What we talk about as “happiness” is actually a [set of biochemical reactions](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201211/the-neurochemicals-happiness) that happen inside our brains. [About half of those are determined by our genetics](http://www.springerlink.com/content/515738417321242m/), but the other half can be trained and improved. There are many ways to train your happiness, but I find two especially important: – Noticing good things around…more
A [Danish Folk High School](https://www.danishfolkhighschools.com/about-folk-high-schools/what-is-a-folk-high-school) is “a non-formal residential school offering learning opportunities in almost any subject.” More generally, it’s a place where post-high-school age students can go live for a while and learn about community practices together. The book _[The Nordic Secret](https://www.nordicsecret.org/)_ argues that the invention of the folk high school in the 19th…more
[Prosocial](https://www.prosocial.world/) is “a change method based on evolutionary science to enhance cooperation and collaboration for groups of all types and sizes that’s effective at a global scale.” It combines [Elinor Ostrom’s insights about the behaviors of effective groups](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elinor_Ostrom#Design_principles_for_Common_Pool_Resource_(CPR)_institution) with evolutionary science and [theories of change](https://contextualscience.org/act)–moving toward or away from goals, with visible and internal reactions–that…more
Interesting [database of the evolution of several cultures around the world](http://seshatdatabank.info/data/)–when they developed which technologies, religious beliefs, political systems, etc.
Alex Steffen–futurist, author, founder of Worldchanging–believes that [imagining a *beautiful* future is the key to saving humanity](https://vimeo.com/201938065) in the coming climate crisis: > Above all, the desire to make things beautiful…is a thing people are willing to fight for. > One way to look at the planetary crisis is to create something beautiful at the…more