38 - David Sloan Wilson - The Evolutionary View of Life

Two for Tea Podcast

English - September 18, 2019 22:46 - 1 hour - 96.5 MB - ★★★★★ - 52 ratings
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Previous Episode: 37 - Rahmaan “Roc” Mwongozi - Overcoming Our Inner Demons

Next Episode: 39 - Eric Kaufmann - Fight, Flee, Repress or Join: Facing the Mixed Race Future

2:07 Evolutionary theory as a comprehensive way of looking at life
7:20 Evolutionary theory and English literature
11:52 Gene-centric evolutionary theory versus the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis
15:50 Looking at learning and management from an evolutionary standpoint: Toyota
17:07 How a knowledge of evolution can influence public policy
25:40 An evolutionary view of psychotherapy
27:00 Multi-level selection theory. Application to cancer therapies.
28:20 How chicken farming illustrates group level selection theory
33:37 The problem of good—how did altruism evolve?
36:54 Water striders
41:11 How these ideas apply to introverts and extroverts and business school hirings
42:41 How they apply to Battlestar Galactica
44:37 The neighbourhood project
48:25 Systems of meaning
50:15 Measuring prosociality among schoolchildren: what influences it? How to increase it?
54:03 Response from more gene-based evolutionary theorists; social science and humanities scholars who have adopted evolutionary approaches
57:10 Equivalence
58:35 Replicators versus vehicles
1:02:14 Applying these principles to our own lives: success and the morality of the cancer cell

David’s book This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution (2019) can be found here:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/246844/this-view-of-life-by-david-sloan-wilson/9781101870204/.

For more about David’s work see:
https://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/persons/david-sloan-wilson/
And
https://evolution-institute.org/profile/david-sloan-wilson/
And
https://www.prosocial.world/

Find David’s other books here:
https://www.amazon.com/David-Sloan-Wilson/e/B001H6MNP6%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share,
esp. The Neighbourhood Project: Using Evolution to Improve My City, One Block at a Time (2012):
https://www.amazon.com/Neighborhood-Project-Using-Evolution-Improve/dp/0316037672

Follow David on Letter.Wiki: https://letter.wiki/DavidSloanWilson/conversations

Follow David on Twitter: @David_S_Wilson

Further Notes

I discuss Sloan Wilson’s ideas and correspondence with Massimo Pigliucci here:
https://areomagazine.com/2019/07/10/human-cultural-evolution-a-letter-exchange/

For the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis see:
https://extendedevolutionarysynthesis.com/

Steven C. Hayes and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT):
https://stevenchayes.com/category/acceptance-and-commitment-therapy/

For Omar Tonsi Eldakar’s work on waterstriders see
https://phys.org/news/2009-11-mom-nice-guys-girls.html

Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking (2012).