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Can Evolution Explain Our Politics? Nicholas Wade Thinks So

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Oct 13, 2025

Guest

Nicholas Wade

Nicholas Wade, a former science writer and author of influential books on evolution, discusses provocative topics like race and genetics. He explores the genetic clustering of racial groups and their limited biological relevance for policy. Wade delves into the fertility crisis, linking economic factors to declining birth rates. He argues that political systems must align with human nature and examines how modern dynamics replace tribalism with polarization. Ultimately, he tackles the implications of evolutionary insights on family structures and national politics.

59:54

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insights

INSIGHT

Genome Opened Study Of Human Evolution

Evolutionary changes in humans and the genome research motivate studying social behavior origins.
Nicholas Wade says the Human Genome Project made tracing recent human evolution and population differences possible.

insights

INSIGHT

Genetic Clusters Mirror But Don’t Define Race

Genetic data cluster roughly along familiar racial lines but with no hard boundaries.
Wade emphasizes clusters bleed into each other and racial categories are partly social constructs.

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INSIGHT

Census Categories Are Political Constructs

Census racial categories are politically constructed and often mismatch scientific clustering.
Wade argues categories like Hispanic are linguistic, not biological, yet census data remain useful for policy when used responsibly.

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Nicholas Wade’s background and how he got into evolutionary genetics

01:35 • 1min

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What was the Human Genome Project and why it mattered

02:49 • 1min

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How genetics clarifies human racial clustering

04:16 • 4min

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Are racial categories biologically meaningful for policy and medicine?

08:39 • 5min

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Response to criticism of A Troublesome Inheritance

13:20 • 4min

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What The Origin of Politics aims to explain

17:45 • 2min

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Does human nature constrain viable political systems?

20:15 • 5min

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Why markets and private incentives outperform collectivized systems

24:56 • 1min

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How societies curb nepotism and reshape tribal instincts

26:23 • 3min

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Have tribes been replaced by political polarization?

29:44 • 2min

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Has breaking family ties gone too far in modern societies?

Does evolutionary perspective make one more conservative or liberal?

36:51 • 2min

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How genetics contributes to political temperament

38:52 • 1min

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Will high-fertility religious groups reshape national politics?

39:52 • 5min

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Why global birth rates are collapsing and what might reverse them

44:53 • 6min

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Should evolutionary insights change foreign policy stance?

50:44 • 4min

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Are autocracies or democracies more compatible with certain cultures?

54:59 • 4min

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Does solving tribalism precede successful democracy?

58:49 • 2min

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Closing remarks and where to find Wade’s work

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The Origin of Politics

How Evolution and Ideology Shaped the Fate of Nations

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A troublesome inheritance

Nicholas Wade

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Nicholas Wade is a former science writer for The New York Times and author of several books on human evolution, including A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race, and Human History and his new book, The Origin of Politics: How Evolution and Ideology Shape the Fate of Nations.

Today, I invite Wade on to discuss some of the toughest topics in modern science: the controversial territory of race and genetics, and whether there are fundamental genetic differences between right-wingers and left-wingers. We also dig into the fertility crisis. Birth rates across the developed world have collapsed below replacement level, and no country except religious Georgia has figured out how to reverse the trend. Wade explains why modern economic progress makes having children less appealing, and why the breakdown of the family matters.

Finally, we talk about how the modern nation-state stamped out tribalism, why the academic establishment refuses to engage honestly with genetics research, what evolutionary psychology tells us about foreign policy, and much more.

Whether you find Wade’s evolutionary framework persuasive or not, I hope our conversation raises questions that most political leaders and academics prefer to ignore.

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