Monsters, Spotted: The 229th Evolutionary Lens with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying

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Jun 12, 2024

Guest

Bret Weinstein

Guest

Heather Heying

Evolutionary biologists Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying discuss empathy, psychopathic behavior in corporations, failures of utopias, and the human need for storytelling. They explore concepts like kin selection, reciprocity, and the importance of narratives in understanding the world.

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INSIGHT

Empathy vs. Sympathy

Common language blunts precise terms.
Sympathy is empathy plus rooting for the other person's success.

INSIGHT

Simplifying Assumptions

Simplifying assumptions make explanations easier, not harder.
Assuming a lack of moral constraint can be a useful starting hypothesis.

ANECDOTE

Corporate Personhood

Corporate personhood was initially intended to enable contract signing and constrain corporations.
Corporations evolved psychopathic behavior due to unregulated markets.

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In this 229th 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 week’s episode, we discuss empathy, sympathy, and theory of mind; corporate personhood, psychopathic behavior, and the limitations of humans; kin selection, and reciprocity, both direct and indirect. Then: utopias, and why they fail, from the hero of Er in Plato’s Republic to the Singularity. And we discuss the human need for story, which exists next to, and perhaps deeper than, our need for analysis and logic.

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Mentioned in this episode:

Lahti and Weinstein 2005. The better angels of our nature: Group stability and the evolution of moral tension. Evolution and Human Behavior, 26(1): 47-63: https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=c5669ae3f2b5ba89967ab466b1095ab9c6d99c8c

DarkHorse Evolutionary Lens #128: Wouldn’t Put It Past ‘Em: https://rumble.com/v4zrlvl-the-228th-evolutionary-lens-with-bret-weinstein-and-heather-heying.html

Angus Fletcher, professor of story science, FAQs: https://www.angusfletcher.co/faqs

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