We tend to imagine human civilization as a single upward climb. Hunter-gatherers became farmers. Farmers built villages. Villages became cities. Cities became kingdoms, empires, industrial nations, and eventually technological civilization. It is a comforting timeline because it…

There is a strange side effect to getting older that nobody really warns you about. When you're young, the world introduces you to people constantly. School. College. Friends of friends. First jobs. Apartment complexes. Weddings. Birthday parties. Every year seems to scatter…