What is the best way to tackle the question "How to change the world"? Learn about our plan to dissect the history and future of innovation.

This show will dissect how the world really works and the impact of the biggest inventions that lead to a step change. We'll also tell the stories of the greatest innovators from history and understand their mental models, mindsets and habits.

In this promo, Host Sam Webster Harris explains in 2 minutes what he'll be doing for the next 10 years.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it" - Alan Watts

This opening episode invites you on a journey, not just through time, but through perspective.

From fire-starting hominids to spacefaring technologists, we are going to trace the ripples of human imagination that turned tools into empires, and sparks into systems.

In this introduction episode:

• Set the tone for the podcast
• Explain what the show is and isn't
• Learn how we are going to navigate this journey
• Answer who the hell is this 'Sam Harris' (the host)
• Explain our 7 principles for exploring history and innovation

Change is rarely neat or obvious, but this podcast is here to help us understand it. You'll start to connect the dots that are all around you.

History isn't just a study of the past, it is also our present. As we live through unprecedented innovation, it's a perfect time to study the forces of tectonic shifts and how to guide them.

If you're curious, optimistic, and even a little lost. You're in the right place.

ABOUT

This show is an independent podcast on a mission.

It is written, recorded, re-recorded, rewritten and re-re-recorded entirely by Sam Webster Harris.

Designs were crafted by Francisca Correia.

CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction: The Dawn of Human Influence

02:21 A Journey Through Time

05:14 The Plan for the Podcast

07:11 What counts as an innovation

08:08 Release Schedule

09:08 Beyond a history podcast

10:03 A map is not a blueprint

11:35 Why am i doing this?

14:27 Why should you listen?

15:36 The Myth of Stability

16:31 7 Core Principles of the Show

16:40 1 - Interdisciplinary Thinking

17:23 2 - Systems Thinking

18:02 3 - Understanding of knowledge

18:45 4 - Context

19:50 5 - No current affairs and politics

20:48 6 - Side Quests

21:56 7 - Optimism

22:59 Mission and sign off

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What lies at the core of human progress?

This episode sets the scene for all human innovation. For 3.5 million years, humans and our ancestors were stuck in the Stone Age.

We cover:

• What were we busy with for 97% of our existence?
• Why were we so slow at innovating?
• How did we eventually overcome these fundamental forces?

From personal pressures to global forces, we trace the blocks on human development. The answers hold many insights for today when we think about innovation and how to make progress..

This episode is ground zero as we begin our expedition through history and the creation of our modern world.

ABOUT

This show is an independent podcast on a mission.

It is written, recorded, re-recorded, rewritten and re-re-recorded entirely by Sam Webster Harris.

He also makes the music.

Designs were crafted by Francisca Correia.

Chapters:

00:00 The Hand Axe Conundrum

01:53 Episode Goals

03:45 #1 - SURVIVAL

04:21 Energy requirements

06:30 Time Scarcity

08:59 Risk and Psychological Safety

11:17 #2 - Culture

12:41 Why people hate new ideas

15:25 The Grandmother Hypothesis

16:21 Widowhood statistics

17:46 Kaulong Tribe Widow killing

19:27 Catalhayuk - 1000 years of stasis

20:36 #3 - Knowledge

22:42 Losing knowledge

24:04 Maths

24:52 Communication and Language

25:53 Ice Age Picasso Paradox

27:06 #4 - Mobility Constraints

28:05 Nomadism

30:22 Racism, war, and travel complications

32:07 Trade Issues

34:02 Feasting examples

35:39 Eurasia vs America Development

37:45 #5 - Population Density

39:20 Evolution of Multicellular Life

41:48 Dunbars Number

43:43 Mortality Rates

46:37 Historical demographics

48:18 Lessons - How we beat the 5 locks

51:47 Conclusion - Innovation isn't about Geniuses

54:36 REFLECTIONS - Innovation cycles

57:43 Modern Innovation Blockers

01:06:01 What can you do

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How to rank the impact of innovations on humanity and how much they really changed the world.

Everything seems so important these days:

• A new iPhone update changes EVERYTHING
• This war will BREAK the economy
• If you feed your toddler THIS, you don't deserve to be a parent...

Learn to rationally understand what matters to humanity and what is just noise.

