Mark Turner (Case Western): The Embodied Mind and the Origins of Human Culture. A review of The Tribal Imagination: Civilization and the Savage Mind by Robin Fox. An interview with Niall Ferguson, author of Civilization: The West and Rest (and more). A review of Why the West Rules — For Now: The Patterns of History and What they Reveal About the Future by Ian Morris (and more). Megamaterials to propel human civilization into "the Fiber Age": An interview with Bradley Quinn, author of Design Futures. Three more attacks on civilization: Dishwashers, ice makers, and drain uncloggers are all under attack — puritans and paranoids are working with bureaucrats to unravel all the gains that markets have made for civilization. Daniel Headrick explains how the power of technology has affected man’s relationship with the rest of nature, and tells us what determines why some civilisations succeed and others fail. Pietro F. Peretto (Duke) and Simone Valente (ETH Zurich): Growth on a Finite Planet: Resources, Technology and Population in the Long Run. How to ensure a good future: To the extent that a global movement for technologically-facilitated social democracy does not emerge there will be widespread poverty, endemic violence and neo-feudalism. The Anthropocene: Can humans survive a human age? Unpacking for a disaster: Rebecca Solnit on what you need to survive the unexpected. A review of Thinking in an Emergency by Elaine Scarry (and more). After an apocalypse, what's left of digital stores of knowledge? Our existing information technology infrastructure is surprisingly robust, at least for now — but what's left if something really big happens? A review of Our Way Out: First Principles for a Post-Apocalyptic World by Marq de Villiers. A review of The God Species: How the Planet Can Survive the Age of Humans by Mark Lynas.
