In this wide-ranging conversation, Jackrabbit explores his concept of the “Collapse Engine,” a term he uses to describe the metacrisis as a whole. At the center of his argument is a mismatch between the human brain we evolved with and the abstract, hyper-complex environments we have built.

Jackrabbit suggests that modern cultural and technological advances have disconnected us from the natural feedback loops that once helped regulate human behavior. Our older, visceral brain systems evolved in intimate, localized environments where causes and consequences were immediate and understandable. Today, those systems must operate within a globalized and highly abstract world—one shaped by climate change, extraction, bureaucracy, technology, and systems too complex for any individual to fully comprehend.

The conversation examines the relationship between the visceral core of the brain and the neocortex, the stories we tell ourselves about who we are, and the possibility that humans have become an invasive species within the larger systems that created us.

Jackrabbit also discusses climate change, human evolution, egalitarianism, religion, the myth of the “noble savage,” alternative value systems, and the challenge of facing the future without immediately trying to control or fix it. Rather than offering a simple solution, he argues for understanding the forces at work, sitting with reality, and learning to distinguish the narratives of the neocortex from the deeper motivations of the visceral brain.

In this episode

• Jackrabbit’s background and intellectual influences
• The Vital Question by Nick Lane
• The Secret of Our Success by Joseph Henrich
• The “Collapse Engine” and the broader metacrisis
• How modern environments conflict with the brains humans evolved with
• Why humans may behave like an invasive species
• The loss of natural feedback loops
• The relationship between the visceral brain and the neocortex
• Why humans live in an increasingly abstract world
• How modern complexity overwhelms older brain systems
• Climate change and the difficulty of responding to distant threats
• Why some extractive actors make destructive choices even when they understand the consequences
• Localization, attribution, and unavoidability in natural human environments
• The idea that humans are artifacts of larger systems rather than entirely self-created individuals
• Accretion and the evolutionary forces that shape us
• What life was like in small, intimate human communities
• Evolutionary theory and the persistence of ancient human traits
• Why egalitarianism may not be the central problem
• The mythologizing of the “noble savage”
• Whether the human–environment mismatch is actually unnatural
• The possibility that humans are naturally transforming—and damaging—the planet
• Why Jackrabbit does not offer simple solutions for the future
• Understanding and accepting the processes already unfolding
• Separating the neocortex’s narrative from the visceral cortex
• Alternative value systems
• Stewardship, nature, and Jackrabbit’s future work
• “Marie Curie is my housecat”

Books and resources mentioned

• The Vital Question — Nick Lane
• The Secret of Our Success — Joseph Henrich
• Jackrabbit’s essay, “Was Agent Smith Right?”
  https://substack.com/home/post/p-203992492
• Jackrabbit’s Substack
  https://substack.com/@jackrabbitrocks

Key takeaway

The problems facing modern civilization may not be caused only by bad individuals or flawed institutions. They may also emerge from a deeper mismatch between ancient human biology and the complex environments we have created. Understanding that mismatch—and the systems that produced it—may be the first step toward responding more honestly to the future.