How humanity survived its darkest hour: A colossal eruption 74,000 years ago supposedly left modern humans struggling to survive in Africa — so who was making stone tools in India? A review of The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution by Gregory Cochran and Henry Harpending (and more). An article on the dawn of civilization: Writing, urban life, and warfare. A review of The Forge of Christendom: The End of Days and the Epic Rise of the West by Tom Holland. Jonah Lehrer reviews The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World by Iain McGilchrist. Drifted towards dragons: It’s fair to characterize the last five hundred years of human civilization as a history of not-getting-the-joke of Utopia. Dominique Moisi on the final decline of the West. The volcanic ash cloud from Eyjafjallajokull has caused travel chaos and misery, but we were lucky: An eruption in the future could wipe out the human race. An eruption of reality: Has our society become too complex to sustain? David Eagleman on six easy steps to avert the collapse of civilization. Is industrial civilization doomed? A review of The Ecotechnic Future: Envisioning a Post-Peak World by John Michael Greer. Manuals for Civilization: Amanda Reed on time capsules and doomsday books. The exhaustion of the planet and existing ways of life presents a creative challenge: exploring “uncivilisation”. Robert M. Geraci on 10 ways World of Warcraft could help us survive the end of the world as we know it. Jason Linkins on how to survive the Apocalypse. From Cracked, here are 10 traits that will come in handy during the Apocalypse and 5 ways the world could end (you'd never see coming). How will the world really end? Peter Ward offers a diverse menu of scenarios for humanity’s demise.
