DarkHorse Podcast Where has all the science gone? The 290th Evolutionary Lens with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying
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Aug 21, 2025 Explore a whirlwind of topics, from the implications of AI and humanoid robots on society to the evolving nature of relationships in a tech-driven world. Delve into the alarming frequency of scientific fraud and its roots in rational choice theory. The conversation reflects on the impact of specialization and industrial changes on family dynamics, gender roles, and personal relationships. With a critical lens on academic publishing and the importance of scientific integrity, this discussion pushes for transparency and honesty in both research and social discourse.
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Learning Practical Skills By Doing
- Heather recounts her father forcing her to help build a fence so she learned practical skills firsthand.
- She credits that upbringing for practical competence she later passed to her children.
Don’t Conflate Panic With Real Harms
- Michael Tracey labels some high-profile sex cases as potential moral panics, but hosts warn that such labeling can be premature.
- Genuine crises (e.g., medical transing of minors) have shown that some social contagions reflect real harm, not panics.
Fraud Networks Are Scaling Rapidly
- Richardson et al. find coordinated, large-scale entities (paper mills, brokers, predatory journals) enable scientific fraud.
- Fraudulent publications appear to be growing far faster than legitimate science.
