The Human Journey Project
@humanjourney.bsky.social
Highlighting research about our biological, cultural, and psychological evolution | A project of the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK)
Pinned
The Teaching Story - A Unique Literary Form
In some cultures, traditional stories or “fairy tales” have several functions spanning entertainment to the refinement of perception.
bit.ly
In some cultures, especially those of the Middle East, stories or ‘fairy tales’ have several functions. Beyond providing entertainment, inculcating morals, and passing on culture, they also provide the basis for more advanced instruction later in life. bit.ly/4oRprCH
Given the unreliability of economic forecasts, is there a way to make our predictions in economics a little more accurate, or, at the very least, more useful? bit.ly/43kWt5Z
November 11, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Given the unreliability of economic forecasts, is there a way to make our predictions in economics a little more accurate, or, at the very least, more useful? bit.ly/43kWt5Z
In some cultures, especially those of the Middle East, stories or ‘fairy tales’ have several functions. Beyond providing entertainment, inculcating morals, and passing on culture, they also provide the basis for more advanced instruction later in life. bit.ly/4oRprCH
The Teaching Story - A Unique Literary Form
In some cultures, traditional stories or “fairy tales” have several functions spanning entertainment to the refinement of perception.
bit.ly
November 5, 2025 at 9:49 AM
In some cultures, especially those of the Middle East, stories or ‘fairy tales’ have several functions. Beyond providing entertainment, inculcating morals, and passing on culture, they also provide the basis for more advanced instruction later in life. bit.ly/4oRprCH
In OUR DOLLAR, YOUR PROBLEM Kenneth Rogoff, Harvard University professor and former chief economist at the IMF, explains why the primacy of the US dollar has endured for so long, while its future remains highly untenable. bit.ly/3LmLtPf
Our Dollar, Your Problem
An American economist explains why the primacy of the US dollar has endured, while its future remains untenable owing to the debt crisis.
bit.ly
October 30, 2025 at 8:33 AM
In OUR DOLLAR, YOUR PROBLEM Kenneth Rogoff, Harvard University professor and former chief economist at the IMF, explains why the primacy of the US dollar has endured for so long, while its future remains highly untenable. bit.ly/3LmLtPf
A meta-story is a special kind of narrative. It conveys overarching insights and a bigger picture beyond the explicit tale presented. The most impactful meta-stories accustom the reader's mind to an alternate consciousness: one that is illogical, incongruous, and timeless. bit.ly/3uEYCvg
October 20, 2025 at 10:34 AM
A meta-story is a special kind of narrative. It conveys overarching insights and a bigger picture beyond the explicit tale presented. The most impactful meta-stories accustom the reader's mind to an alternate consciousness: one that is illogical, incongruous, and timeless. bit.ly/3uEYCvg
New discoveries on the Greek island of Naxos, long thought to be uninhabited until around 7,000 years ago, is rewriting assumptions about human and Neanderthal migration, navigation and life in the Aegean. bit.ly/3W4pyhW
A Greek Island’s First Settlers Weren’t Human
An archaeological dig on Naxos is overturning our assumptions about who Neanderthals were — and how they differed from Homo sapiens
bit.ly
October 14, 2025 at 11:23 AM
New discoveries on the Greek island of Naxos, long thought to be uninhabited until around 7,000 years ago, is rewriting assumptions about human and Neanderthal migration, navigation and life in the Aegean. bit.ly/3W4pyhW
Can we move beyond the common human tendency to think in largely dualistic terms? The wellbeing of our societies, and even their survival, may in part, depend on it. bit.ly/3RZneWK
October 13, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Can we move beyond the common human tendency to think in largely dualistic terms? The wellbeing of our societies, and even their survival, may in part, depend on it. bit.ly/3RZneWK
Although the subject of pronouns are today most associated with that strange identity fixation of the culture wars, for linguists their more normal use hold keys to understanding concealed aspects of our psychology and social relations. bit.ly/46Tmr1h
October 7, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Although the subject of pronouns are today most associated with that strange identity fixation of the culture wars, for linguists their more normal use hold keys to understanding concealed aspects of our psychology and social relations. bit.ly/46Tmr1h
“Stories are actually a form of technology. They are tools that were designed by our ancestors to alleviate depression, reduce anxiety, kindle creativity, spark courage and meet a variety of other psychological challenges of being human.” bit.ly/3IvGgQo
The Science of Storytelling
Humans are hardwired for stories, which have served as diverse functions as encoding survival information to cultivating higher perception.
bit.ly
September 26, 2025 at 3:01 PM
“Stories are actually a form of technology. They are tools that were designed by our ancestors to alleviate depression, reduce anxiety, kindle creativity, spark courage and meet a variety of other psychological challenges of being human.” bit.ly/3IvGgQo
For much of human history, storytelling was a spoken art. But millennia of dynamic and ever-evolving oral storytelling eventually succumbed, in different times and places, to the new tool of writing. That rendered the spoken storytelling experience as static and fixed in time. bit.ly/49o5QCJ
September 22, 2025 at 3:46 PM
For much of human history, storytelling was a spoken art. But millennia of dynamic and ever-evolving oral storytelling eventually succumbed, in different times and places, to the new tool of writing. That rendered the spoken storytelling experience as static and fixed in time. bit.ly/49o5QCJ
Intelligence is usually seen as the ability to think and learn. But in a rapidly changing world, there’s another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to question our assumptions, rethink our beliefs, and change our minds. bit.ly/46K1CFJ
September 15, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Intelligence is usually seen as the ability to think and learn. But in a rapidly changing world, there’s another set of cognitive skills that might matter more: the ability to question our assumptions, rethink our beliefs, and change our minds. bit.ly/46K1CFJ
Batteries power the clean energy transition, but current technology is falling short. Breakthroughs in chemistry, design, and policy will decide how quickly better batteries arrive, and how much they reshape our energy future. bit.ly/42eoLyn
The Future of Batteries…and the Future of Energy
Batteries help to power the clean energy transition. But the current technology, along with several other challenges, has them falling short.
