Season IX | EP 1: Dr Bryant Paul, Rebel. Optimist. Beautiful Thinker.

Season IX | EP 1: Dr Bryant Paul, Rebel. Optimist. Beautiful Thinker.

From The Beautiful Thinkers Project by Carolyn Hadlock, Founder/President

October 28, 2025 · 29 min

About this episode

Dr. Bryant Paul discusses how our concerns about social media and pornography may indicate that our fundamental human needs are being met.

What if our ability to worry about social media and porn means we're doing better than we think? Dr Bryant Paul, whose research has been cited by the Supreme Court, studies the fundamental human craving that connects every ancestor on our family tree - and reveals how our caveman brains simply aren't built to process today's mediated world. Yet even as algorithms exploit ancient desires, the fact that we can debate these dangers suggests our most primal needs are being met.

People in this episode

Guest: Dr Bryant Paul

Topics covered

  • social media
  • pornography
  • human craving
  • algorithms
  • mediated world

Keywords

  • caveman brains
  • Supreme Court
  • ancient desires
  • primal needs

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