The Genetics of Evil: Are People Born Bad? - Dr Kathryn Paige Harden - #1066
Modern Wisdom
Balancing Humanity and Public Safety
Harden explores holding offenders accountable while resisting needless suffering in punishment systems.
Dr. Kathryn Paige Harden is a psychologist and behavioural geneticist, Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and an author.
Are people born evil, or does evil emerge from circumstance? While we tend to blame genetics for humanity’s darkest behaviors, science and psychology suggest a far more complicated picture. If biology, environment, and experience all shape behavior, how should society judge, or punish, those who may never have had full control over who they became?
Expect to learn what Kathryn learned from her first 4 million-person study, what the evolutionary roots of aggression, dominance, and impulsivity are, if there is a heritability of antisocial behaviour, why punishment is a useful tool for responding to harm, what Kathryn makes of the looksmaxxing movement, and much more…
Timestamps:
(0:00) Why Kathryn’s Last Book Was So Controversial (5:28) What Drives Risk-Taking Behaviour? (9:21) What Drew Kathryn to the World of Antisocial Behaviour? (11:59) How Humans Have Evolved to Become Deviant (20:48) Should You Wait Until 30 To Try Drugs? (25:02) Is Punishment More About Circumstance Than Crime? (31:02) How Genetic is Deviance? (35:14) Why Bad Behaviour in Kids Makes Us So Uncomfortable (43:01) When Do You Become Responsible For Your Actions? (47:43) Is Addiction Genetic? (53:47) Are Men More Prone to Antisocial Traits? (1:03:24) If Behaviour is Genetic, How Do We Justify Punishment? (1:11:09) Should Genetic Behaviour Affect Criminal Sentencing? (1:26:52) Why Do We Crave Retribution? (1:32:05) Do We Enjoy Judging Others? (1:43:15) Does Prison Actually Work? (1:51:49) We Need to Question Our Own Moral Instincts (1:58:14) The Top Reasons Epigenetic Inheritance So Controversial (2:04:50) Does Environment During Pregnancy Shape a Child’s Genes? (2:10:11) How Much of Motherhood is Just Luck? (2:13:46) Kathryn’s Ethical Stance on Embryo Selection (2:29:37) Can Embryo Selection Prevent a Crumbling Genome? (2:36:45) Is It Fair to Suppress Genetic Behaviour in Men? (2:49:25) Is Looksmaxxing Damaging Our Genetics? (2:59:55) Where to Find Kathryn
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