logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2021
1h 2m

Chaos

NPR
About this episode
What happens when teenagers are shipwrecked on a deserted island? Can you find the fingerprint of God in warzones? Why was the concept of zero so revolutionary for humanity? A year into a pandemic that has completely upended the lives of people around the world, we look at how we cope with chaos, how we're primed to make order out of randomness, and why the stories we're taught to believe about our propensities for self-destruction may not actually be true.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
Up next
Aug 21
The Queen of Tupperware
Who ushered housewives into the workforce and plastic storage containers into America’s kitchens? Today on the show, the rise and fall of Brownie Wise, the woman behind Tupperware's plastic empire — and a revolution in women’s work.Guests:Alison Clarke, author of Tupperware, the ... Show More
49m 11s
Aug 14
We the People: Succession of Power
The 25th amendment. A few years before JFK was shot, an idealistic young lawyer set out on a mission to convince people something essential was missing from the Constitution: clear instructions for what should happen if a U.S. president was no longer able to serve. On this episod ... Show More
47m 31s
Aug 7
We the People: Cruel and Unusual Punishment
The Eighth Amendment. What is cruel and unusual punishment? Who gets to define and decide its boundaries? And how did the Constitution's authors imagine it might change? Today on Throughline's We the People: the Eighth Amendment, the death penalty, and what cruel and unusual real ... Show More
47m 58s
Recommended Episodes
May 2021
The Paradox of Order and Chaos
Eckhart Tolle elaborates on the paradox of order and chaos that exists in our world. For many of us, especially this past year, living through the pandemic has wreaked havoc on our lives. We’ve experienced loss of socializing, income and perhaps the loss of someone we love. While ... Show More
43m 44s
May 2002
Chaos Theory
Melvyn Bragg examines whether world is a fundamentally chaotic or orderly place. When Newton published his Principia Mathematica in 1687 his work was founded on one simple message: Nature has laws and we can find them. His explanation of the movements of the planets, and of gravi ... Show More
42m 13s
Dec 2023
513: DEEP DIVE: Are Humans the First Civilization? The Silurian Hypothesis
There are over 7 billion people living on the earth right now. Tens of millions are born and die each year. Every single one of us leaves signs of our existence in the air, water, soil -- even space. But these signs won't last forever. Our buildings will be gone in a few hundred ... Show More
30m 7s
Dec 2022
Doomsday: Did Prophets Predict the Apocalypse?
Ancient texts can paint a grim picture of humanity’s demise — but what’s in store depends on your source. We could be in for anything from global disasters and epic wars, to supernatural ascensions, to enlightened beings shepherding us into the next age. With prophets to warn us, ... Show More
38m 41s
Oct 2023
The Tartarian Conspiracy
What if most of what we know about history is false? According to proponents of the Tartarian conspiracy, not too long ago Earth was home to an incredibly advanced civilization based in Eurasia, and extending around the world -- until a series of catastrophic mud floods and enemy ... Show More
1h 4m
May 2024
The Silurian Hypothesis
The idea that we aren’t the first advanced civilization to live on Earth sounds like a fringe theory, but it raises a good question: How can we be so sure that a civilization didn’t arise and die on Earth so long ago that any trace of it has been erased?See omnystudio.com/listene ... Show More
49m 10s
Jun 2023
When We Kill History
There's a growing culture war over history with efforts throughout western nations to revert to "virtuous origin" stories. IDEAS explores what happens when we sanitize history and remove criticism and doubt from the myth. If we kill history, how can we look to the future? 
54m 8s
Nov 2013
Living
Andrew Dilnot, chair of the UK Statistics Authority, tells the story of a transformation in personal life in Britain, through the numbers that capture change on the grand scale.He delves into the data for the big patterns and trends in history, finding new ways of thinking about ... Show More
13m 53s