It's easy to tell that the invention of Writing itself is more important than Velcro. But...

• Is Netflix more important than Baseball?
• Has TikTok changed the world as much as the Longbow?
• Was Steve Jobs more impactful than Henry VIII?

History has opinions.

So it's time to build a scale that lets us rationally measure global impact.

Introducing the Innovation Richter Scale - a 1 to 10 rating system that lets you rank absolutely anything you can think of.

NOTE - This episode expands on the Technological Richter Scale proposed by Nate Silver. (see references)

ABOUT

How to Change the World is an independent podcast on a mission.

It is written, edited, and recorded entirely by Sam Webster Harris. (He also makes the music)

Designs were crafted by Francisca Correia.

References

Nate Silver - One The Edge (2024)

Nate's book is about risk analysis and the future of AI. The final chapter proposes a Technological Richter Scale, with a page on how to use it.

Zvi Mowshowitz - AI and the Technological Richter Scale (2025)

A good summary of Nate's ideas, on how the scale applies to AI. Also quotes Nate's page guide for each level and argues a few changes.

Grant Lichtman - Innovation: Are We Overlooking "Magnitude" With "Frequency" (2013)

A short blog that suggests it might be nice to use a logarithmic Richter scale or a Madonna curve to measure innovation.

Chapters:

00:00 Innovation Richeter Scale

01:47 Why create a Scale?

03:47 Earthquake Metaphor

06:16 Invention, Innovation, Technology

06:56 Ranking Magnitude not Morality

08:08 The Innovation Richter Scale - Level 1 - 10

08:11 Level 1 - Shower thoughts

08:29 Level 2 - Actioned Idea (In private)

08:49 Level 3 - Public ideas (Not popular)

10:17 Level 4 - Popular and commercial ideas

11:08 Level 5 - Defining Brand

12:38 Level 6 - Innovation of the year

15:59 Level 7 - Innovation of the Decade

18:19 Level 8 - Innovation of the Century

21:29 Level 9 - Innovation of the Era

23:53 Level 10 - Species Epoch

28:31 Part 2 - Using the scale

29:45 Weapons & Tools of Death - Brands, Categories and Concepts

33:58 Politics & Population Impact - Local, Continental and Global

38:00 Questions without answers

38:38 Sports & Religion - Emotional Impact and Purpose

41:01 Peter Thiel and Chess

41:47 Religion and Personal Beliefs in interpreting the scale

43:33 Roundup conclusions

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Do we really control fire?

While you're patting yourself on the back for lighting that barbecue, fire has been pulling the strings for 2 million years, reshaping our anatomy, rewiring our brains, and dictating our social structures.

It transformed us from ape-like creatures that had a neat standing trick into the cunning apex predator of the world. Along the way, it upended both ecosystems and gender roles but most importantly, made us human.

The lesser-known of fire is that an individual human is completely dependent on it to survive. Furthermore, Society itself is built on fire and would collapse totally without it

Today, as we face the dawn of AI, we're seeing the same pattern. Fire marked a huge leverage of energy that freed us up to think. AI promises to do our thinking for us, which frees us up for who knows what.

aren't tools we use; they're partners that reshape us from the inside out.

Three takeaways:

• Transformative technologies change what we are, not just what we do
• Dependency often disguises itself as control and mastery
• The biggest innovations create irreversible psychological and social shifts

Ready to understand how fire forged the human mind?

ABOUT

How to Change the World is an independent podcast on a mission.

Written, edited, recorded, and produced entirely by Sam Webster Harris.

(He also makes the music...)

Help from:

• Francisca Correia does the designs (available to hire)
• Jeremy Enns is our incredible podcast mentor (available to hire)

References

Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human - Richard Wrangham

A great overview of fire and human anthropology (apes etc...). I can highly recommend listening/watching some of interviews Richard Wrangham on other podcasts (Lex Friedman, Modern Wisdom, Jordan Peterson)

The Pyrocene: How We Created An Age Of Fire - Stephen Pyne

Some good ideas on the different eras of human fire use: Cooking food -> Cooking land -> Cooking the planet.

Fire: The Spark That Ignited Human Evolution - Frances Burton

The insights on the importance of light helped.

