On Humans

Latest Episodes:

Walking Towards the Human Condition ~ Jeremy DeSilva Jul 17, 2023

Show notes

Humans are odd in many ways. But perhaps the oddest of our features is our upright posture. We walk on two legs. And we are the only mammal to do so.

So why do we walk upright? And why does it matter?

Jeremy DeSilva is a fossil expert and a professor of paleoanthropology at Dartmouth College. He is also the author of a remarkable book, aptly titled First Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human

[An audio version of First Steps is now offered to you for free from Audible! See links and eligibility below.]

DeSilva’s treatment of the subject is sweeping: while tracing the journey of human posture, he draws remarkable links between bipedalism and many facets of the human condition from difficult births to complex language and from lower back pains to the beauty of friendships.

In this episode, we talk about questions such as:

What Darwin got right and wrong about the role of walking in human evolution
When and why did we start walking upright?
Why the common picture of human evolution is wrong - and what would be a better picture
Why walking makes us fragileHow our ancestors survived bone fractures - and this is a big deal
Why human birth is so difficult
Why walking is so good for us: introducing the “myokines”
What studying the human journey has taught DeSilva about our species

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Please consider becoming a supporter of On Humans. Even small monthly donations can make a huge impact on the long-term sustainability of the program.

Visit: ⁠Patreon.com/OnHumans ⁠

Get in touch: ilari@onhumans.org

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Names mentioned

Charles Darwin / Ian Tattersall / Donal Johanson / Mary Leakey / Sherwood Washburn / Richard Wrangham (ep 21) / Kristen Hawkes (ep 6) / Holly Dunsworth / Daniel Lieberman

Mentioned hominin species

Sahelanthropus / Ardipithecus / Auroren tugenensis / Austrolepithecus (e.g. Lucy) / Homo habilis / Homo erectus / Homo sapiens

Read more

Check out the books below to dig deeper! You can now get one of them for free as an Audible audiobook.*

First Steps by Jeremy DeSilva
Ancient Bones by Madelaine Böhme
The Improbable Primate by Clive Finlayson

To get your free book, set up an Audible account via the following link

⁠https://amzn.to/3qMMshw⁠

You gain one free credit which you can use for a book of your choice.

* Offer is not available for current Audible customers.

Do Young Children Care About Others? Searching For The Seeds Of Human Morality ~ Amrisha Vaish Jul 02, 2023

Show notes

Here is a common view on human development: In the beginning, children can only think about themselves. Slowly, they learn to care about others — or more cynically, they learn to pretend that they care about others. Variations of this view have been promoted by thinkers from Sigmund Freud to Richard Dawkins. This view has then been used to make predictable conclusions about ethics: human morality is either a social construct — fearfully internalized — or a clever tactic, used by selfish individuals to reap the benefits of teamwork.

But what evidence do we actually have about young children’s motivations? Do they genuinely not care about others?

To discuss these questions I have Dr Amrisha Vaishon the show. Vaish is a developmental psychologist at the University of Virginia, famous for her work on pro-social motivations in young children. We discuss issues such as:

How spontaneous is it for young children to help others?
Why do children help others? Do they want praise or do they genuinely care about others?
How early does empathy emerge?
Different forms of empathy; or the subtle difference between matching others’ emotions versus caring about others’ emotios?
What should parents do to help children grow to be more caring?
Neurodiversity and empathy in autism
Is anyone born a psychopath?
Where does mundane cruelty (e.g. to animals) come from?
The difference between sympathy and guilt; and why does the latter emerge later?
What decades of studying young children has taught Vaish about our species

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Please consider becoming a supporter of On Humans. Even small monthly donations can make a huge impact on the long-term sustainability of the program.

