One of my favorite big-think papers of recent years tries to explain humanity’s societal evolution, “The computational power of a human society: a new model of social evolution” by David H. Wolpert ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Mummies–unearthed in pits, dug from mountain sides, and thawed ...

The appearance of moralizing gods in religion occurred after—and not before—the emergence of large, complex societies, according to new research. This finding upturns conventional thinking on the ...

It seems like data is changing everything we do. Data analysis has transformed biological research over the past decade. It has reinvented the business world by way of "big data" software platforms ...

With the world experiencing the worst pandemic since 1918, people may be wondering whether our way of life is secure. Looking at how civilizational breakdown has happened before can help us understand ...

The question of how human societies evolve from small groups to the huge, anonymous and complex societies of today has been answered mathematically, accurately matching the historical record on the ...

He was right. But Churchill never imagined a government that would add 10,000 year after year. That’s what we have in America. We have 160,000 pages of rules from the feds alone. States and localities ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. "For we know Him who said, 'And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; ...

Emergence of politically sophisticated societies may be assisted by faith in supernatural spirits, but does not need "big God" religion. All human societies have been shaped by religion, leading ...

Step aside, honeybees, there’s a new pollinator in town. Hollis Woodard of University of California, Riverside shares the intricate life cycle of bumblebees, whose queens spend most of their life ...