Human Nature Odyssey
Human Nature Odyssey is a narrative audio documentary that blends history, mythology, philosophy, ecology, and cinematic storytelling to explore the myths, systems, and stories shaping our unraveling world. Hosted by documentary filmmaker Alex Leff, the show uses the past to understand the present and the possible futures we are creating. It invites listeners on a journey through civilization, collapse, meaning, and myth, offering clearer ways to experience the world we inhabit.
Episodes
26 - Can Games Save The World From Bureaucracy? With C. Thi Nguyen
How 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 holds those societies together? In this episode, philosopher C. Thi Nguyen, author of The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game, joins the odyssey to explore the strange relationship between games, bureaucracy, an
25 - The Forest and the Forager
You 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 immersive episode, join Alex on a walk through an ancient forest as you explore what it means to live life as a forager. It's a journey through the Garden of Eden grocery store, a wrestling with the gods, and a coming hom
24 - Stories That Create or Destroy: Myth, Death, and Animism with Sophie Strand
What 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 conversation about stories, illness, ecology, and transformation. Drawing from mythology, religion, folklore, and her own experience living with chronic illness, Sophie explores how the stories we inherit shape our relationship to t
23 - What Is Human Nature Odyssey?
You, 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 than ever. In this special episode beginning Year Four of Human Nature Odyssey, Alex gathers friends together in a living room for a live-recorded podcast potluck conversation exploring civilization, collapse, climate cha
Hajar Tazi: Weaving Our Way Back Home
Today 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 from Resilience that I'm hosting in collaboration with the Omega Resilience Awards. It's called In the Rising Tide and it brings together conversations with five people from around the world, exploring the interconnected
22 - Earth Abides (Part 2): Future Animists
Okay, 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 Williams tries and tries to teach the next generation about law, economics, and geometry but these dang kids would rather explore the streams that flow over abandoned boulevards and overgrown shopping malls. In Part 2 of this two
21 - Earth Abides (Part 1): Life After Civilization
You 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 earth? Well then you could totally relate to George R. Stewart's 1949 science-fiction novel, Earth Abides. Earth Abides is not your typical post-apocalyptic tale. It challenges some of our core notions on progress, huma
20 - Joanna Macy & The Great Turning — with Jess Serrante
How 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 ecological, political, economic, and social systems destabilize to the point of no return. And yet, she also insisted that we stand on the threshold of a Great Turning: a profound transition toward a more just and sustainable wo
19 - Modern Myths: Flat Earth, Space Colonization, and the Stories We Tell to Escape Reality
At 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 just think big enough. This episode looks at two beliefs that seem opposite — flat earth and space colonization — and asks what they reveal about our urge to escape reality rather than reckon with it. One is the belief that
18 - Time Machine 2126 (Part 2): Techno-Utopia Or Apocalypse?
Picture 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 transition to green energy - what does a realistic and positive future look like? Alex joins the hosts of Crazy Town to imagine life in the 22nd century: walking from our family farms into communal villages, living off the
17 - Time Machine 2126 (Part 1): Has Green Energy Saved Us Yet?
What 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 sometimes just as delusional as the fossil-fueled drill baby drill mentality? In this two-part series, Alex is joined by the hosts of Crazy Town—Jason Bradford, Rob Dietz, and Asher Miller—a research biologist, ecological
16 - How To Survive A Zombie Apocalypse
A 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 people attending mindful zombie retreats and binging zombie media, to those stockpiling shotguns and fortifying bunkers, to others disappearing into the woods to build something entirely new. This is an original script writte
15 - Are Hunter-Gatherers Liberals or Conservatives?
What 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 with greater equality and more political freedom than most societies today? And why do both communism and capitalism, despite being sworn enemies, rest on the same assumption of endless growth? Psychologist Jonathan Haidt a
Sex at Dawn, Civilized to Death, and Tangentially Speaking with Christopher Ryan
Christopher 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 change the culture we live in? And are some societies better suited to human well-being than others? Christopher Ryan is the New York Times bestselling author of Sex at Dawn: How We Mate, Why We Stray, and What It Means for M
14 - The King Is Dead, Now What? The 250-Year Struggle for Democracy (Part 3)
Breaking 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 oligarchs and an authoritarian dictator. Oh no… Well, at least that could never happen in the United States. Right? This is the climactic Part Three of our three-part series on the history of the left/right political spect
13 - The King Is Dead, Now What? The 250-Year Struggle for Democracy (Part 2)
In 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 story that began with the French Revolution of 1789, when those in favor of monarchy sat on the right wing of the national assembly room and those in favor of revolution sat on the left wing. In the wake of the 1848 revolut
12 - The King Is Dead, Now What? The 250-Year Struggle for Democracy (Part 1)
How 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 different opinions on what's wrong and what directions could be better too often fall on either side of a left vs right political spectrum. Where did we get this idea of a left wing and a right wing anyway? How is it in a world
Astrophysics for a New Stone Age with Tom Murphy
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 o
