Ep 1: Joseph Henrich and the Emergence of a (Rigorous) Culturology
Channel: Life Itself
Date: 25/11/2022

In this episode of the Life Itself Podcast, Rufus Pollock sits down with Professor Joseph Henrich to discuss the study of cultural evolution. 

As we engage in a stimulating conversation with renowned Harvard professor Joseph Henrich, we explore the profound ways culture shapes our minds, societies, and even our economies, uncovering the hidden threads that connect us all.

Discover the intriguing story behind the "WEIRD" psychology of Western societies, and the role of religion, kinship, and individualism in shaping our world today. We'll also touch upon the "dark matter of history"—the hidden cultural forces that have influenced our evolution.
This video is a must-watch for anyone interested in understanding the complex tapestry of human culture and its profound impact on our lives.


This conversation forms part of the Cultural Evolution: A New Discipline is Born Series.
You can learn more here: https://lifeitself.org/learn/culturology
To view the full transcript please visit our dedicated podcast page: https://lifeitself.org/podcast/joseph-henrich-and-the-emergence-of-culturology

0:00 Introduction
5:25 The “explosion” of the field of cultural evolution 
7:27 What led to this “empirical revolution”
11:32 What do we mean by culture?
13:40 Culture across disciplines
16:45 Endogenous preferences 
22:48 Economics and culture
26:42 Where is the “science of culture” going?
38:40 What is being studied in the field now?
44:30 An example of an area of research: understanding innovation
54:57 What can we do with learnings from cultural evolution studies?
57:40 Cooperation, institutional evolution and scaling
1:06:09 Where are we on the cultural evolutionary tree today?

Joe Henrich is a Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. He is author of several books, most recently 'The Weirdest People in the World' and 'The Secret of Our Success'. His research focuses on evolutionary approaches to psychology, decision-making and culture, and includes topics related to cultural learning, cultural evolution, culture-gene coevolution, human sociality, prestige, leadership, large-scale cooperation, religion and the emergence of complex human institutions. Methodologically, he integrates ethnographic tools from anthropology with experimental techniques drawn from psychology and economics. His area interests include Amazonia, Chile and Fiji.

Rufus Pollock is an entrepreneur, activist and author as well as a long-term zen practitioner. He is passionate about finding wiser, weller ways to live together. He has founded several for-profit and nonprofit initiatives including Life Itself, Open Knowledge Foundation, and Datopian. His book Open Revolution is about making a radically freer and fairer information age. Previously he has been the Mead Fellow in Economics at the University of Cambridge as well as a Shuttleworth and Ashoka Fellow. A recognized global expert on the information society, he has worked with G7 governments, IGOs like the UN, Fortune 500s as well as many civil society organizations. He holds a PhD in Economics and a double first in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge. Find out more about his work on his website: rufuspollock.com.

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