22 - Earth Abides (Part 2): Future Animists

About this episode

In this episode, Alex and Tom explore the evolution of life and societal perspectives in a post-collapse world.

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-part series, Alex and astrophysicist Tom Murphy explore the unexpected evolution of life after the fall—when civilization fades into myth, and a new way of seeing the world begins to take root. It's been decades since airplanes filled the skies, since stadiums roared with crowds, since global supply chains stitched continents together. The children born after the Great Disaster have never known that world. To them, skyscrapers wrapped in vines are normal. Mountain lions at the edge of the cul-de-sac are normal. The quiet is normal. And as they grow up, they begin to tell different stories. Stories not of dominance, progress, or control—but of relationship, mystery, and a living world they are part of, not apart from. You don't need to have read the book to enter this world—this episode…

People in this episode

Host: Alex Leff

Guest: Tom Murphy

Topics covered

• societal collapse
• future of humanity
• philosophy
• relationship with nature
• evolution of life
• critiques of progress

Keywords

• Earth Abides
• societal collapse
• future animists
• philosophy
• relationship with nature
• cultural evolution

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Earth Abides

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