humanity & the Birth of Western Civilization

We have changed the human environment extraordinarily quickly. What happens when inherited human tendencies encounter environments radically different from those in which they evolved?

We live in an age of extraordinary achievement. Never before has humanity possessed such vast stores of knowledge, such powerful technologies, or such remarkable scientific understanding. Yet alongside these accomplishments, many people in "advanced" society are facing serious issues with: 

* Belonging vs isolation

* Participation vs consumption

* Relationship vs acceleration

* Meaning vs metrics

* Enough vs insatiability

There may be an explanation for this deterioration—and, if so, it may point toward things we can do differently.

Song of an Ancient Earth

is assembling a multi-disciplinary examination of the scientific evidence and consideration of a plan for remedial action.

At a time when societies face growing challenges related to isolation, mistrust, fragmentation, and declining community connection, questions about the human past are no longer only historical questions. They are questions about the future.

New evidence begs to be examined by anyone interested in the enduring question of how we came to be who we are.

We will be taking a hard look at an uncomfortable situation that is currently being played out in U.S. courtrooms.  There are brilliant researchers studying problematic internet use, gaming disorder, social-media addiction, behavioral addiction, reward systems, compulsive behavior, adolescent development, attention, and digital-media effects.

What happens when powerful technologies are designed around exploiting characteristics of human psychology?    

Why are modern technologies so effective at capturing human attention and producing compulsive behavior?

Why are some human beings more susceptible to compulsive reward-seeking than others? 

These questions become more intelligible when we understand the human environment in which those vulnerabilities evolved. 

Bolstered by the findings of the archaeological record, we recognize the importance of: 

human evolutionary history and 

Inherited/biological vulnerability

in the modern technological environment.

The transformation of human life that was made during the "Neolithic Revolution" was made by people who solved problems that needed solving.  But in solving them they may have weakened or obscured certain human capacities that evolved under prehistoric conditions. 

The experience of radical change in lifestyle and world view that began 12,000 years ago begs to be carefully examined.   

The science of Genetics is a key component in this exploration.  Yet, Geneticists cannot reconstruct the human environment of 10,000–50,000 years ago.  Conversely, archaeologists are not equipped to determine the genetic consequences of those environments.  We must put our heads together. 

In the Neolithic mind, responsible for the most consequential changes in human development, everything was connected. If we apply the same principle to specific questions, together, we will more deeply understand the path to western civilization as it is today; we will come away with a model for prototype pilot programs that translate interdisciplinary knowledge into meaningful public initiatives. 

Effective principles of addiction recovery have been quietly applied in these prototypes, which will be evaluated during the congress. 

Proceedings will be published, along with anticipated suggested models for public outreach:  a portfolio of small-scale, public-facing prototypes—including educational activities, intergenerational experiences, storytelling, sound and sensory experiences, and other approaches designed to translate interdisciplinary knowledge into experiences for contemporary audiences.