Gregory Cochran: 15 years after The 10,000 Year Explosion
From Razib Khan's Unsupervised Learning by Razib Khan
May 1, 2026 · 30 min
About this episode
Razib Khan interviews physicist Gregory Cochran about his work in human evolution and the themes of his book, The 10,000 Year Explosion.
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.razibkhan.com On this episode of Unsupervised Learning , Razib talks to physicist Gregory Cochran . Cochran is best known for his work in human evolution, often at the intersection of biology, anthropology, and history. Trained in physics, he later turned to population genetics and became widely known through collaborations with researchers like Henry Harpending , producing influential but controversial work on recent human evolution, including the idea that natural selection has accelerated in the Holocene. Cochran has also been a prominent public intellectual, co-authoring the book The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilization Accelerated Human Evolution . He writes at the blog West Hunter . First, Razib and Cochran examine the controversy surrounding Ancient DNA reveals pervasive directional selection across West Eurasia , including Davide Piffer’s complaint that the authors did not cite his work. Then, they review chapter-by-chapter the arguments in The 10,000 Year Explosion , from Cochran and John Hawks’ prediction that Neanderthals likely admixed with modern humans, to the importance of agriculture in driving…
People in this episode
Host: Razib Khan
Guest: Gregory Cochran
Topics covered
- human evolution
- population genetics
- natural selection
- ancient DNA
- Neanderthals
- agriculture
- Ashkenazi intelligence
Keywords
- human evolution
- population genetics
- natural selection
- Neanderthals
- agriculture
- Ashkenazi intelligence
- ancient DNA
- controversy
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: West Hunter
Books & works: The 10,000 Year Explosion
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