archaeology
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On emptiness, ruin, and spirits.
We might see empty ruins. Someone else might see a place full of their ancestors’ spirits.
ancestor worship, ancestors, ancient civilizations, ancient cultures, ancient people, archaeology, Cahokia, Calusa, colonialism, high rise, Indigenous civilizations, luxury condos, Miami, oral tradition, prehistoric American civilizations, prehistoric civilizations, prehistoric ruins, prehistory of the Americas, real estate developers, real estate development, Rio Viejo, ruin, ruins, ruins as a home for spirits, spirits, spirituality, storytelling, Tequesta, Ucanal, worship
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On the apparent rarity of human-like intelligence.
When we look around, we see such a small sliver of our planet’s total life.
ancient world, animal cognition, animal intelligence, archaeological evidence, archaeology, bird brains, birds, brain, brain construction, cognition, deep time, dinosaur, evolution, evolution of intelligence, evolutionary time, fossil evidence, fossils, human extinction, intelligence, lifespan of the sun, neuron counts, neuron numbers, non-human animal cognition, Oded Galor, rocks, stone age, stone tools, Suzana Herculano-Houzel, t-rex, The Journey of Humanity, The Origins of Wealth and Inequality, time as a twenty-four hour day, Tyrannosaurus rex
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On the Golden Record.
The Golden Record could be the death of us all. But a vision of death might convince us to live better now.
alien contact, alien life, aliens, archaeology, Carl Sagan, climate change, climate destabilization, conquest, contact, cooperation, cultural collapse, cultural imperialism, extinction, extraterrestrial intelligence, extraterrestrial life, global warming, global wealth tax, Golden Record, Greenland, guaranteed basic income, heat death, human extinction, imperialism, message in a bottle, space travel, The Golden Record, Vikings, Voyager, Voyager spacecraft, wealth transfer, worst pillow talk
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On drugs and drug laws.
Humans have long restricted access to spiritual sacraments. Perhaps its not surprising that psilocybin is illegal, whereas the drugs that harm other people are easy to come by.
access to drugs, addiction, Against Life, alcohol, alcohol consumption, alcohol is the most harmful drug, alcoholism, antibiotic, antibiotic resistance, antibiotics, antibiotics in animal agriculture, archaeology, Ayelet Waldman, ballot initiative, Bay Area, Brett Kavanaugh, cocaine, Daddy Wake Up, Denver, dimethyltryptamine, DMT, drug crisis, drug laws, drug trip, drug use, drug use in the Bay Area, drugs, entheogens, hallucinations, hallucinogen, How to Change Your Mind, human drug use, incarceration, jail, jail poetry, jail time, Josh Rathkamp, Kavanaugh, magic mushrooms, mass incarceration, Michael Pollan, most harmful drugs, mushrooms, narcotics, opiate addiction, opiate epidemic, opiod addiction, opiods, opioid crisis, poetry in jail, prehistory of human drug use, prison poetry, psilocin, psilocybin, psychedelic, psychedelics, psychedelics as medicine, psychedelics drugs, psychedelics for depression, psychedelics in psychiatry, racism, racist drug laws, selective drug enforcement, selective law enforcement, sexual assault, spiritual experiences, spirituality, Supreme Court justices, teaching in jail, teaching poetry in jail, therapeutic drug trip, Travis Combs, U.S. drug policy, vegan, veganism, War on Drugs
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On two degrees and the worst year (yet) to be alive.
We’re hoping to limit climate change to two degrees … but even two degrees could turn our world into a terrible place to live.
536, 536 A.D., archaeology, atmospheric science, borrow Earth from our children, borrow the land from our children, carbon, carbon cycle, carbon economy, carbon emissions, carbon neutral, carbon tax, climate change, climate cycle, climate instability, crops, Dark Ages, Facebook, famine, feedback loop, food crops, forests, global warming, great depletion, greenhouse gases, heat sink, inherit the Earth, loss of fecundity, melting ice caps, Michael McCormick, most privileged generation, moving south for the winter, science, server farms, trains, trees, two degrees, two degrees Celsius, Venus, Venus was habitable, violence, volcano, weather, Wendell Berry, worst year to be alive
Frank Brown Cloud 