The Human Operating Manual

The HOM letters intertwined to form a human
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The Road to Sapiens

The Road to Sapiens Contents I. The Vertebrate March II. Becoming Primate III. Becoming Ape. Becoming Hominin IV. The Metabolic Revolution V. Fire: The First External Engine VI. Becoming Sapiens VII. Human Universals VIII. What We Do Not Know IX. The Takeaway X. Cross-Links What makes a human what it is, and the important factors […]

Our Social History

Our Social History Contents I. The Coordination Problem II. Gossip: The Social Operating System III. Language: The Coordination Engine  IV. Shared Fictions: The Real Superpower V. The Status Game VI. Storytelling: How Groups Think VII. The In-Group and the Shadow of Sharing VIII. Gossip Networks at Scale: God, Media, Internet IX. What We Do Not […]

Our Technological History

Our Technological History Contents I. Capturing External Energy II. Domestication: Engines of Flesh III. The Mixed Blessing of Agriculture IV. The Collective Brain V. Harnessing the Elements VI. The Energy Economy, and the Nine-Ton Human VII. The Delayed Consequences VIII. Building a Better Zoo IX. What We Do Not Know X. The Takeaway XI. Cross-Links  […]

The Sapien Rabbit Hole

The Sapiens Rabbit Hole Contents I. First, the Real State of the Question II. The Cooking Hypothesis III. The Aquatic and Coastal Hypothesis IV. The Stoned Ape Theory V. Psychedelics and the Origin of Religion VI. The Symbolic Leap VII. Are We Still Evolving? VIII. Open Research Questions IX. Future Topics X. Resources Bridge Alternative […]

The Alien’s Guide to the Human

The Alien’s Guide to the Human A non-biased view of the human being.   Every other page in this section was written by a human about humans, which means every other page is, to some degree, compromised. We cannot help flattering ourselves, or in the modern fashion, theatrically loathing ourselves, which is just flattery wearing […]

Evolution & Genetics

Evolution & Genetics Contents I. How Evolution Seems to Work II. What a Gene Does III. Sex, and Why It Is Worth the Trouble IV. The Evolution of Cooperation V. What Is an Organism, and What Is Behaviour? VI. The Major Transitions VII. Where This Leads VIII. What We Do Not Know IX. The Impartial […]

Energy Factories

Energy Factories Contents I. The Deal of a Lifetime II. Why Energy Was the Bottleneck III. How Energy Gets Made IV. Mitochondria as Entropy Engines V. The Maternal Line VI. What We Do Not Know VII. The Impartial Observer’s Takeaway VIII. Cross-Links Mitochondria, chloroplasts, and the deal of a lifetime. The previous page named the […]

Emergence & Complexity

Emergence & Complexity Contents I. What Emergence Is II. Simple Rules, Staggering Complexity III. Self-Organisation IV. The Levels of Reality V. Weak and Strong Emergence VI. Complexity Theory and Feedback VII. Tensegrity: The Body as Emergent Structure VIII. The Free Energy Principle IX. Emergence and You X. What We Do Not Know XI. The Impartial […]

Entropy

Entropy Contents I. What Is Entropy? II. The Second Law and the Arrow of Time III. The Part Almost Everyone Gets Backwards IV. Life as a Dissipative Structure V. The Entropy Accelerator VI. The Dissipation-Driven Adaptation VII. The Micro Example: Your Metabolism VIII. Why Growth and Decay Are the Same Process IX. The Arrow of […]