Human Nature Odyssey
by Alex Leff
Latest episode
27 - Cycle of Memory and Societal Alzheimer's
27 - Cycle of Memory and Societal Alzheimer's
About this podcast
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 experience the incredible, terrifying, and ridiculous world we inhabit.
A narrative audio documentary for anyone asking how we got here — and what comes next.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 35 episodes
- 27 - Cycle of Memory and Societal Alzheimer's · 49 min · Season 4 Episode 27Can societies get Alzheimer's? From the pyramids of Ancient Egypt to cloud storage, humanity has gone to extraordinary lengths to preserve its memories. But what happens when…
- REWIND - Against Leviathan: An Anarchist Fairytale of the Origin of Civilization · 42 minThis episode originally aired in October of 2024. Gather around the campfire for a ghost story about the most destructive monster in history: civilization itself. In this…
- 26 - Can Games Save The World From Bureaucracy? With C. Thi Nguyen · 58 min · Season 4 Episode 26How did humans go from living in small-scale communities where everyone knew each other to building a massive civilization filled with billions of strangers? And what the heck…
- 25 - The Forest and the Forager · 29 min · Season 4 Episode 25You might think that you are not a forager. But what if no matter our lifestyle or job title, we are forever hunter gatherers in this world: of food, of love, of meaning. In this…
- 24 - Stories That Create or Destroy: Myth, Death, and Animism with Sophie Strand · 60 min · Season 4 Episode 24What if the crises of our time are not just ecological or political, but also mythological? Poet and author Sophie Strand joins Human Nature Odyssey for a wide-ranging…
- 23 - What Is Human Nature Odyssey? · 30 min · Season 4 Episode 23You, me, and everyone we know were born on the Titanic. Some are warning of icebergs. Some are shoveling coal into the furnaces. Some are jamming out while the band plays louder…
- Hajar Tazi: Weaving Our Way Back Home · 1 h 20 minToday Hajar Tazi joins us on our odyssey. Hajar is a poet, writer, facilitator, and self-described "ecosystem weaver." Our conversation is part of a new five-episode miniseries…
- 22 - Earth Abides (Part 2): Future Animists · 53 min · Season 3 Episode 22Okay, it's been fifty years since the sudden collapse of civilization - why isn't everything back up and running already? In the 1949 sci-fi novel Earth Abides, Isherwood…
- 21 - Earth Abides (Part 1): Life After Civilization · 49 min · Season 3 Episode 21You ever go on a little trip, to just get away from it all — only to come home and find all of civilization collapsed while you were gone and you might be the last person left on…
- 20 - Joanna Macy & The Great Turning — with Jess Serrante · 58 min · Season 3 Episode 20How do we live through wild times? Legendary scholar, activist, and systems thinker Joanna Macy named the moment we are living through the Great Unraveling—a time when our…
- 19 - Modern Myths: Flat Earth, Space Colonization, and the Stories We Tell to Escape Reality · 1 h 0 min · Season 3 Episode 19At first glance, believing the earth is flat and dreams of colonizing Mars couldn't seem further apart. But both are built on the same story — that reality can be escaped if we…
- 18 - Time Machine 2126 (Part 2): Techno-Utopia Or Apocalypse? · 56 min · Season 3 Episode 18Picture the future 100 years from now. What do you imagine? Flying cars? Space colonies? AI talking toasters? But if we can't sustain an endlessly growing economy - even with a…
- 17 - Time Machine 2126 (Part 1): Has Green Energy Saved Us Yet? · 38 min · Season 3 Episode 17What does a livable future look like 100 years from now? If we unlocked unlimited green energy, what would we actually do with it? And are our dreams of a renewable-energy utopia…
- 16 - How To Survive A Zombie Apocalypse · 43 min · Season 3 Episode 2A horrific zombie apocalypse has ravaged the world—but hardly anyone seems to notice. One lone podcast sets out to interview those navigating this strange new reality: from…
- 15 - Are Hunter-Gatherers Liberals or Conservatives? · 54 min · Season 3 Episode 1What insights can our ancient past shine on our political future? Were hunter-gatherers the ultimate traditionalists—or proto-communists? Is it possible hunter-gatherers lived…
- Sex at Dawn, Civilized to Death, and Tangentially Speaking with Christopher Ryan · 1 h 12 min · Season 2 Episode 8Christopher Ryan joins the odyssey to discuss human nature - shouldn't be surprising - it's in the name! What's universal, what's cultural, and what's personal? Can we really…
- 14 - The King Is Dead, Now What? The 250-Year Struggle for Democracy (Part 3) · 1 h 2 min · Season 2 Episode 7Breaking news: The Soviet Union has collapsed! The Berlin Wall has crumbled! Communism has fallen! Capitalism wins! USA! USA! But wait… what's this? Russia has been overtaken by…
- 13 - The King Is Dead, Now What? The 250-Year Struggle for Democracy (Part 2) · 54 min · Season 2 Episode 6In the The King Is Dead, Now What? we're exploring the history of the left / right political spectrum and the 250 year struggle for democracy. In Part 1 we started telling the…
- 12 - The King Is Dead, Now What? The 250-Year Struggle for Democracy (Part 1) · 50 min · Season 2 Episode 5How many people are happy with the way society is headed? There seems to be a general consensus - maybe the one thing we all agree on - that things are not right. But our…
- Astrophysics for a New Stone Age with Tom Murphy · 58 min · Season 2 Episode 4What 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…
