The Unsettling Constraints of Small-Scale Societys

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Bayne: I think that the discomfort stems from two sources, one which Joe points out, which is shit. The other one is more stemming from a desire not to discard what we think has been accumulated evidence for universality. And so, and Bayne is a bit more serious than just we should study other cultures. It is, at what point can we say we have evidence that constitutes a reliable claim about the universal human mind? Do I need to,. you know, can I study, is 15 small-scale societies enough?

Joe Henrich joins the podcast to tell us that we know nothing about his work and that how we got to teach a class in anything is absolutely amazing. We continue our discussion from Episode 17 about his critique of the social and behavioral sciences in "The Weirdest People in the World" and his work in small scale societies on fairness norms. We also talk about the weird American obsession with happiness, monkeys throwing cucumbers, and why some people reject "hyper-fair" offers of more than the half the pot in the ultimatum games.

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