Joe Henrich is the Ruth Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology and Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He is the author of Why Humans Cooperate, The Secret of Our Success, and The WEIRDest People in the World. He joins the podcast to talk about his work. Topics include:
Good interview. I’m glad you asked him about IQ, but didn’t let the conversation get bogged down once he expressed his views. He made some good points about culture, but he’s wrong to ignore the strong evidence for group genetic differences that remain after culture is accounted for.
I like his points about group selection. It’s a subtle issue and especially with gene-culture coevolution, group level effects become very important.
Would love to see a response. I’ve wondered for a long time whether Henrich is writing in a Straussian way, or whether he has simply internalized the norms of modern academia and refuses to allow himself to believe things that will get him in trouble.
Seems like Euros are not just WEIRD, but also have incredible capacity to self-deceive and compartmentalize their beliefs when it’s socially beneficial to do so. But something tells me that, interesting as *this* phenomenon should be to an anthropologist, most academic anthropologists won’t study it in its modern instantiation.
Good interview. I’m glad you asked him about IQ, but didn’t let the conversation get bogged down once he expressed his views. He made some good points about culture, but he’s wrong to ignore the strong evidence for group genetic differences that remain after culture is accounted for.
I like his points about group selection. It’s a subtle issue and especially with gene-culture coevolution, group level effects become very important.
Totally wrong on IQ. Might have to write a response to that. Was very surprised to see this.
Would love to see a response. I’ve wondered for a long time whether Henrich is writing in a Straussian way, or whether he has simply internalized the norms of modern academia and refuses to allow himself to believe things that will get him in trouble.
Seems like Euros are not just WEIRD, but also have incredible capacity to self-deceive and compartmentalize their beliefs when it’s socially beneficial to do so. But something tells me that, interesting as *this* phenomenon should be to an anthropologist, most academic anthropologists won’t study it in its modern instantiation.