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A View From the East: China, Japan, and the Other Paths to Prosperity ~ Debin Ma
May 7, 2026
46m 39s
Why Did the Industrial Revolution Happen in Britain? ~ Robert Allen
Apr 29, 2026
58m 36s
Why Did So Many Inventions Come from Europe? ~ Joel Mokyr
Apr 22, 2026
48m 03s
Why the West? Colonies, Fossil Fuels, and Lessons from China ~ Kenneth Pomeranz
Apr 16, 2026
54m 14s
Encore: Walking Towards the Human Condition (with Jeremy De Silva)
Apr 4, 2026
1h 22m 43s
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| Date | Episode | Topics | Guests | Brands | Places | Keywords | Sponsor | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5/7/26 | A View From the East: China, Japan, and the Other Paths to Prosperity ~ Debin Ma✨ | economic historyEast Asia+4 | Debin Ma | Warwick UniversityCAGE Research Centre+1 | ChinaJapan+1 | ChinaJapan+5 | — | 46m 39s | |
| 4/29/26 | Why Did the Industrial Revolution Happen in Britain? ~ Robert Allen✨ | Industrial RevolutionBritish economy+4 | Robert Allen | OxfordBlack Death | BritainEurope+3 | Industrial RevolutionBritain+5 | — | 58m 36s | |
| 4/22/26 | Why Did So Many Inventions Come from Europe? ~ Joel Mokyr✨ | inventionsEuropean culture+3 | Joel Mokyr | CAGE Research CentreWarwick University+1 | — | inventionsEurope+5 | — | 48m 03s | |
| 4/16/26 | Why the West? Colonies, Fossil Fuels, and Lessons from China ~ Kenneth Pomeranz✨ | Western Europecolonization+3 | Kenneth Pomeranz | University of WarwickCAGE Research Centre+1 | — | Western Europecolonization+5 | — | 54m 14s | |
| 4/4/26 | Encore: Walking Towards the Human Condition (with Jeremy De Silva)✨ | bipedalismhuman evolution+4 | Jeremy De Silva | Dartmouth CollegeFirst Steps: How Upright Walking Made Us Human | — | bipedalismhuman evolution+6 | — | 1h 22m 43s | |
| 3/7/26 | Where Did Humans Evolve? Gazing at the Changing Nature of the Garden of Eden ~ Denise Su✨ | human evolutionpaleoecology+4 | Denise Su | Arizona State UniversityInstitute of Human Origins | — | human originsstone tools+5 | — | 54m 23s | |
| 2/10/26 | The Original Affluent Society? Lessons from 60-Years of "Man the Hunter" Research ~ Richard B. Lee✨ | hunter-gatherersanthropology+4 | Richard B. Lee | University of ChicagoThe Dawn of Everything | — | hunter-gathererMan the Hunter+5 | — | 58m 40s | |
| 1/21/26 | What Can Shamans Teach Us About Religion? | Many Minds with Manvir Singh✨ | shamanismreligion+3 | Manvir Singh | Many Minds PodcastDiverse Intelligences Summer Institute | — | AnthropologyPsychology+3 | — | 1h 19m 51s | |
| 1/10/26 | The Origins of Humankind: Where Do We Really Come From?✨ | human originsevolution+4 | — | CARTAUCSD+2 | OnHumans.Substack.comCarta.Anthropogeny.org | human evolutionhuman origins+4 | — | 28m 27s | |
| 12/24/25 | Why Do We Laugh? Philosophers on Jokes, Humor, and the Human Condition ~ Mira Magdalena Sickinger✨ | humorphilosophy+3 | Mira Magdalena Sickinger | — | — | humorlaughter+4 | — | 1h 02m 29s | |
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| 11/27/25 | The Neanderthal Mirror: Latest Findings About the Lines Between Us ~ David Gokhman | Genetics is rewriting the human story. This week, On Humans takes you behind the scenes of this rapidly evolving frontier via three live-recordings, captured at the Salk Institute's CARTA symposium on ancient DNA. The first episode explores the differences between us and the Neanderthals.For centuries, we tried to understand Neanderthals through stones and bones alone. Now genetics is offering a new tool, allowing researchers to see how ancient bodies and brains developed. In this opening episode, David Gokhman explains what these new tools are revealing about us, Neanderthals, and the lines between us.UP NEXT "Beyond Race: New Surprises About the Shape of Humanity" ~ Monday Dec 1st with Diyendo Massilani"Restless Humanity: The Epic Migrations Into America, Polynesia, and... Beyond?" ~ Friday Dec 5th with Andrés Moreno-EstradaFACT CHECKINGNo errors have been found as of now. If you find an error in this or other episodes, get in touch via the form below.LINKSArticles and essays: OnHumans.Substack.comSupport: Patreon.com/OnHumansContact Form: https://forms.gle/h5wcmefuwvD6asos8CARTA symposiumGokhman's labKEYWORDSHuman evolution | Human origins | Anthropogeny | Anthropology | Archaeogenetics | Archaeology | Paleoanthropology | Genus Homo | Neanderthals | Ancient DNA | Comparative genetics | Archaeogenetics | Language evolution | Origins of language | Symbolic culture | Extinction | Species concept | — | ||||||
