Evolution in the Challenges of Modern Life

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Darwin's dictum, which has guided my own writing foror almost 30 years now. The most central of themes is the idea that human beings are adapted to the environment that our ancestors lived in and not the one we live in. We often hear tell of the environment of evolutionary adaptedness. Most people think of the african savanna and the paleolithic rit. But with both our rapid rate of change and our great capacity for dealing with change and novelty, have environments of evolutionary adapteds.

We are living through the most prosperous age in all of human history, yet people are more listless, divided and miserable than ever. Wealth and comfort are unparalleled, and yet our political landscape grows ever more toxic, and rates of suicide, loneliness, and chronic illness continue to skyrocket. How do we explain the gap between these two truths? What’s more, what can we do to close it?

For evolutionary biologists Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein, the cause of our woes is clear: the modern world is out of sync with our ancient brains and bodies. The cognitive dissonance spawned by trying to live in a society we’re not built for is killing us.

Heying and Weinstein cut through the politically fraught discourse surrounding issues like sex, gender, diet, parenting, sleep, education, and more to outline a science-based worldview that will empower you to live a better, wiser life. They distill more than 20 years of research and first-hand accounts from the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth into straightforward principles and guidance for confronting our culture of hyper-novelty.