The evolutionary origins of a good society with Nicholas Christakis
This episode is with Nicholas Christakis. He is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University, where he directs the Human Nature Lab. He is also the Co-Director of the Yale Institute for Network Science. His research focuses on social networks and the socioeconomic, biosocial, and evolutionary determinants of behavior, health, and longevity. Here we talk about nature nurture, The social suite which includes eight core properties of any good society, The forbidden experiment in sociology, and morality.
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Timestamps:
00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:03 Major questions about human societies
00:07:16 Importance of human social networks
00:09:58 Nature- nurture debate
00:14:15 The social suite
00:16:06 Importance of the social society in creating a human society
00:22:17 Going beyond the social suite in a society
00:24:25 Extended phenotype and Exo-phenotype
00:29:36 Exo-phenotype and Darwinian evolution
00:30:30 Importance of an individual in a society
00:34:48 In-group bias
00:44:56 How much we can change 'In-group bias'?
00:47:03 Robert Sapolsky's 'Categorical thinking'
00:53:05 Life on Mars
00:54:11 Importance of Mild hierarchies
00:55:49 Mentorship over Narcissism
01:01:39 Love in human societies
01:06:15 Morality
01:09:11 Thank you!
Music by: Ahmed Hassan (https://www.youtube.com/@2ays577/featured)