How WEIRD Societies Shaped the World w/Evolutionary Biologist Joseph Henrich

I had a conversation with Joesph Henrich, a distinguished anthropologist and evolutionary biologist at Harvard. Renowned for his interdisciplinary research on cultural evolution and the origins of WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) societies, Joseph is a deep dude. We had a wide-ranging discussion on topics such as cultural learning, social contagion, and the WEIRD phenomenon. We explored the interplay between truth and religion, the economic and political impacts of kinship structures, and cognitive development in non-schooled environments. Additionally, we talked about David Deutsch’s work on falsifiability and its role in building systems of knowledge, divination, witchcraft, rationality, and the question of who might be considered the "weirdest" people in the world. Watch this episode on YouTube.

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We stand transparent about our motivations: we are champions of liberal values and Enlightenment Rationalism. Reason & liberty are paramount-whether threatened by tyranny in places like China or elsewhere-because they are essential to human dignity and prosperity. The Enlightenment, with it's emphasis on error-correction, is the philosophical project that has cultivated the wealth & freedom of the modern world. The West has been a custodian of this tradition of criticism, producing societies full rapid, stable, and genuine progress. The clearer people become on this connection, the more they'll recognize that these principles are what enable our civilization to be freer, safer, and more prosperous. This is the set of ideas we are committed to spreading.~ Reid Nicewonder