11 - Capitalism & Monopoly: Why The Best Board Games Make The Worst Reality
Looking for a game to play over the holidays? Why not try the real world global economy? Too late, you're already playing it! Have you ever noticed how the most popular board games just so happen to reflect core components of our civilization? Settlers of Catan involves the extraction of raw materials. Risk is the imperialism and war between nations. Monopoly demonstrates the pitfalls of capitali
10 - Against Leviathan: An Anarchist Fairytale of the Origin of Civilization
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 th
9 - Out of Society and Into the Wild: The Legend of Christopher McCandless
In the spring of 1992, twenty-four-year-old Christopher McCandless left society behind, hitchhiking 3,000 miles into the Alaskan wilderness. Two years earlier, Chris had donated his entire life savings to Oxfam, burned his social security card, and headed west seeking life on his own terms - without telling a soul, particularly his parents. In this episode, we delve into Into the Wild's larger cu
Can We Escape Modern Civilization? A Conversation with the Hosts of Crazy Town
Is it possible to escape industrialism, capitalism, imperialism or are we trapped? Crazy Town podcast hosts Jason Bradford, Rob Dietz, and Asher Miller join us for a wide-ranging discussion of big topics like modern civilization's converging crises, the concept of 'red pilling', and the 1993 Bill Murray classic film Groundhog Day. With equal parts humor and in-depth analysis, Asher, Rob, and Jaso
Death in the Regenerative Garden: Rethinking Food, Farming, and the Cycle of Life
What death is required for life to grow? In our culture's resistance to death we seem to have caused so much of it. And what if humans aren't inherently a destructive force on the planet? How might we actually be another symbiotic part of our ecosystems? Jake Marquez and Maren Morgan are the hosts of Death in the Garden, a podcast exploring the complex intersection between myth, civilization, clim
Worldbuilding and Experience Design for Society with Abraham Burickson
Civilization is an interactive immersive experience. Worldbuilding isn't just for sci-fi and fantasy, but how we can change our society. Abraham Burickson, co-founder of Odyssey Works—an organization dedicated to crafting personalized, immersive experiences—has long been captivated by the transformative power of design. Whether in the structure of a building or the verses of a poem, he explores ho
8 - A Conversation with Rennie MacKay Quinn (wife of author Daniel Quinn)
In this very special episode, author Daniel Quinn's wife Rennie Mackay Quinn joins us for her first ever interview: sharing untold stories, new insights, and reflections on her life and journey with her beloved late husband & Daniel Quinn. Rennie tells us about the 15 years it took Daniel to write Ishmael, the childhood dream that sparked it, how the word "hamburger" changed their lives, how they
7 - After 'Ishmael' by Daniel Quinn
In this climactic culmination of the Ishmael series, we ask the question : how do we transform an entire society? Ishmael doesn't give us the "10 Simple Steps to Save the World" instead, he offers us a map and compass to navigate our intergenerational civilizational transformation ourselves. Where we go from here is up to us. We'll meet the fantastical Prince who first concocted the criminal justi
6 - A Civilization That Flies
Is it possible to build a civilization that flies? (metaphorically speaking of course) How did we eventually learn to fly? It wasn't by defying gravity and disobeying aerodynamics but by learning how to work with them. Daniel Quinn, in his novel Ishmael, argues there are laws of nature that we have to learn to live within, rather than resist, if we are to continue as a society. In this episode we
5 - Adam, Eve, and the Agricultural Revolution
Who first told the story of the Garden of Eden? Could it have been a way to explain the unfolding Agricultural Revolution from the perspective of the people who were there? The Garden of Eden has been told and retold for thousands of years. Why do we keep telling it? With insight from modern biblical scholarship, we investigate the origins of this ancient story and what warning this active myth st
4 - Takers and Leavers
In this episode we take a step back from Ishmael to better view the philosophical context it was written in. We explore the history of the terms "civilized" and "primitive" and how their definitions have evolved over time. Topics include: Rome's influence on Western European colonization, noble savage theory, primitivism, and the rise of the identity "indigenous". When we say civilization who do w
3 - Imaginary Games for Grown Ups
Ishmael theorizes our culture is held captive by a story, a mythology we take for granted, act out every day, and is leading to the destruction of the world. So in this episode we tell this story out loud, from beginning, to middle, to end. Along the way we chat with a 6-year-old animal expert, discuss adult imaginary games, analyze the subliminal cultural messages conveyed in religion and philos
2 - Your Call To Adventure
Why can't we seem to stop destroying the world? Like seriously though? Ishmael, the telepathic gorilla from Daniel Quinn's philosophical novel, suggests we're captives of a society where our individual society depends on our collective destruction. As we embark on our quest through the landscape of ideas in Quinn's novel, we'll travel to a dystopian future where Nazi Germany won the war, meet our
1 - Self-Help Guide for Society
We're all on our own quest to live more meaningful, healthy, and fruitful lives. To more fully understand the situation we're in, we're going to have to expand our scope in geography and time. This is a sociological examination of the personal, and a psychological examination of the social. Alex takes you back in time to a fateful childhood summer when the world was a magical place to explore, yet
Human Nature Odyssey Trailer
You are living the latest chapter in a 10,000 year story. Join storyteller Alex Leff on a search for better ways to understand and more clearly experience the incredible, terrifying, and ridiculous world we live in. The first stop on our quest through a landscape of ideas and stories is the 1992 novel Ishmael by Daniel Quinn about a telepathic gorilla with great hope for humanity. Next episodes
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