In this episode Curt Jaimungal talks with evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson about group selection, memes, and the challenges facing Western values. They explore how evolutionary theory intersects with politics, identity, and culture, and discuss the upcoming documentary Better Left Unsaid.
- 00:00:00 - Introduction
- 00:01:54 - Is "the West" losing its values? What are those values?
- 00:05:24 - Multi-level selection vs. Group Selection
- 00:11:10 - The political right vs left in terms of level of evolutionary selection
- 00:12:51 - Identity Politics framed in terms of group selection (plus a definition of Identity Politics)
- 00:15:04 - Why can't a propitious argument made FOR Identity Politics?
- 00:20:05 - How can we adopt a "whole Earth ethic" as a country, when others don't adopt it?
- 00:23:47 - What do humans need to behave "selflessly" when animals get along with doing so?
- 00:28:16 - Link between evolutionary theory and Buddhism
- 00:30:00 - Humans are built to cooperate in small groups (not large)
- 00:32:49 - We've selected ourselves for timidity
- 00:38:03 - A synoptic view of "This View of Life" and the need for encompassing values
- 00:38:32 - Classical economics (and some contemporary) is wrong and unadaptive
- 00:40:44 - If we've been selected for altruism, why is it difficult?
- 00:44:54 - Carl Jung and selfish acts being unselfish (because they harm you in the long-run)
- 00:50:24 - A $1000 suit isn't to look good, but to look BETTER than the guy with a $500 suit
- 00:53:00 - How good is altruism as a motivational agent for behavior?
- 00:55:54 - Tribalism is the answer, not the problem
- 00:57:05 - Problems with Social Constructionism
- 00:59:18 - Postmodernism and David Sloan Wilson's issues with it
- 01:03:28 - Women's studies / LGBTQ studies / etc. utilizing "tribal circuitry"
- 01:06:53 - The "Ultimatum Game" in evolutionary psychology
- 01:09:55 - On this "tribal circuitry" again
- 01:17:40 - On the Nordic countries and the "homogeneity" argument
- 01:23:58 - Is communism more adaptive than capitalism?
- 01:28:31 - "Tight and loose" compared to totalitarian systems (existential security)
- 01:31:38 - Which memes are prius to liberalism?
- 01:36:28 - Are the Inuit less adapted than the White Europeans who invented centralized heating?
- 01:42:37 - Is virtue as "honesty / forthrightness / generosity" a human universal given most studies are done on Westerners?
- 01:45:10 - Is David Sloan Wilson a moral relativist?
- 01:47:38 - The effects of arcane disciplines in Universities spreading outward to the culture
- 01:49:47 - Evolutionary theory as a unifying language for the disparate fields of science
- 01:54:05 - "When does the left go too far?"
- 01:56:18 - Memes that last so long they affect our evolution
- 01:57:26 - Dawkin's concept of "gene" was problematic, and thus so is "meme"
- 02:00:06 - Jordan Peterson vs Susan Blackmore on memes and Jung
- 02:02:10 - Chomskyan grammar and Pinker's language instinct is wrong
- 02:04:06 - On Victor Huang's "innovation oasis"
RESOURCES:
- YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3fG96gvgLU
- https://twitter.com/David_S_Wilson
- http://betterleftunsaidfilm.com
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