bit.ly
September 5, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Batteries power the clean energy transition, but current technology is falling short. Breakthroughs in chemistry, design, and policy will decide how quickly better batteries arrive, and how much they reshape our energy future. bit.ly/42eoLyn
For most of human history, stories were spoken or sung, playing a vital role in the transmission of cultural, historical, and mythological knowledge, while providing a primary means of entertainment, education, and preserving the collective memory of the community bit.ly/4bHR6QP
September 3, 2025 at 3:44 PM
For most of human history, stories were spoken or sung, playing a vital role in the transmission of cultural, historical, and mythological knowledge, while providing a primary means of entertainment, education, and preserving the collective memory of the community bit.ly/4bHR6QP
What is it about stories that enables them to work as they do? To understand where stories come from, and why they are crucial to human life, we need to travel back at least 500,000 to long before the birth of our own species. bit.ly/4bHwcS2
August 28, 2025 at 2:37 PM
What is it about stories that enables them to work as they do? To understand where stories come from, and why they are crucial to human life, we need to travel back at least 500,000 to long before the birth of our own species. bit.ly/4bHwcS2
The way in which different cultures describe and classify colors reveals differences in how they perceive the world. It also might help us better understand and navigate the increasingly polarized nature of our conversations, globally, into the future. bit.ly/4hwhsXB
Perception of Colors—and the Words We Use to Describe Them
How different language communities describe and classify colors reveals the small differences in how they perceive the world around them.
bit.ly
August 26, 2025 at 2:23 PM
The way in which different cultures describe and classify colors reveals differences in how they perceive the world. It also might help us better understand and navigate the increasingly polarized nature of our conversations, globally, into the future. bit.ly/4hwhsXB
In ‘The Teachers of Gurdjieff’, author Rafael Lefort traverses the Middle East and Central Asia in a quest to uncover the legacy of a famous early 20th century mystic. What he finds instead is a lot of commentary about the real meaning, and methodology, of spirituality. bit.ly/4aHMQ2f
August 12, 2025 at 6:28 PM
In ‘The Teachers of Gurdjieff’, author Rafael Lefort traverses the Middle East and Central Asia in a quest to uncover the legacy of a famous early 20th century mystic. What he finds instead is a lot of commentary about the real meaning, and methodology, of spirituality. bit.ly/4aHMQ2f
Why you can remember a book you read last year but can't remember what you saw on social media yesterday.
Social media is engineering amnesia
unherd.com
August 6, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Why you can remember a book you read last year but can't remember what you saw on social media yesterday.
In his book ‘The Righteous Mind’ social psychologist Jonathan Haidt shows how the moral judgements that determine our contending politics arise not from reason, but from gut feelings. He also explains why each side is actually right about many of its central concerns. bit.ly/3RdQZUU
July 28, 2025 at 2:14 PM
In his book ‘The Righteous Mind’ social psychologist Jonathan Haidt shows how the moral judgements that determine our contending politics arise not from reason, but from gut feelings. He also explains why each side is actually right about many of its central concerns. bit.ly/3RdQZUU
Decades after Ornstein and Ehrlich published ‘New World New Mind,’ arguing the need for “conscious evolution”—for humanity to deliberately up its game—are there any indications we are heeding their call? Or is it simply: new world, same mind? humanjourney.us/.../new-worl...
July 23, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Decades after Ornstein and Ehrlich published ‘New World New Mind,’ arguing the need for “conscious evolution”—for humanity to deliberately up its game—are there any indications we are heeding their call? Or is it simply: new world, same mind? humanjourney.us/.../new-worl...
In Fluke, political scientist Brian Klaas explores the phenomenon of random chance and the outsize impact it has on shaping the future. Our latest review by @melraff.bsky.social bit.ly/4eNiKOd
July 14, 2025 at 6:37 PM
In Fluke, political scientist Brian Klaas explores the phenomenon of random chance and the outsize impact it has on shaping the future. Our latest review by @melraff.bsky.social bit.ly/4eNiKOd
There is consensus that one common parent language spawned all tongues in the Indo-European language group—spoken by over 3 billion people. But that parent language, Proto-Indo-European, is known more through inference than direct evidence. The latest post from our Field Notes blog. bit.ly/407YIIf
Proto-Indo-European: The World's Parent Language
One parent language, Proto-Indo-European, likely spawned many tongues spoken by 3 billion people. But the evidence is inferred, not direct.
bit.ly
July 10, 2025 at 6:06 PM
There is consensus that one common parent language spawned all tongues in the Indo-European language group—spoken by over 3 billion people. But that parent language, Proto-Indo-European, is known more through inference than direct evidence. The latest post from our Field Notes blog. bit.ly/407YIIf