Michael Laxer
The Choices That Australia Makes
The skyline of Perth seen from Kings Park, Western Australia -- Calistemon, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>...
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Michael Laxer
Nov 74 min read
Community Support Helps the Olympia, Washington Orca Book Cooperative Stay Afloat
When COVID-19 hit, U.S. bookshops were an endangered species. Olympia, Washington’s largest independent bookstore survived by embracing...
Michael Laxer
Oct 2510 min read
Why Is Prehistory Inspiring So Many Artists?
What draws us to such a distant and long-gone time? A fruitful relationship has always existed between prehistory (a scientific...
Michael Laxer
Oct 155 min read
When Children Are Murdered, What Is There to Celebrate?
By Vijay Prashad After news broke that Han Kang—the South Korean author—had won the Nobel Prize for Literature, her father—the novelist...
Michael Laxer
Sep 104 min read
The Surprising Ways Inventions and Ideas Spread in Ancient Prehistory
You can learn a lot about humanity from the first technological revolutions of more than 10,000 years ago. By Brenna R. Hassett, Human...
Michael Laxer
Sep 94 min read
How Corporate News Has Tried to Numb Americans to the Horrors in Gaza
Protest against the Israeli war on Gaza outside the New York Times building, November, 2023 -- image via X By Norman Solomon As the Gaza...
Michael Laxer
Sep 86 min read
Keys to Building Human Bridges to the Past
Human technologies have continued to evolve exponentially since the end of the Paleolithic: today we are using them to learn more about...
Michael Laxer
Sep 65 min read
The Decline of the U.S. Empire: Where Is It Taking Us All?
By Richard D. Wolff The evidence suggests that empires often react to periods of their own decline by over-extending their coping...
Michael Laxer
Aug 265 min read
Why Poverty Reduction Under Capitalism Is a Myth
Skid Row Los Angeles By Richard D. Wolff From its beginnings, the capitalist economic system produced both critics and celebrants, those...
Michael Laxer
Aug 176 min read
Home Improvement
The North Missoula Community Development Corporation brings permanent affordable housing to Montana. Image via the North Missoula...
Michael Laxer
Aug 78 min read
Capitalism’s Unequal Distribution Deprives You of True Freedom
By Richard D. Wolff As the French economist Thomas Piketty most recently exposed, capitalism, across time and space, has always tended to...
Michael Laxer
Aug 56 min read
The Role of Ancient DNA in Modern Traits
Ancient human retrovirus DNA could be one of the markers of susceptibility to mental illness—specifically schizophrenia, bipolar...
Michael Laxer
Aug 36 min read
Community in Motion
Bike co-ops uphold a tradition of self-empowerment through cycling. Vegasjon, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4....
Michael Laxer
Aug 35 min read
The Undemocratic Reality of Capitalism
Composite By Richard D. Wolff Fans of capitalism like to say it is democratic or that it supports democracy. Some have stretched language...
Michael Laxer
Jun 196 min read
Can Teething Predict How Fast You Will Grow?
By Brenna R. Hassett, Human Bridges We know that humans live relatively long lives, and we certainly know that we spend a larger...
Michael Laxer
Jun 186 min read
Facing a Surge in Wildfires, the U.S. Government Turned to Native Wisdom and Advanced Archaeology
Collaborative efforts between forest agencies and Indigenous communities are improving wildfire management by combining oral histories...
Michael Laxer
May 225 min read
Some Myths Regarding the Genesis of Enterprise
Not only were “modern” elements of enterprise present and even dominant already in Mesopotamia in the third millennium BC, but the...
Michael Laxer
May 157 min read
Seven Features of Ancient Enterprise
The changing context for enterprise through the centuries reminds us that business activities are not universal but fluid and alter...
Michael Laxer
May 116 min read
Parallels Between Archaic Entrepots and Modern Offshore Banking Centers
Offshore banking and tax-avoidance centers are nothing new; they’ve been with us for millennia. Singapore skyline at night - Bijay...
Michael Laxer
May 36 min read
Seeing Red: Our Ancient Relationship With Ocher and the Color of Cognition
Extensive ocher use reflects the culture and cognitive abilities of early humans, who inherited an affinity for red from primate...
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