Visit: Patreon.com/OnHumans

Get in touch: ilari@onhumans.org

_________

Scholars mentioned

Sigmund Freud / Felix Waerneken / Michael Tomasello / Robert Hepach / Joan Grusec / Maayan Davidov / Daniel Batson / Audun Dahl / Celia Brownell / Martin Hoffman / Jan Engelman / Vikram Jaswhwal / Paul Bloom / Peter Singer / Richard Dawkins / Jean Decety / Scott Barry Kaufman / Simon Baron-Cohen

Books mentioned

Altruism in Humans (by Daniel Batson) / The Last Manchu (Memoirs of Emperor Puyi) / Transcend (by Scott Barry Kaufman)

Read more

The books below are curated for those interested in learning more about the topic. Listeners of the On Humans podcast are eligible to get one of them for free as an Audible audiobook.*

Becoming Human (Michael Tomasello)
Just Babies (Paul Bloom)

To get your free book, set up an Audible account via the following link.

https://amzn.to/3qMMshw

You gain one free credit which you can use for a book of your choice.

* Offer is not available for current Audible customers. However, current customers can access Becoming Humans for freevia Audible's PLUS catalogue.

What Kind of Apes Are We? ~ Richard Wrangham Jun 18, 2023

Show notes

What would a Neanderthal think about our species? What about a chimpanzee? When compared to our cousins, how friendly or violent are we?

Richard Wrangham is a chimpanzee expert and professor of human biology at Harvard. He is one of the most important evolutionary anthropologists alive and truly one of the dream guests for this podcast. It was a great honour to have him on the show. We discuss topics such as:

What makes studying chimpanzees interesting
Why you could not put 100 chimps on a plane (and not see a fight)
What about bonobos?
The goodness paradox: or why Wrangham thinks that humans are both a remarkably friendly and a relatively violent ape.
Are humans a child-like ape?
Why human skulls resemble dogs, not wolves
What five decades of research have taught Wrangham about humans

Mentioned scholars

Jane Goodall / Takayoshi Kano / Martin Surbeck / Michael Wilson / Kim Hill / Victoria Burbank / Brian Hare / Dimitri Belyaev / Lyudmila Trut / Adam Wilkins / Tecumseh Fitch / Stephen Jay Gould / Michael Tomasello / Christopher Boehm / Douglas P. Fry / Amar Sarkar

Mentioned papers

Further reading and a FREE audiobook offer:

Below is a list of further book recommendations written for the general audience. You might be eligible to get one of these books for free from Audible.

Reason For Hope (by Jane Goodall). A mix of a scientific memoir and a philosophical inquiry. Read beautifully by the author.
How to Tame a Fox (by Lyudmila Trut and Lee Dugatkin). Story of the remarkable experiment on domesticated foxes.
The Chimpanzee Whisperer (by David Blissett and Stany Nyandwi). The story of a man who learns to pant-hoot with chimpanzees.

How to get your free audiobook from Audible (if eligible, see terms & conditions behind the link):

Start an Audible account or re-activate your old one using this link: https://amzn.to/3qMMshw.
Once your account is live, you will get one free credit. You can use this on the book of your choice.

BECOME A SPONSOR?Please consider becoming a monthly donor via Patreon! Patreon.com/OnHumans

GET IN TOUCH

Email: ilari@onhumansorg

A suggestive timeline of human evolution (estimated years ago)

c. 6 million years ago: Last common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees and bonobos
4 — 3 million years ago: Australopithecines
2.5 — 1.5 million years ago: Homo habilis (arguably the first human)
2 million — 100 thousand years ago: Homo erectus (first “proper” human according to Wrangham)
600 thousand — 300 thousand: Homo heidelbergensis (evolving to Neanderthals and us)
300 thousand — today : Homo sapiens

Season Highlights ~ Living With True Egalitarians (with Vivek Venkataraman) Jun 13, 2023

Show notes

Season 2 is out this Saturday, 17th of June! In this final highlight from season 1, anthropologist Vivek Venkataraman talks to Ilari about living with Batek hunter-gatherers. The Batek live in the rainforests of Malaysia and are famous for being one of the most egalitarian society ever studied: things are shared, decisions are made together, and men don't dominate over women. The Batek lifestyle was inspirational in many ways, Dr Venkataraman tells, but one of their norms was particularly difficult to follow...

