Deadly Serious Games: The 212th Evolutionary Lens with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying
Feb 14, 2024
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Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying discuss building your own boot camp, the impact of a new ant species on lion hunting behavior, and the concept of micro beef sushi. They also explore topics like recognizing signal and noise, the challenges of equalizing competition, and the contagious nature of courage.
Understanding the natural games in everyday life is crucial for making informed decisions and achieving desired outcomes.
Game theory extends beyond formalized games and can provide important insights for navigating complex systems.
Learning to play the game of life effectively involves developing skills and strategies through experience and adaptation.
Recognizing and challenging the constraints of existing systems empowers us to create more equitable and empowering environments.
Deep dives
The Hidden Games We Play
Games are embedded in various aspects of our lives, from formalized games to economic and social games. Understanding these games is crucial for navigating and succeeding in different environments. The formalized games we often think of, like sports or board games, are secondary to the natural games that exist in our everyday lives. These natural games, such as the mating game or the game of wealth creation through exchange, have a profound influence on our actions and interactions. Recognizing the existence of these games and the strategies and tactics within them is essential for making informed decisions and achieving desired outcomes. Additionally, games can also be nested within each other, creating layers of complexity and dynamics. By understanding the underlying game and its rules, we can better navigate and thrive in various contexts.
The Implications of Game Theory
Game theory plays a significant role in many aspects of our lives, influencing outcomes and shaping interactions. It reveals how we make decisions based on potential gains, losses, and the behaviors of others. Game theory is not limited to explicitly formalized games, but extends into our daily interactions, whether in business, relationships, or society at large. Recognizing the underlying game and understanding its rules can provide important insights and strategies for achieving desired outcomes. It highlights how certain behaviors impact the dynamics of interactions and reveals the power of various strategies, such as cooperation, competition, and negotiation. By applying game theory, we can make more informed decisions and navigate complex systems more effectively.
Unveiling the Bootcamp of Game Mastery
Learning to play the game of life effectively requires a bootcamp of game mastery. This involves developing and honing the necessary skills and strategies to succeed in different situations. Like a parkour enthusiast who gradually builds their skills from basic movements to extraordinary feats, we too must progress through different levels of gameplay, learning from experience and experimentation. This bootcamp involves understanding the underlying dynamics, rules, and incentives within a given environment, as well as adapting and innovating to overcome challenges. By continuously learning and refining our game-playing abilities, we can better navigate and thrive within the various games we encounter throughout our lives.
The Power of Recognizing and Challenging Games
Recognizing the existence of games within different domains of life empowers us to challenge and reshape those games when necessary. This is particularly crucial when dealing with systems or structures that may limit our freedom or manipulate outcomes for their benefit. By understanding the rules, incentives, and power dynamics at play, we can strategically challenge and shift the game in our favor. History has shown that persistent efforts, whether through raising awareness, exposing flawed systems, or changing the underlying dynamics, can lead to meaningful change. The game of life is not fixed, and by recognizing and challenging its constraints, we can create more equitable, fulfilling, and empowering environments for ourselves and future generations.
Scientists coat rice grains with cow cells to create 'micro beef sushi'
Scientists in South Korea have developed a method of coating rice grains with cow cells to create what they call 'micro beef sushi'. By using an edible fish gelatin coating, researchers were able to attach cow muscle and fat cells to the rice grains. The resulting hybrid rice contained more carbs, fat, and protein than regular rice. The researchers claim that eating 100 grams of this hybrid rice is nutritionally equivalent to eating 100 grams of regular rice plus one gram of beef brisket. The hybrid rice is also said to have a rich flavor, with the muscle rice having beefy and smoky notes, and the fat rice being sweet, buttery, and creamy. The development aims to provide a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to traditional meat and rice dishes.
Invasive ant disrupts the mutualism between native ants and acacia trees in African savannah
Scientists in South Korea have discovered a disruption in the mutualism between native ants and acacia trees in the African savannah caused by an invasive ant species. The invasive big-headed ant disrupts the defense mechanism provided by native ants, leaving the acacia trees vulnerable to browsing by elephants. As a result, the landscape has higher visibility due to the loss of trees, impacting the hunting dynamics of lions. Lions are forced to switch their primary prey from zebras to African buffalo, leading to a change in their hunting strategies. This cascading effect highlights the complex interactions in ecosystems and the importance of maintaining delicate balances.
South Korean researchers create rice grains with cow cells to provide sustainable food
Scientists in South Korea have developed a method of coating rice grains with cow cells to create a hybrid food called micro beef sushi. They first created an edible coating for the rice grains from fish gelatin to help the cow muscle and fat cells adhere to the grains. The resulting hybrid rice had higher levels of carbs, fat, and protein than regular rice. Researchers claim that eating 100 grams of this hybrid rice is equivalent to eating 100 grams of regular rice plus one gram of beef brisket. The new rice is a potential sustainable food option that aims to preserve land otherwise needed for livestock and reduce carbon emissions associated with traditional rice and beef production.
Scientists in South Korea develop micro beef sushi using cow cells
South Korean scientists have coated rice grains with cow muscle and fat cells, creating what they call 'micro beef sushi'. The researchers first created an edible coating for the rice grains using fish gelatin, which acted as a surface for the cow cells to stick to. The resulting hybrid rice contained more carbohydrates, fat, and protein than regular rice. According to the scientists, consuming 100 grams of the hybrid rice is nutritionally equivalent to consuming 100 grams of regular rice plus one gram of beef brisket. The micro beef sushi aims to provide a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to traditional meat and rice dishes.
In this 212th in a series of live discussions with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying (both PhDs in Biology), we talk about the state of the world through an evolutionary lens.
In this episode, we discuss how to build your own boot camp, with principles including the courage cascade, flak over the target, recognizing the distinction between signal and noise, random vs systematic error, “the room is not the room,” OODA loops, and keeping separate track of analytics and morals. Also: how a new ant in Africa has forced lions to change how and what they hunt. And: microbeef sushi.
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Judicial Watch: DHS Secretary Mayorkas Personally Declined Presidential Candidate RFK Jr’s Request for Secret Service Protection: https://www.judicialwatch.org/rfk-jr-secret-service-protection/
Center for Countering Digital Hate – The New Climate Denial: https://counterhate.com/research/new-climate-denial/
Kamaru et al 2024. Disruption of an ant-plant mutualism shapes interactions between lions and their primary prey. Science, 383(6681): 433-438: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg1464
