Decoding the Gurus Special Episode: Interview with Stuart Ritchie on Hunter Gatherers in the 21st Century, covid skeptics, and bad science
8 snips
Sep 24, 2021 AI Snips
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Episode notes
Hyper-adaptationism in the Book
- The book promotes a hyper-adaptationist view that all longstanding cultural and biological traits are adaptive for evolutionary reasons.
- This oversimplifies complex evolution debates and overlooks non-adaptive cultural traditions.
Confusing Evolutionary Terminology
- Bret and Heather use confusing terms like "omega principle" to link cultural traits to genes without clear scientific basis.
- Their evolutionary reasoning is quirky and not aligned with mainstream evolutionary biology.
Adapt Skepticism To New Challenges
- The old skeptical movement focused on disproving known false claims rigorously.
- Modern skepticism must adapt to new politically charged issues to avoid fragmentation.