Dehumanization has been trending for decades. Here’s how.

There is greater social distance between Americans than ever before.

  • There has been a trend toward dehumanization the past four or five decades. This dehumanization has made it easier for us to see others more as commodities than as co-citizens.
  • This dehumanization manifests in four different pillars: political polarization, income inequality, automation, and marketization.
  • Whether through political splits, or income differences, there is more social distance between us than ever before. This distance makes it easier for us, out of ignorance, to treat others in ways that are inhumane.
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People who try to be environmentally-friendly by buying less stuff are happier, study claims

Unsurprisingly, the results showed that the more materialistic a person was, the less likely they were to engage in reduced consumption.

TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images

With an ever-increasing focus on environmental sustainability, more and more of us are changing how — and what — we consume.

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How to spend your money, according to science

It's not the act of buying but how you spend money that improves happiness and life satisfaction.

(Photo: Sony Pictures)
  • To prove money can't buy happiness, people point to millionaires and lottery winners who ruined their lives.
  • Psychological studies have shown that learning how to spend your money can improve overall happiness.
  • We explore eight money-spending principles that research suggests can bolster life satisfaction.
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Can we afford to live longer?

We're living longer than ever, but few of us will save enough to afford this historical boon.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
  • A person reaching 65 today can expect to live into their mid-80s, many into their 90s.
  • A 30-year retirement requires a nest egg of more than $1 million, yet 77 percent of American households fall short of such savings and investments.
  • Experts recommend several strategies for affording a longer life, such as pushing the retirement age back to at least 70.
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Outer space capitalism: The legal and technical challenges facing the private space industry

The private sector may need the Outer Space Treaty to be updated before it can make any claims to celestial bodies or their resources.

  • The Outer Space Treaty, which was signed in 1967, is the basis of international space law. Its regulations set out what nations can and cannot do, in terms of colonization and enterprise in space.
  • One major stipulation of the treaty is that no nation can individually claim or colonize any part of the universe—when the US planted a flag on the Moon in 1969, it took great pains to ensure the world it was symbolic, not an act of claiming territory.
  • Essentially to do anything in space, as a private enterprise, you have to be able to make money. When it comes to asteroid mining, for instance, it would be "astronomically" expensive to set up such an industry. The only way to get around this would be if the resources being extracted were so rare you could sell them for a fortune on Earth.
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