5 minute summaries
1 quote, 3 ideas & 1 question from each episode
__________
10 Jun 2021
50mins
FEATURING
Owltail Summaries
1 quote, 3 ideas & 1 question from each episode
_________
Nicholas Christakis — How We’re Wired for Goodness
10 Jun 2021
50mins
Quote
"Love and death are things we all experience universally, but in incredibly personal and unique ways."
Ideas
1
Love, friendship, and violence have been influenced by culture and technology, but they were also around thousands of years ago, before any culture & technology.
One of the metaphors to think about this is that we're deluded into thinking that our cultural forces and differences are so big and important, that it's like standing on a 10,000-foot plateau and noticing that one hill is 300 feet, and one hill is 900 feet, and becoming obsessed that what is it that explains the difference between these two hills.
But if you step off the plateau, you see that actually those are two mountains, one of which is 10,300 feet and the other of which is 10,900 feet. And the forces you were previously focusing on, from erosion or human impact are actually trivial in comparison to the plate tectonic and volcanic forces that caused these huge mountains in the first place, which is human nature.
But if you step off the plateau, you see that actually those are two mountains, one of which is 10,300 feet and the other of which is 10,900 feet. And the forces you were previously focusing on, from erosion or human impact are actually trivial in comparison to the plate tectonic and volcanic forces that caused these huge mountains in the first place, which is human nature.
1
Love, friendship, and violence have been influenced by culture and technology, but they were also around thousands of years ago, before any culture & technology.
One of the metaphors to think about this is that we're deluded into thinking that our cultural forces and differences are so big and important, that it's like standing on a 10,000-foot plateau and noticing that one hill is 300 feet, and one hill is 900 feet, and becoming obsessed that what is it that explains the difference between these two hills.
But if you step off the plateau, you see that actually those are two mountains, one of which is 10,300 feet and the other of which is 10,900 feet. And the forces you were previously focusing on, from erosion or human impact are actually trivial in comparison to the plate tectonic and volcanic forces that caused these huge mountains in the first place, which is human nature.
But if you step off the plateau, you see that actually those are two mountains, one of which is 10,300 feet and the other of which is 10,900 feet. And the forces you were previously focusing on, from erosion or human impact are actually trivial in comparison to the plate tectonic and volcanic forces that caused these huge mountains in the first place, which is human nature.
2
One of the aspects that make humans unique is the ways in which we socialize with others.
We cooperate with each other, altruistically, we're kind to unrelated individuals. We form bonds with those we have sex with, we create friendships with unrelated people.
But above all else, we set out to teach each other things.
All of these things are incredibly rare in the rest of the animal kingdom, but for most of us, it's universal and innate.
But above all else, we set out to teach each other things.
All of these things are incredibly rare in the rest of the animal kingdom, but for most of us, it's universal and innate.
2
One of the aspects that make humans unique is the ways in which we socialize with others.
We cooperate with each other, altruistically, we're kind to unrelated individuals. We form bonds with those we have sex with, we create friendships with unrelated people.
But above all else, we set out to teach each other things.
All of these things are incredibly rare in the rest of the animal kingdom, but for most of us, it's universal and innate.
But above all else, we set out to teach each other things.
All of these things are incredibly rare in the rest of the animal kingdom, but for most of us, it's universal and innate.
3
Our uniqueness is essential to our socialness. In order to be social, we have to first be individual.
It first s with us all having a different-looking face to be able to differentiate between different people.
If you don't want someone to fail to feed you, when you're an infant, and feed some other child, or forget that they had sex with you or not remember that you were mean to them and they should avoid you, you need some way to signal this.
In order for us to create groups and come together, we first have to go down to the level of individuals, to seeing each person as a unique human being.
If you don't want someone to fail to feed you, when you're an infant, and feed some other child, or forget that they had sex with you or not remember that you were mean to them and they should avoid you, you need some way to signal this.
In order for us to create groups and come together, we first have to go down to the level of individuals, to seeing each person as a unique human being.
3
Our uniqueness is essential to our socialness. In order to be social, we have to first be individual.
It first s with us all having a different-looking face to be able to differentiate between different people.
If you don't want someone to fail to feed you, when you're an infant, and feed some other child, or forget that they had sex with you or not remember that you were mean to them and they should avoid you, you need some way to signal this.
In order for us to create groups and come together, we first have to go down to the level of individuals, to seeing each person as a unique human being.
If you don't want someone to fail to feed you, when you're an infant, and feed some other child, or forget that they had sex with you or not remember that you were mean to them and they should avoid you, you need some way to signal this.
In order for us to create groups and come together, we first have to go down to the level of individuals, to seeing each person as a unique human being.
Questions
1
Can you think of something we've had that existed before culture and technology?
1
Can you think of something we've had that existed before culture and technology?
What else is in the episode
1
How goodness outweighs the negatives
1
How goodness outweighs the negatives
2
How death is a process of letting go
2
How death is a process of letting go
3
How social contagion effects free will
3
How social contagion effects free will
Who is Nicholas Christakis?
1
A Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University. He's also the author of Connected: How Your Friends' Friends' Friends Affect Everything You Feel, Think, and Do and Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society.
1
A Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University. He's also the author of Connected: How Your Friends' Friends' Friends Affect Everything You Feel, Think, and Do and Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society.
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