00:00 Intro: The Role of Fire in Civilization

04:32 First Fire - 500 million years ago

07:56 Humans and fire - ~2 million years ago

10:08 The Discovery of Fire

12:21 Stadium of Grandmothers

13:24 Fire's Influence on Human Biology

15:55 Fire and Human Digestion

18:15 Light and Campfires

20:25 Mealtimes

21:32 Human Birth Woes

23:23 Why Only Humans Mastered Fire

25:55 Fire, Social Structures & Gender Roles

31:15 Adapting to the Information Age

33:17 Fire's Role in Human Expansion - 70,000 years ago

35:09 Terraforming with Fire

38:27 The Industrial Revolution and Fossil Fuel

42:00 The Race for Renewable Energy

43:11 Today - Reflecting on our lessons

44:28 AI: The Next Transformative Force

48:04 Reflections on Fire and the Future

49:06 Premium and Book resources

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Why do some ideas and technologies proliferate, whilst others die painfully?

Innovations aren't just bound merely the laws of Physics, but also the powerful laws of Nature and Biology.

In the "Lessons of History", Will and Ariel Durant propose the 3 Laws of Biology. Extending on the work of Charles Darwin, they explain the rules that govern life on earth and how it applies to humanity. In this episode, Sam extends the concept whilst also explaining a brief history of life on Earth whilst he's at it.

In it, you'll learn the fundamental rules of competition, selection and reproduction that govern the success of any organism, idea or technology.

We'll explore

• Why did Julius Caesar care so much about fertility rates?
• Your secret past life as the most epic dinosaur, the Supersaurus
• What causes unbridled Capitalism or Communism to fail
• Is equality even good thing? And if so what do we do about it...

ABOUT

How to Change the World is an independent podcast on a mission to document the entire history of innovation. One world-changing event at a time. In the process we are building out frameworks and mental models to think more coherently about global change.

Written, edited, recorded, and produced entirely by Sam Webster Harris.

(He also makes the music...)

Help from:

• Francisca Correia does the designs (available to hire)
• Jeremy Enns is our incredible podcast mentor (available to hire)

References

The Lessons of History - Will and Ariel Durant

An epic overview of the lessons these authors learnt in the process of writing their series, covering every era of humanity.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humanity - Yuval Noah Harari

This episode only used the first paragraph... But some of the topics of the history of life are also in the first chapter.

Home Deus: A History of Tomorrow - Yuval Noah Harari

The first chapter has a great section about Famine, Disease, and War.

00:00 Is a hot dog a sandwich?

00:28 The Beginning of the Universe

01:10 The Story of Life on Earth

01:34 Three Rules of Biology

05:03 The First Law: Life is Competition

09:54 The Second Law: Life is Selection

11:59 Inequality in Nature and Society

13:47 Balancing Freedom and Equality

16:48 The Third Law: Life Must Breed

18:34 Human Progress, Fire and Agriculture

19:10 Agricultural Revolution and Civilization

19:48 Fertility and Population Dynamics: Japan vs. Nigeria

21:12 Ideas and Religions: Survival of the Fittest

22:49 Horsemen of Apocalypse: Famine, Disease, and War

28:13 Modern Challenges and Fertility Trends

30:20 Conclusion and Future Episodes

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How language and cooperation shaped our world and human society.

Discover how language transformed from simple signals to complex communication, enabling us to cooperate, create cultures, and build civilizations. We explore the evolution of human imagination, the role of gossip, the development of societal morals, and the paradoxical nature of human violence and compassion.

Additionally, we discuss the future of communication technology and the potential mind-blowing implications of brain-computer interfaces. Packed with insights from anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience, this episode provides a comprehensive understanding of our past and a glimpse into our possible future.

ABOUT

How to Change the World is an independent podcast documenting the entire history of innovation. One world-changing event at a time. Building a map of the past and blueprint for the future.

Written, edited, recorded, and produced entirely by Sam Webster Harris.