| 11/24/25 |  Can We Tell a (True) Story of Human Origins? Live from UC San Diego | The science of human origins keeps producing new theories. But are we any closer to telling a true story of human origins? Or are we simply drowning in data? Earlier this November, the chair of UCSD’s Department of Anthropology invited me to explore this question in a campus talk. My optimistic claim was that underneath many of the field’s important debates, a powerful story has been emerging. At its core, this is a story about calories, cooperation, and climate change. And at the centre of it are not men hunting or women gathering.At the centre of it are children playing and learning.Here is the recording from the talk . Check out also my Substack essay inspired by this talk, with many of the pictures and graphs from the slides! PS. I was in San Diego to attend a CARTA symposium on the role of genetics in the study of human origins. I managed to record three episodes behind the scenes. Live recordings coming soon!FACT CHECKINGNo major errors have been found yet. As a small correction, the mention about macaques vs giraffe's should have been about neurons in the cortex, not total neurons in the brain. The main idea doesn't change. If you find an error in this or other episodes, get in touch via the form below.LINKSArticles and essays: OnHumans.Substack.comSupport: Patreon.com/OnHumansContact Form: https://forms.gle/h5wcmefuwvD6asos8KEYWORDSHuman evolution | Human origins | Anthropogeny | Anthropology | Paleoanthropology | Genus Homo | Australopithecins | Human brain | Comparative neuroanatomy | Human tool cultures | Alloparenting | Cooking hypothesis | Expensive tissue hypothesis | Life history | r vs K strategies | | — | ||||||
| 8/28/25 | Prologue: The (Very Simple) Story of the Human Brain ~ Suzana Herculano-Houzel | I'm excited to announce that On Humans is launching a new series this fall! This one will explore the wonders of the human brain. The new episodes will drop throughout September and early October. To set the stage, we will revisit a conversation with neuroscientist Suzana Herculano-Houzel, newly re-edited and remastered. It’s the simplest and most elegant story I’ve heard about how our brains came to be — and it sets the stage for the debates to follow. Enjoy! DIG DEEPERHerculano-Houzel's book is called The Human Advantage.Check out the series page at OnHumans.Substack.com/BrainFor more on human evolution, see the full series on the Origins of Humankind.SUPPORT THE SHOWYou can pledge your support at Patreon.com/OnHumansKEYWORDS Human evolution | Brain evolution | Neuroscience | Biology | Anthropology | Cerebral Cortex | Neuron counting | Comparative neurology | Comparative biology | Comparative anatomy | Harry Jerrison | Paleoanthropology | Human origins | | — | ||||||
| 8/16/25 | The Great Question of History: India, Britain, and the Fates of Nations | Live at the British Academy | Why did the great powers of Asia stagnate whilst Europe was rising? This question—often called the Great Divergence—is one of the most defining questions of modern history.Few case studies illuminate this question as well as the contrast between Britain and India. Did colonialism make Britain rich and India poor? Or was Britain’s rise already underway before conquest? And what does all this tell us about the everyday experiences of the people of on two sides of the divide?This episode is a live recording from the British Academy, where I was invited to speak at the launch of Bishnupriya Gupta’s An Economic History of India. I was honoured to give this talk on this exceptionally rich topic, speaking after some of the leading experts of India's history. How did I do? Share your thoughts in the comments at OnHumans.Substack.com.Enjoy!DIG DEEPERRead: See my article on the "Origins of Modern India". Complement with "Origins of Modern China" from last fall.Listen: Check out the two-part "What About India?" series from this February. Complement with the episode with Professor Tirthankar Roy this July.SUPPORT THE SHOWYou can pledge your support at Patreon.com/OnHumansKEYWORDS Big history | Economic History | Why the West | Gunpowder empires | Mughals | Colonialism | Imperialism | British East India Company | European colonialism | History of Colonialism | Geographical Determinism | Environmental Determinism | Political History | Fiscal History | Great Divergence | Western Dominance | Early Modern History | Kenneth Pomerantz | Steven Broadberry | — | ||||||
