The Monkey Dance

We refer to morality a lot when judging behavior, but what exactly are we referring to? Emese Havadtői joins us to talk about the structure and emergence of moral frameworks. We chat about whether morality can be understood in terms of behavior, without a universalist understanding of morality, and how evolution plays a role in our drive to behave morally. The debate also brushes up against what it means to be "good" and whether it is understood by looking at individual behavior or if it exists as a truth in the universe. Guest: Emese Havadtői Cohost: Maria Federova You can also watch the conversation on youtube

How do we choose which norms to follow? And how do we change them for a more equitable society? Camilo Martinez joins to talk about how we learn, communicate, and enforce social norms. We also chat about the historical trajectory of norms, how norms have evolved as society has, and when we can overthrow prejudiced norms which seek to marginalize groups. Guest: Camilo Martinez Cohost: Pelin Kasar To catch more of Pelin, check out Episode 6, Episode 28, Episode 32. You can also watch the podcast on youtube.

Why do we engage with information online? Hannah Metzler joins the podcast to talk about the role of emotions and personal identity when investigating the spread of misinformation. We chat about a lot of the myths surrounding misinformation, the circumstances that make certain beliefs appealing to people, and why engaging with negative content is so much more tempting than positive content. Guest: Hannah Metzler Monkey Dance Podcast Website

From the Archive: Episode 2 Inequality seems to be a fundamental aspect of the society we've created. Is an unequal power dynamic endemic to any interaction between a set of individuals? In this episode from 2 years ago, Guilherme and I talk about how to define the concept of power, the function of unequal power dynamics, and how it manages to generate stable systems that perpetuate inequities that last for generations. On a small break from the podcast and have been thinking a bit more about power again, particularly in epistemic contexts, so thought it would be a good time to repost this. Planning to have new episodes out again starting in October. Full show notes at: https://www.monkeydancepod.com/episodes/episode-2

Nicolas Goupil joins me to chat about his work spanning everything from forming early childhood memories, to visual cognition, to hierarchies in groups. It's a fun, wide ranging conversation and we cover a good bit of ground, from developmental cognitive neuroscience to social cognition. In Copenhagen for a few months, so the next several episode will be on the road. Sorry if the audio quality is not as good as usual!

Resource management is a difficult problem. Deciding who gets access to certain resources, and how much of it they have access to, can often be existential struggle. This is complicated with issues of historical access of particular groups, over exploited ecosystems nearing collapse, and geopolitical shifts that lead to changes in demand. We sit down with Arev Papazian to chat about the difficulties of delegation and determining permissions. We cover some of the ground regarding the challenges of maintaining a healthy ecosystem, one that includes humans, when there are so many stakeholders involved (not all of them altruistic). Guest: Arev Papazian

Joining the podcast is Reto Schneider, veteran science journalist who has dealt with everything from the science of opinion formation to the origins of land ownership and seemingly everything in between. We talk about a variety of things that have become mild obsessions for him over the years including things like his decades long monthly column on obscure science experiments, data scientists trying to predict the future, and the arbitrariness of prison sentences. For more, check out: Reto's website Reto's Wikipedia page

This episode was recorded at 11:30 on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Yesterday (March 10), students blocked access to the state-run Serbian public television headquarters, accusing it of biased coverage. As of this recording, hundreds of students continue to block access to the building. There is a major protest scheduled for Saturday, March 15. Since November of 2024, students in universities across Serbia have been organizing mass protests across the country against the corrupt, autocratic government of Aleksandar Vučić. While the media coverage has focused on the protests themselves, the engine of the student-led movement is a unified, multilateral experiment in absolute democracy that has managed to maintain a flat hierarchy and a single set of demands. Serbian philosopher and anthropologist Aleksandra Knežević joins us to talk about her ongoing work with the movement as both a participant and a researcher. She has been allowed by the students to research the movement, and has been conducting interviews and joining the student meetings as an observer. Guest: Aleksandra Knežević Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade Check out Aleksandra's autoethnography of her experience with the movement: An Autoethnographic Account of the Anti-Corruption Student Protests in Serbia 2024/25 Aleksandra also recommends: 1. An academic article by Katarina Beširević on the protests: “Nisi nadležan”: How a Student Movement Dictates Political Change in Serbia (2024/2025) 2. From The Guardian by Adriana Zaharijević: Serbia’s students are showing the world how to restore democratic hope If the links don't work in your podcast player, you can find links to Aleksandra's paper and the other articles in the show notes: https://www.monkeydancepod.com/episodes/episode-27