Help from:

• Francisca Correia - Designs (available to hire)
• Jeremy Enns - podcast mentor (available to hire)

REFERENCES

• Richard Wrangham: Ape society lessons in human cooperation and violence - The Goodness Paradox | Demonic Males
• Nicholas Shea: How we make and use concepts - Concepts as Plug and Play Devices | Concepts at the Interface
• Steven Mithen: Evolution of the brain and language - Prehistory of the Mind | The Language Puzzle
• Yuval Noah Harari: Cognitive revolution and myths - Sapiens
• Christopher Boehm: How morals shape society - Moral Origins
• Tim Urban: Future of brain computer interfaces - Neuralink and the Brains Magical Future

(Out of space)

CHAPTERS

00:00 The magic of co-operation

02:26 Welcome

05:09 The Compression problem

08:50 ACT 1 - COGNITIVE BASIS OF LANGUAGE

08:50 Biological history of languages

13:46 The Interconnected Brain

17:24 Complex words and stuff

21:11 Teamwork

22:08 ACT 2 - GOSSIP, MYTHS & RELIGION

22:08 Gossip and the glue of society

25:46 Myths and shared delusions

30:40 Early Religions - Animism, art and penises

33:37 ACT 3 - SELF-DOMESTICATION

33:43 Shame and Blushing

38:30 The Execution Hypothesis

43:21 Reactive vs Proactive Violence

46:55 Mealtimes Sharing and small town thinking

52:12 ACT 4 - EVOLUTIONS OF LANGUAGE

52:12 Language shifts

55:59 Shame and Society

58:49 Evolution of communication

01:01:33 Magical Wizard Hats (Brain Computer Interfaces)

01:03:58 Potential Limitations

01:07:38 Predicting the future

01:09:47 WRAP UP

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Most problems in the world aren't random accidents, they're built into the systems we live in. This episode looks beyond simple cause-and-effect to study the currents that change the world and our lives.

Systems Thinking is a key idea in science, politics and business, but it knows no boundaries as systems show up everywhere. When challenges overwhelm us instead of simply blaming the mysterious 'system' we can dig in to understand what's going on and what to do about it.

In every era of humanity we created new systems in politics, law, technology and economics to deal with the problems of the day. As new challenges arise in the 21st century, it is up to humanity to build new systems to overcome them.

Systems thinking invites us to discover the threads that bind our actions, cultures, and destinies into unexpected tapestries:

• Stop firefighting and get to the root cause.
• Search for leverage points where small acts create outsized impact.
• Reframe crisis from an isolated disaster to an interconnected opportunity.

Fun fact - It's the UN's 80th birthday. Look out for other podcasters talking about sources of hope today.

ABOUT

How to Change the World is an independent podcast on a mission to document the entire history of innovation. One world-changing event at a time. In the process we are building out frameworks and mental models to think more coherently about global change.

Learn more and contact us - ChangeTheWorldPod.com

Written, edited, recorded, and produced entirely by Sam Webster Harris.

(He also makes the music...)

Help from:

Francisca Correia does the designs (available to hire)

Jeremy Enns is our incredible podcast mentor (available to hire)

BOOKS

Thinking in Systems: A primer - Donella Meadows

A masterclass on all things systems. (Many graphs so don't get the audiobook)

Systems Thinking Made Simple: New hope for solving wicked problems - Derek and Laura Cabrera

Simple rules for understanding and solving the most difficult problems in society.

The Change World Order: Why nations succeed and fail - Ray Dalio

Study of the cycles of world power over the last 500 years.

Antifragile: Things that gain from disorder - Nassim N. Taleb

How to think beyond resilience to build systems (and portfolios) that benefit from difficulty

CHAPTERS

00:00 Systems and Families

01:43 Welcome

03:47 What is a System?

07:03 ACT 1 - 4 ELEMENTS OF A SYSTEM

07:03 #1 Stocks and Flows

08:32 #2 Feedback Loops

10:21 #3 Delays

11:32 #4 Boundaries

13:02 ACT 2 - MANAGING SYSTEMS

13:10 Leverage Points

16:17 Butterfly Effect

19:42 ACT 3 - PREVENTING COLLAPSE

20:07 Resilience in systems

21:52 Self-Organisation

23:08 Hierarchies

25:42 ACT 4 - LOOKING AT TODAY

26:32 Beyond GDP

29:11 Modern Political Systems

30:45 Can the UN Change the World?

32:12 Rewriting the Rules of a New Era

33:59 Take Homes and References

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