| 8/6/25 | Encore | Why Agriculture? Climate Change and the Origins of Farming ~ Andrea Matranga | Climate. Weathers. History.Here's an encore episode to wrap up the mini-series on these themes!This episode on the puzzling origins of farming is one of my all-time favourites on the show. I thought it was a good time to put it out again.You can also read my essay on the topic here.Enjoy!~ORIGINAL SHOW NOTESAgriculture changed everything. Traditionally, this “Neolithic Revolution” was celebrated for opening the gates of civilisation. Recently, it has been compared to the original sin. But whatever our take on agriculture, we should be puzzled by one thing: Why did our ancestors start to farm in the first place? It's not like early farmers had improved lives. Quite the opposite, they worked harder and suffered from worse health. So why did so early farmers stick to it? And why did farming spread so far and wide?Andrea Matranga thinks he has the answer. An economic historian at the University of Torino, Matranga links agriculture to climate change. This is not a new idea — not as such. After all, agriculture developed in lockstep with the end of Ice Ages. For years, this vague link has formed my own pet-theory on the matter. But I never paused to reflect on the obvious problem with it. There was never an “Ice Age” in Sudan. Why didn’t humans just farm there? Matranga has the answer to this and many other puzzles. And surprisingly, his answer is linked to the movements of Jupiter. I will let him tell you why.We begin this episode covering some previous theories on the origins of agriculture. Next, we dissect Matranga's theory and the evidence for it. Towards the end, we talk about the spread of farming — peaceful and violent — and note a neglected downside to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. As always, we finish with my guest’s reflection on humanity.LINKSYou can find my summary of Matranga's theory with links to academic articles at OnHumans.Substack.com.Do you like On Humans? Join the group of patrons at Patreon.com/OnHumans!MENTIONSNamesV. Gordon Childe | Jared Diamond | Mo Yan | Alain Testart | Robert J. Braidwood | Milutin Milanković | Feng He | James Scott | Richard B. Lee | Irven DevoreTermsNeolithic | Holocene | Pleistocene | Consumption smoothing | Malthusian limit | Milankovitch cyclesEthnic groupsNatuffians | Pacific Northwestern hunter-gatherers KeywordsAnthropology | Archaeology | Big History | Economic History | Agricultural Revolution | Neolithic Revolution | Homo Sapiens | Sapiens | Climate change | Paleoclimatology | Seasonality | Origins of Agriculture | Neolithic Revolution | Climate Change | Hunter-Gatherers | Human Civilization | Population Growth | Sedentary Lifestyle | Subsistence Farming | Evolutionary Adaptation | State Violence | Agricultural Coercion | Ancient DNA | — | ||||||
| 7/7/25 | How Climate Crafted Humanity (Or Did It?) ~ Jessica Thompson | On Humans is back from the break! To mark the summer heat, here is a two-part series on how climate has shaped the human story. In next week's episodes, we will explore the role of water and weather in the origins of European colonialism. But today, we start by crawling deeper into the past: to the origins of humanity itself.In this episode, Yale professor Jessica Thompson helps us navigate one of the most influential ideas in human evolution: that an ancient climate change pushed our ancestors out of the jungle, onto the savanna, and eventually toward big brains, meat-eating, and tool use.This is a captivating story. It has been mentioned many times on the show. But do the details hold up?What follows is a sweeping account of human origins, which nuances — but does not reject — the grand arc explored in The Origins of Humankind series. This is a story about a climate that has never remained steady. It serves as a poignant reminder of the weather's power to shape human destiny. But it’s also a story about human resilience and our capacity, from the very beginning, to defy the iron laws of ecology. Enjoy!Thoughts about the episode? Share them at OnHumans.Substack.com. You'll also find a bunch of links to dig deeper. SUPPORT THE SHOWYou can pledge your support at Patreon.com/OnHumansMENTIONED SCHOLARSRichard Wrangham (guest in summer 2023) Sarah Blaffer Hrdy (guest in Spring 2024)KEYWORDS Human evolution | Human origins | Paleoanthropology | Human biology | Climate change | Miocene | Pleistocene | Brain evolution | Brain energetics | Deep history | Anthropology | Archaeology | Austrolopithecins | Genus homo | Bipedalism | Evolution of apes | Missing link | Tsetse flies | | — | ||||||
