How Culture Evolves (and Why Civilizations Collapse) – Dr. Liane Gabora, DemystifySci +426

How Culture Evolves (and Why Civilizations Collapse) – Dr. Liane Gabora, DemystifySci +426

June 18, 2026 · 1h 53m · Season 1 · Episode 426

About this episode

Dr. Liane Gabora discusses the tension between creativity and conformity and explores why civilizations collapse.

This week, we head to the woods. UBC professor of psychology Liane Gabora walks us through the deep tension between creativity and conformity that runs through every institution humans have ever built. Her work on cultural evolution reveals something Darwin never touched: ideas don't survive by competition, they survive by transformation, by honing, by the slow and sacred work of making something raw into something real. We ask why civilizations keep building towers they can't sustain, why originality is worshipped in the past tense and punished in the present, and whether the internet might finally give us the collective memory to stop repeating the oldest mistakes. This is a conversation about what creativity costs, who pays for it, and why the system would rather you just kept quiet. PATREON https://www.patreon.com/c/demystifysci PARADOX LOST PRE-SALE: https://buy.stripe.com/7sY7sKdoN5d29eUdYddEs0b HOMEBREW MUSIC - Check out our new album! Hard Copies (Vinyl): FREE SHIPPING https://demystifysci-shop.fourthwall.com/products/vinyl-lp-secretary-of-nature-everything-is-so-good-here Streaming: https://secretaryofnature.bandcamp.com/album/everything-is-so-good-here PARADIGM DRIFT…

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Host: DemystifySci

Guest: Dr. Liane Gabora

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Organizations: UBC

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