Season Highlights ~ Was Marx Right About History But Wrong About The Future? (with Brad DeLong) May 31, 2023

Show notes

Season 2 is kicking off on the 17th of June! In the meanwhile, we have time for a couple of more highlights. This one is from episode 18 with economic historian Brad Delong, author of Slouching Towards Utopia.

Season Highlights ~ How Geography Shaped Patriarchy, Slavery, and Enlightenment Philosophy (with Oded Galor) May 17, 2023

Show notes

In this highlight from season 1, Ilari talks with economist Oded Galor about how factors such as soil quality can explain cultural differences, such as variations in the level of patriarchy. For the full episode and show notes, see episode 13. For the first episode with Galor, see episode 12.

Season 2 is out in June! Do consider subscribing to stay updated.

Season Highlights ~ What Makes Romantic Love Last? (with Helen Fisher) May 02, 2023

Show notes

In this highlight from season 1, Helen Fisher discusses her research with couples deeply in love after 20 years of marriage. The clip also includes Fisher's 7 science-based tips for fostering romantic relationships.

Season Highlights ~ How Climate Changes Brought Us Together (with Kristen Hawkes) Apr 28, 2023

Show notes

In this highlight from season 1, Kristen Hawkes presents an intriguing hypothesis about the human past. According to Hawkes, ancient climate changes pushed our ancestors away from the rainforests. On the savannas, teamwork was finally rewarded.

For more notes and links, see the original episode 6 (Are Grandmothers the Key to Our Evolutionary Success).

Season Highlights ~ Why Is It So Difficult To Cure Mental Illness? (with Gregory Berns) Apr 15, 2023

Show notes

Season 1 is over. Season 2 is coming. In the meanwhile, please enjoy some highlights from the archives.

This highlight revisits episode four, where Ilari talks with psychiatrist and neuroscientist Gregory Berns about his recent book, Self Delusion. In this flashback, Berns explains why he thinks psychiatry has been led astray by "medicine envy" and why we misunderstand many of the root causes of mental illness.

For more show notes and links, see the original episode.

Distorting Darwinism, Or Why Evolution Does Not Prove That We Are Selfish ~ SOLO Apr 08, 2023

Show notes

In the final episode of season 1, Ilari addresses one of the underlying themes in many of the season's episodes: Darwinism. Is Darwinism dangerous? Is Darwinism linked to vicious ideologies? Does Darwinism prove that we are all selfish?

These questions have been addressed in many of this season's episodes (most notably episodes 1 and 2, but also 6, 8, and 11). In this short solo episode, Ilari connects some dots by reading his essay Distorting Darwinism, published in the Skeptic Magazine. Topics include:

The early links between Darwinism and far-right ideologies
Why do even professional evolutionists make rookie mistakes when explaining human behaviour.
Richard Dawkin's U-turn on human nature
Are all males naturally inclined to mate with a harem of females?
Why human desires come in “endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful”
The problem with “scratch an altruist and watch a hypocrite bleed”
Survival of the friendliest: from silver foxes to human self-domestication
Conclusions: ”Not everything evolution teaches us is nice and jolly. But we must stay alert at the perilous ease in which selfishness, ruthlessness, and deceptiveness seep into evolutionary theorising, even when not appropriate.”

_________

Please consider becoming a supporter of On Humans. Even small monthly donations can make a huge impact on the long-term sustainability of the program.

Visit: ⁠Patreon.com/OnHumans ⁠

Get in touch: ilari@onhumans.org

_________

Names mentioned

Charles Darwin / Herbert Spencer / William Jennings Bryan / Richard Dawkins / Edward Fox / Robert Sapolsky (author of Behave, 2017) / Michael Ghiselin / Jonathan Haidt / Frans de Waal / Dmitri Belyaev / Lyudmila Trut / Brian Hare / Richard Wrangham

Technical terms

Scopes Monkey Trial (famous legal case in 1925 regarding the teaching of evolution in Tennessee high schools) / Social Darwinism / Self-Domestication