| 1/28/25 | Why Patriarchy? Foragers, Farmers, and the Origins of Gender Inequality ~ Angarika Deb | Why are history books so full of men? Why have so many societies treated women as property? In short, why is patriarchy so pervasive?A casual thinker might find an easy answer from biology. Men tend to be bigger and stronger. Hence, they get to run the show. “Just look at chimpanzees!” But this explanation has obvious problems. Indeed, female chimpanzees don’t have much power in their groups. But female bonobos do. And looking at humans, not all human societies are patriarchal — not nearly to the same extent. We don’t need to look at modern Scandinavia to get inspiration for women’s empowerment. Quite the contrary, equality between the sexes might have been the norm throughout most of the human story. This might sound surprising given the rates of patriarchy across time and space. However, it is supported by a simple finding: gender equality is relatively common in existing hunter-gatherers. This stands in stark contrast to their agricultural neighbours. This old finding became part of the scholarly conversation again in late 2024 when a new paper reported high levels of equality between husbands and wives amongst married hunter-gatherers. The levels of equality surprised the scholars themselves. But all this raises an interesting question: why is this? Why would hunting and gathering incline societies towards equality? Or vice versa, why would agriculture nudge societies towards male power? And what should we make of the many outliers from this pattern, like the matriarchal farmers of northeastern India?To discuss these topics, I invited the lead author of the recent paper to the show.Angarika Deb is a cognitive anthropologist, soon to earn her PhD from the Central European University. Despite her young career, she has produced tons of interesting articles on gender inequality around the world. A wide-ranging conversation was guaranteed. LINKSFor links to academic articles and a summary of the conversation, head here (uploaded with a short delay after the episode).Read more at OnHumans.Substack.com. You can also find On Humans on YouTube and BlueSky!Feeling generous? Join the wonderful group of my patrons at Patreon.com/OnHumans, or get in touch for other ways to support!Email: makela dot ilari at outlook dot comMENTIONSTechnical termsPatrilocality | Matrilocality | Virilocatily | Y-chromosome bottleneck Ethnic groupsAgta | BaYaka | !Kung | Mongols | Garo and Khasi | Inuit KeywordsPatriarchy | Agriculture | Neolithic | Social evolution | Social complexity | Hunter-gatherers | Sexual division of labor | Human evolution | Anthropology | Archaeology | Evolutionary psychology | Sociology | Social science | Human science | — | ||||||
| 1/16/25 | Bonus | Evolution Beyond the Selfish Gene (with Eva Jablonka) | “We are survival machines – robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes.” - Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene In 1976, Richard Dawkins published one of the most iconic science books of all time. It has inspired a generation of science enthusiasts. But unsurprisingly, many readers disliked the idea of being but a “robot vehicle” or a “survival machine” for some tiny molecules — especially if these molecules are best served by repeated pregnancies or donations to a sperm bank. Yet Dawkins was right on one thing: “however much we may deplore something, it does not stop being true.” So what is true? I have previously written about one claim in the Selfish Gene which is certainly not true. This is the claim that, if we accept the book's biological theories, then we humans must be “born selfish”. Even Dawkins has accepted that this was a "rogue" claim that readers should "mentally delete". You can hear more by heading to episode 20 of On Humans. But what about the underlying science? Are selfish genes still the right way to think about the facts of evolution? Not so, according to Eva Jablonka. You might remember Jablonka from episode 36 on the evolution of consciousness. But before her work on consciousness, Jablonka was famous for her research on epigenetic inheritance -- literally, "inheritance beyond the gene". So what is epigenetic inheritance? What do we know about it scientifically? And does it matter philosophically? I hope you enjoy this conversation. LINKS Get more links and references from my accompanying essay at OnHumans.Substack.com. Support my work at Patreon.com/OnHumans | — | ||||||
