I fell down a rabbit hole today reading about one of the strangest, saddest, and most mind-bending stories in modern history: the Lykov family. In 1978, a group of Soviet geologists trekking through deep Siberia stumbled across something no one expected — a family that had been living completely cut off from humanity for 42 years. No roads, no villages, no electricity. Just a hand-built hut hidden in a forest so remote it barely shows up on maps. The Lykovs had fled Stalin’s persecution in 1936 and disappeared into the wilderness. And they stayed there long enough to miss everything: World War II, the fall of Hitler, the atomic age, the moon landing… all of it. When the geologists arrived, the family didn’t even know the world had changed. What gets me is imagining that level of isolation. No voices besides your own family. No new ideas. No outside help. Just raw survival in a place where winter can kill you if you make one wrong move. And yet… they did survive. For decades. Against odds none of us could comprehend. It’s one of those stories that makes you rethink what “civilization” even means — how much of our identity depends on being connected to other people, and how different life becomes when you step completely outside the world. Part of me finds it fascinating. Another part finds it heartbreaking. And maybe the strangest part is realizing this didn’t happen centuries ago — it happened in our parents’ lifetime. Sometimes history feels closer than we think. #History #UnexpectedHistory