa 2300 BC from Louvre Museum

Music: Celestial Soda Pop

By: Ray Lynch

From the album: Deep Breakfast

Courtesy Ray Lynch Productions © Ⓟ 1984/BMI

All rights reserved.

1. Amazon: Celestial Soda Pop

https://amazon.com/music/player/albums/B000QQXURI

2. iTunes:

https://music.apple.com/us/album/celestial-soda-pop/3242445?i=3242425

3. Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/track/2THDVIVytLuGX7S7UghuC1?si=20ea63807bba401f

Additional Credits

Vanhan ajan sota, taistelu, miekkailu / Ancient, old time battle, combat, horses snorting and galloping, men shouting and barking, fencing, swords clanging, mix by YleArkisto -- https://freesound.org/s/258207/ -- License: Attribution 4.0