| 1/5/25 | Bonus | Some Myths About Human Mating (with Katie Starkweather) | Many traditional societies accept polygyny (one man, many wives). Monogamy, too, is practised across the globe. But what about polyandry — one woman, many husbands? Is this a "dubious idea" as sometimes suggested by evolutionary theorists? In this bonus clip, anthropologist Katie Starkweather offers interesting examples of formal and informal polyandry from around the world. She also brings nuance to theories about jealousy in men and women. (This is a previously unpublished clip from my conversation with anthropologist Katie Starkweather, as published in episode 43.) LINKS Scholars mentioned Donald Symons (author of Evolution of Human Sexuality), Sarah Blaffer Hrdy (author of Father Time, see episode 40), Brooke Scelza, Sean Prall Articles mentioned See the list and links here. This and other resources are available for free at OnHumans.Substack.com Support the show Patreon.com/OnHumans Keywords Monogamy | Polygamy | Polyandry | Mating | Pairbonding | Anthropology | Ethnography | Jealousy | — | ||||||
| 12/23/24 | Live from London | Yasheng Huang on the Origins of Modern China | This was fun! Last Wednesday saw the first-ever live recording of On Humans. The event was held at the London Business School, courtesy of the LBS's China Club. My guest was MIT Professor Yasheng Huang, familiar to regular listeners from the China trilogy published earlier this fall. In this new episode, we keep tackling the origins of modern China. This time, we draw insights from Huang's two upcoming books: Revisiting the Needham Question and Statism With Chinese Characteristics. The conversation is structured around five themes: 1) the "Needham Question"; 2) Keju exams; 3) Scale; 4) Scope; and 5) The Eighties. Expect juicy insights to questions such as: Why did the rise of Buddhism concide with rise of ancient inventions in ancient China? How does footbinding relate to China's technological decline? Has China's GDP growth stopped serving Chinese workers? Towards the end of the conversation, Huang also shared his memories of working in China during the 1989 crackdown at Tiananmen Square. Enjoy!MORE LINKSGet the On Humans newsletter at OnHumans.Substack.com. You can also find On Humans on YouTube and BlueSky!Feeling generous? Join the wonderful group of my patrons at Patreon.com/OnHumans, or get in touch for other ways to support!Email: makela dot ilari at outlook dot com | — | ||||||
| 12/2/24 | A New Theory on the Broadest Patterns of History ~ Ideen Ali Riahi | Persians. Romans. Chinese. Guptas. Abbasids. Mongols. British.The list of the world’s largest empires is a list of different peoples of Eurasia. With the sole exception of ancient Egypt, the Eurasian landmass has been the breeding ground for the largest empire of each moment in history.Why has Eurasia been so prone to large empires? Similarly, why did so many technological breakthroughs — from writing to gunpowder — occur in Eurasia? And how did these broader patterns of Eurasian history enable the dark chapters of European colonialism?These questions constitute some of the “broadest patterns of history”, to quote Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel. Indeed, these are not only the broad contours of the last few millennia: searching for answers, we need to dig deep into the origins of agriculture and beyond.My guest today, Ideen Ali Riahi, has been digging very deep indeed.Building on Diamond’s original project, Riahi has traced the deepest roots behind Eurasia’s outsized power in human history. And if he is correct, these roots extend to periods way before the dawn of agriculture.In this episode, we discuss topics such as:The “Why Eurasia?” questions: What does it mean? What answers do we have? And is this a meaningful question to start with?Environmental determinism vs environmental realismDid the activities of our Ice Age ancestors prepare Eurasian lands for farms, cows, and cavalries?Riahi’s case against genetic explanations of Eurasian dominance and Europe’s riseAs always, we finish with my guest’s reflections on humanity. You can find links to academic articles discussed in this episode here.MORE LINKSGet the On Humans newsletter at OnHumans.Substack.com. You can also find On Humans on YouTube and BlueSky!Feeling generous? Join the wonderful group of my patrons at Patreon.com/OnHumans, or get in touch for other ways to support!Email: makela dot ilari at outlook dot comMENTIONSScholarsJared Diamond (author of Guns, Germs, and Steel) Daron Acemoglu ( co-author of Why Nations Fail, guest in episode #26)Alfred Crosby (author of Ecological Imperialism)Vernon L SmithMelinda Zeder & Bruce SmithRichard Dawkins (author of Selfish Gene)Oded Galor (author of Journey of Humanity, guest in episodes #12 and #13)Technical termsTraditional ecological knowledge (TEK) | Niche construction | herd management | commensal pathway | Modern evolutionary synthesis | extended evolutionary synthesis | niche construction KeywordsHistory | social science | comparative economics | comparative history | imperialism | colonialism | technology | ancient civilisations | agricultural revolution | neolithic revolution | human migration | wealth of nations | global inequality | indigenous cultures | epidemics | — | ||||||
