12. (Some) EXTINCTION IS (not necessarily) FOREVER
Is it possible to bring back extinct species? Do we have an obligation to do so? What are the limits? What should the limits be?
11. Floating Cities are the Next Frontier
Is seasteading the wave of the future? Joe Quirk of the Seasteading Institute thinks floating cities will allow micro nations to compete for people -- providing better life options and innovations. “Aquapreneurs,” says Quirk, can save humanity from disease, environmental…
10. Abundance 360 and Exponential Technologies
Armed with exponential technologies like artificial intelligence, 3D printing and cloud computing, today's entrepreneurs are poised to create abundance.
9. Fifty Ways to Leave Leviathan
Two articles on how emerging technologies and innovations can help us live freer and fuller lives without us having to wait on political progress. Fifty Ways to Leave Leviathan (Text) Fifty More Ways to Leave Leviathan (Text)
8. The Internet of Money
Andreas Antonopoulos discusses why the blockchain technology behind bitcoin will change the way we think about money, exchange, and private property forever.
7. Future of Technology/Technology of the Future
Forget flying cars and robot butlers. If José Cordeiro has it his way the future will be a far more interesting place. What's more, it may be coming sooner than many of us ever imagined.
6. Immortality By 2045
"The onset of the 21st century will be an era in which the very nature of what it means to be human will be both enriched and challenged, as our species breaks the shackles of its genetic legacy, and achieves…
5. The Best Way to Predict the Future
Peter Diamandis, Chairman and Co-Founder of Singularity University, discusses the best way to predict the future, and shares his personal philosophies on innovation and the commercial space industry.
4. Why Do Futurists Get So Much Wrong?
Economist Steven Horowitz explains where futurists often go wrong when attempting to predict the future. Why Do Futurists Get So Much Wrong? (Text)
3. Forward Thinking
Four short videos on the possibilities of the future: 1) How the Internet of Things Will Change the World 2) How Robots Are Entering Our Everyday Lives 3) Creating Objects On Demand With Programmable Matter 4) Vertical Farms and the…
2. Visions of the Future
Three short videos from futurist and techno-optimist Jason Silva on the technological singularity and why he's excited about the future.
1. Neil deGrasse Tyson: What’s Possible in 15 Years?
Scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson discusses how much progress is possible in 15 years. “Will there ever be the end of war? Perhaps. The end of hunger? Perhaps. But you have to envision it first... That’s where change comes from.”
5. Commerce and Culture
A ten-lecture course presented by Paul A. Cantor, Clifton Waller Barrett Professor of English at the University of Virginia, and a pioneer in literary criticism from an Austrian perspective. Having studied with Ludwig von Mises, he is working to counter…
4. Lessons from Fashion’s Free Culture
"Copyright law's grip on film, music and software barely touches the fashion industry... and fashion benefits in both innovation and sales, says Johanna Blakley. At TEDxUSC 2010, she talks about what all creative industries can learn from fashion's free culture."
3. Innovation and the History of Rock ‘n’ Roll
"Lessons from the history of rock n roll on how we create....and contribute to the world, by taking a variety of existing bits of knowledge, memories, impressions, influences, experiences, and other material floating around our minds, and recombining them into…
2. Everything is a Re-Mix
This four-part video series investigates how everything is a remix, in an analysis that can be applied to any form of creativity. Everything is a Remix (Videos, 43 Min.)
1. When Ideas Have Sex
Author Matt Ridley shows how, throughout history, the engine of human progress has been the meeting and mating of ideas to make new ideas.
6. The Greatest Invention In The Past 2000 Years
The editor and literary agent John Brockman challenged over 100 salon of scientists, technologists, innovators, and entrepreneurs by asking: "What is the most important invention of the past two thousand years?" Not content to be merely right, his contributors vied…
5. Technology and Social Change
"Technology like the printing press was initially feared. It would put scribes out of business. Technology describes each generation in our human-built world."
4. How Washing Machines Set us Free
In this TED talk, Hans Rosling describes the importance of the invention of the washing machine in order to demonstrate how technology frees our minds. The Magic Washing Machine (Video 9 Min.)
3. Innovations in Technology
Jeffrey Tucker on the history of technology and why innovation is the real star of history.
