In this 95th in a series of live discussions with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying (both PhDs in Biology), we discuss the state of the world through an evolutionary lens.

In this episode, we take on culture and consciousness. Beginning with an excerpt from the penultimate chapter of our forthcoming book, we define the terms somewhat differently from how others define them, and discuss how human history can be understood as a tension between culture—received wisdom, orthodoxy, that which works in times of stability—and consciousness—with both its high error rate and promise of innovation, which works in times of change. We discuss collective joy, dancing in the streets,  Carnaval, astrology, taboos,  the sacred and the shamanistic, and hallucinogens. We talk about things that are literally false, metaphorically true. 

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Theme Music: Thank you to Martin Molin of Wintergatan for providing us the rights to use their excellent music.

Q&A Link: https://youtu.be/w27PdTQttoI

Mentioned in this episode:

A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century: https://huntergatherersguide.com

Ehrenrich, B. 2006. Dancing in the Streets: A history of collective joy. Macmillan.

Episode 67 of DarkHorse (aired 2-13-21), in which we discussed Carnaval in more depth: https://youtu.be/dOxx9JNZFLs

Lenson, D. 1995. On drugs. U of Minnesota Press.

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