| 11/15/24 |  Is War Inevitable? Lessons from East Asia ~ David C. Kang | Why do wars begin? How can we avoid them? Do countries wage wars whenever it suits their own goals? Or are wars a product of failed understanding and military madmen? These are questions at the centre of the study of war and peace. But for too long, the field of international relations has answered them by scavenging data from European history alone. To better understand the human capacity for peace, we need to understand military history more broadly. Or so argues David C. Kang, a professor of global politics at the University of Southern California.A Korean American scholar, Kang argues that the histories of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam give us lessons that no reading of European countries could: lessons about neighbouring countries living in peace for centuries. Yes, there was violence. At times, there was war. But peace between these countries prevailed for stunningly long periods. And contrary to standard theories of war and peace, this wasn’t achieved by a “balance of powers” nor by the threat of a common enemy.But is this too peaceful a picture of East Asian history? Didn’t China keep up bullying Vietnam? What about the epic wars started by Japan? What about the Mongols, the Great Wall, and China’s expansion on its Western frontier? And what, if anything, can this tell about war and peace in the 21st Century? Doesn’t the “Thucydides trap” make a war between the US and China inevitable?We discuss these and many other questions in this fascinating episode.I am particularly glad to bring you this episode as it brings together two of the major themes on the show this fall: the study of war and peace and the study of Asian history.Co-hosting again is Jordan Schneider from ChinaTalk.Check out also our “What About China” trilogy from September (episodes #44-46)!LINKSKang's new book, co-authored with Xinru Ma, is Beyond Power Transitions.You can read my essays and get the On Humans newsletter at OnHumans.Substack.com.Feeling generous? Join the wonderful group of my patrons at Patreon.com/OnHumans, or get in touch for other ways to support!Email: makela dot ilari at outlook dot comMENTIONSBooksBeyond Bronze Pillars by Liam KelleyTechnical termsThucydides trap | Westphalian system | Balance of powers | IR (=international relations) | keju civil service |KeywordsWar | Peace | International relations | China | Japan | Korea | Social science of war | History | Military history | Humanities | Vietnam | East Asia | Thucidides trap | | — | ||||||
| 11/2/24 | Is War Natural After All? Revisiting the Debate ~ Luke Glowacki | Our ancestors did not wage war. Warfare emerged only when humans started settling down and storing food. Indeed, some modern hunter-gatherers still enjoy the peaceful existence that once was the natural state of our species.Or so argued Douglas P. Fry, my guest in episode 8. I found many of his arguments convincing. For example, ancient cave art is surprisingly void of depictions of warfare. You can hear many more of his arguments in that episode, titled "Is War Natural For Humans?"But not all scholars agree. Far from it. And I owe a voice to the other side of the debate. So here is an episode with one of the most thoughtful voices arguing for a deeper origins of war.Luke Glowacki is a professor of anthropology at Boston University, where teaches courses on the evolution of war. And he believes that war has very ancient origins, indeed. We had a very stimulating conversation, discussing topics such as: (03:00) The debate: What can we all agree on? And what are the disagreements?(12:10) Hunter-gatherers: Are they peaceful? And are they any good as models of the past? (25:55) Archaeology: Cave paintings and broken bones(34:55) Primatology: Chimpanzees and bonobos(46:40) Implications: What can we learn from all this?As always, we finish with my guest's reflections on humanity. LINKSHead here for links to relevant academic articles -- and the video of the chimpanzee raid!You can read my essays and get the On Humans newsletter at OnHumans.Substack.com.Feeling generous? Join the wonderful group of my patrons at Patreon.com/OnHumans, or get in touch for other ways to support!Email: makela dot ilari at outlook dot comMENTIONSScholarsDouglas P. Fry (ep. #8) | R. Brian Ferguson #25 | Richard Wrangham #21 | Cecilia Padilla-Iglesias #39 | Jane Goodall | Manvir Singh | David Kang #49 (upcoming)KeywordsEvolution | Archaeology | Anthropology | Primatology | Peace | Warfare | Social science of war | International relations | Biological anthropology | Cultural anthropology | Hunter-gatherers | Cave painting | Prehistory | Prehistoric violence | Prehistoric war | — | ||||||