2. 11 Innovations That Changed History
Whether it’s early man’s first use of fire or the birth of the space shuttle, innovations have always been the major catalysts behind humankind’s success. Some of these breakthroughs brought about immediate change, while others humbly laid the groundwork for…
1. Jon Gertner on the History of Innovation
Innovation, according to author Jon Gertner, falls somewhere between discovery and invention. Using Bell Labs as a model, Gertner traces the history of innovation through the 1940s and 1950s then offers some thoughts on the concept itself: "I think we…
9. Nature’s Entrepreneurs
Profit-Driven Entrepreneurial Approaches Can Protect and Produce Environmental Quality. Nature's Entrepreneurs (Text)
8. Entrepreneurs Make Science Work
Science doesn’t necessarily mean progress until it moves out of the lab and into the market. Entrepreneurs Make Science Work (Text)
7. The Ecology of Entrepreneurship
Everything in society is produced by human beings, whose performances are dependent not only on the physical environment but as much on the political and economic on. The Ecology of Entrepreneurship (Text)
6. The Entrepreneur on the Heroic Journey
Why Are Entrepreneurs Seldom Viewed as Heroes? The Entrepreneur on the Heroic Journey (Text)
5. The Pursuit of Profit Is Pro-Social
A value-creating business is “social” whether it pursues an explicit social agenda or not. The Pursuit of Profit Is Pro-Social (Text)
4. Seven Myths about the Great Philanthropists
The turn of the 20th century was a golden age of American philanthropy. It deserves to be better understood. Seven Myths About the Great Philanthropists (Text)
3. “Entrepreneurship in American History”
John Steele Gordon, Author of "An Empire of Wealth," provides a brief history of "how people built a complicated world by solving the problem in front of their noses."
2. The History of Entrepreneurship
A brief introductory article about the beginnings of trade, the invention of money, and the creation of markets. The History of Entrepreneurship (Text)
1. The Market Revolution
"What was the market revolution? How has it affected our daily lives? Was it good for ordinary Americans? What caused it? Was the market revolution good for humanity? Through a series of historical stories and data, history professor Rob McDonald…
10. 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes
Instead of studying history for one year at the university, you can watch this video for less than five minutes. Hans Rosling's famous lectures combine enormous quantities of public data with a sport's commentator's style to reveal the story of…
9. Interview with Thaddeus Russell
Russel talks about the many men and women, besides the Founding Fathers, who helped to make the American Revolution possible.
8. Thinkers Who Challenged the State
David Gordon discusses some important thinkers who, throughout history, have challenged the state. Thinkers Who Challenged the State (Text)
7. Great Myths of the Great Depression
Reed debunks the common economic myths of the Great Depression.
6. An Economic History of Booms and Busts
When an economy falls into a recession, we typically observe a cluster of people making similar investment mistakes. According to historian Stephen Davies, these investment errors occur because governments or central banks manipulate the supply of money. These manipulations place…
5. The Welfare Society before the Welfare State
Dr. Stephen Davies gives a history of what private and charitable welfare looked like prior to the introduction of the welfare states.
4. Applying Economics to American History
Thomas Woods discusses how "understanding economics helps you see history better. American workers, although only lightly unionized, were more productive than others. All high standards of living are due to free markets. Governments destroy this. The time required to work…
3. The Not So Wild, Wild West
In this essay, Anderson and Hill argue that the old west of the United States, being a relatively anarchistic region, provides a good case study for investigating how private property and other ideas function in an anarcho-capitalist society. The Not…
2. American History with George H. Smith
"An intellectual history of the founding and development of the United States from the Declaration of Independence to the Progressive Era."
1. Why American History Is Not What They Say
(Read pages 19-41 & pages 174-207) "Jeff Riggenbach's book is a godsend for anyone who needs a crash course in revisionist history of the United States. What is revisionism? It is the retelling of history from a point of view…
9. Is There a Purpose to History?
What is the subject matter of history? How was it chosen? Jason Kuznicki, a research fellow at the Cato Institute and editor of Cato Unbound, joins Aaron Powell and Trevor Burrus to discuss historicism: the idea that historical forces work…
8. Herbert Spencer’s Critique of ‘Great Man Theory’
"One of the most forceful critics of Carlyle's formulation of the Great Man theory was Herbert Spencer, who believed that attributing historical events to the decisions of individuals was a hopelessly primitive, childish, and unscientific position. He believed that the…
7. Great Man theory
"The Great Man theory is a 19th-century idea according to which history can be largely explained by the impact of "great men", or heroes: highly influential individuals who, due to either their personal charisma, intelligence, wisdom, or political skill utilized…
6. Ways of Seeing the Past
In this talk, Dr. Davies argues that our view of history shapes the way we view the present. As such, our focus on those who wield power throughout history makes us often overlook the importance of voluntary exchange and spontaneous…
5. The Problem With History Classes
Single-perspective narratives do students a gross disservice. The Problem With History Classes (Text) (PDF)
4. The History Manifesto
How to eradicate the epidemic of short-termism and harness our past in creating a flourishing future. The History Manifesto (Text) (PDF)
3. Why History Matters to Managers
"History in business is not useful just as a kind of academic or intellectual exercise. It has to do with an established set of facts—in the same way that a financial exhibit has to do with an established set of…
2. All People are Living Histories
"The study of the past is essential for 'rooting' people in time. And why should that matter? The answer is that people who feel themselves to be rootless live rootless lives, often causing a lot of damage to themselves and…
1. What is History for?
Perhaps many find the subject of History to be so boring because they never were taught how to think clearly about what History is for. This video, brought to you by the School of Life curriculum, introduces the fundamentals about…