| 10/18/24 | Nobel-Prize Special | Daron Acemoglu on Why We Should Celebrate Humanity | Daron Acemoglu has been awarded the 2024 Nobel-prize for Economic Science. This is a great testament to his impressive career. But the award was given for his early work on global inequality, together with Johnson and Robinson. The Swedish Riksbank did not pay attention to his new work on inequality within rich countries. Should we? And is his new theory even consistent with the old?I got to ask this from Acemoglu during our 2023 interview. I thought this would be a good time to re-post his answer. In this highlight, we also discuss: The hidden tragedy behind growing wages Is automation the problem? Why we need a more "pro-human" direction of technology Lessons from (an imperfect) Germany Why fixing the economy starts from celebrating humanityIf you want to enjoy the full show, head to episode 26 of this feed. You can also read my essay breakdown of Acemoglu's theory here. Get these and other resources at OnHumans.Substack.com.Thank you to all the patrons who make On Humans possible! You can join the club at Patreon.com/OnHumans. You can get in touch for other ways to support at makela.ilari@outlook.com. KEYWORDSEconomics | economic history | wage-stagnation | wage growth | inequality | economic inequality | automation | AI | robotics | US economy | German economy | Nobel-prize | labour unions | worker power | Elon Musk | Tesla | car manufacturing | co-determination | humanity | — | ||||||
| 10/1/24 | This Might Be The Nicest Thing About Human Nature ~ Lara Aknin | You are given 20 dollars in cash. You can use it as you wish, but with one condition: you have to use it to treat yourself.Now imagine getting another 20 dollars next week. This time, the rules have changed: you must use the money to treat someone else. Which do you think will make you feel better?Contrary to many people's predictions, we tend to feel much better after spending the money on others. Whether we act it out or not, it seems that the human psyche is fine-tuned for generosity. Why? And why am I so confident about this anyway? Is the effect really a universal part of humanity? Does it take place across cultures and ages? What about those who give too much and experience a burnout? And if giving feels good, why don’t we do it more? Lara Aknin is one of the world’s leading scientists working on generosity. Her master’s thesis led to a publication in Science — something I used to think was undoable — and she has studied generosity ever since.In this episode, Prof Aknin and I discuss: The original evidence / Cross-cultural research / Alternative explanations / Do toddlers like giving? / Why does generosity feel good? / Why don’t we give more then? / What about giving too much (or caring for someone with dementia)? / Selfish generosity? As always, we finish with my guest's reflections on humanity.LINKSYou can read my essays and get the On Humans newsletter at OnHumans.Substack.com.Feeling generous on the 2nd annviersary of On Humans? Join the wonderful group of my patrons at Patreon.com/OnHumans, or get in touch for other ways to support!Get in touch: makela.ilari@outlook.com.MENTIONSScholarsElizabeth Dunn | Tania Broesch | Josh V. Kane | Benjamin J. Newman | Richard DawkinsArticlesLinks to articles is available here. Get these and other resources at OnHumans.Substack.com.Episodes16 | Does Poverty Make Us Selfish ~ Jacqueline Mattis20 | Distorting Darwinism – Or Why Evolution Does Not Prove That We Are Selfish ~ Solo22 | Do Young Children Care About Others? ~ Amrisha VaishKeywordsPsychology | Anthropology | Behavioral Economics | Prosociality | Generosity | Happiness | Warm glow | Altruism | Charity | Prosocial spending | Cross-cultural research | Reciprocity | Cultural similarities | Spending choices | Happiness experiments | Emotional well-being | Social connection | Financial generosity | Helping behavior | — | ||||||
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