In this episode of Evolved Thinking, James and Matt cover the latest iteration of the Israeli-
Palestinian conflict spurred by the brutal attack from Hamas on October 7th . They start by covering how
Hamas executed the attack along with the horrendous atrocities they committed, and the important
implications for Israeli’s long-term strategy.
Then, James covers the ancient roots of the conflict and asserts that both Israeli’s and
Palestinians have a legitimate claim to the area and describes how ancient Jews established a state in
modern day Israel and Palestine in very ancient times, and how the area became dominated by large
empires, two of which exiled the Jews from their homeland. James also talks about how Jews always had
a presence in the area, and how Jews in the Diaspora returned to their ancestral homeland throughout
history. James also discredits Palestinian claims that Jews are not an aboriginal people to the area
because Jews are European rather than Semitic.
Next, James covers the modern roots of the dispute from the end of World War I to the
establishment of modern Israel and through the many Arab-Israeli wars that established the borders of
Israel and the Palestinian territories. James asserts that the Palestinians have been offered a two state
solution time and time again and have refused it because they will not accept the right of Israel to exist.
James goes on to assert that Israel has the moral high ground due to Israel’s demonstrated
restraint, sincere offers of a Palestinian state, and because of deep antisemitism and irrationality of the
Palestinians.
Finally, James attacks the strange and disgusting affinity the American woke has with the
Palestinian cause when the Palestinians largely are antithetical to their views. We hope you enjoy this
episode of Evolved Thinking.

James and Matt return today to discuss their take on the case for Ron DeSantis over Donald Trump for the upcoming primary elections. They highlight why they believe DeSantis is the better choice with examples such as their responses to the Covid Pandemic. They start by summarizing Trumps presidency, mentioning the policies they agreed with, then talk about the bad. They then mention Ron DeSantis and his stellar performance and background in public service, and make the argument that DeSantis has a stronger positional advantage, a stronger capacity to get more done, and other factors not so intuitive to casual voters, such as Trump only having one term versus DeSantis potential for 2.

Thank you for listening to our podcast. 

#politics
#Trump
#DeSantis
#republican
#government
#president
#primaryelection
#governer

Is humanity so violent, at least in part, because humans are a domesticated species?

In this episode of Here’s one for Ya, Matt and James discuss the ideas put forward by Richard Wrangham in his book The Goodness Paradox.  


Image Credit: "©Isabel Castaño. www.behance.net/saibel"

James shares his mental model on dealing with adversity.
Each person, at some point in life, will deal with significant adversities. 
How we handle these challenges as they occur is extremely important, as most of the time, they can be make or break situations. 
We hope this episode shares an understanding that prioritizing resilience in the face of adversity is an extremely important concept, and that your quality of life will improve if you harness the ability to become stronger in the wake of those challenges.

Matt leads a thought provoking discussion about the 11 events he believes could end the world as we know it for humanity. After listening, you might change your mind on rather we should be trying to contact advanced alien life. 

In this episode of Here’s One for Ya, James and Matt attempt to answer the question- why are humans prone to waging war. Taking inspiration from Professor Steven A. Leblanc’s book Constant Battles- Why We Fight, they look deep into human evolution, history, and other species closely related to humans for answers. This leads them to highlight chimpanzee warfare as well as neanderthal warfare to shed light on a complex subject. They assert that humans have never lived peacefully, and humans have always tended to overuse resources, and that fact likely selected for warfare as an evolutionary trait. Further, the trait to war with others in our species seems to predate humans and was handed to us from our predecessor species. Finally, James asserts that while the problem is far from solved, we already have the solution through capitalism, market economies, and representative government.

Has Russia’s invasion of Ukraine exposed Russia as a paper tiger? In this episode of Here’s One for Ya,
Matt and James jump into geopolitics with both feet to tackle the complex and dangerous war in the Ukraine. 
They start with the role that the legacy of the Soviet Union plays in the false perception of Russian military strength. 
They propose that the United States has coddled Europe for too long and
that has made the world a more dangerous place. 
James goes on to insult both a living and a deceased US Senator while proposing a major realignment in US geopolitical strategy. 
And finally, they make the point that while the U.S. and allies must not tolerate Russia’s conquest of the Ukraine, that it is critical to bring this war to a negotiated peace as quickly as possible before all hell breaks loose.

Matt's background as an evolutionary biologist comes to light in this episode as he and James cover topics such as natural selection, hunting ethics, chimp warfare, and why genetic modification has led to your modern wolf being reduced to a chihuahua. They also discuss sexual selection, and how it conflicts with natural selection. 

We believe this episode is the best one to come from our platform thus far, and we're looking forward to bringing more great content like this to you in the near future. 

Cheers,

HOFY Team.

Various innovations such as sewage, vehicles, communication and technological advancements have made our existence tremendously easier to navigate than any time prior in human history.  

Should we complain about our current woes or take a moment to reflect on advancements in the human condition? In this episode, James and Matt cover the differences in the lifestyles and hardships endured by families of the not so distant past in comparison to the present.

Matt references his grandmothers life in this episode, and just how different and much more difficult it was for their life in the 20th century compared to todays challenges. 

In this episode of Here’s One for Ya, James and Matt discuss the human tendency to commit logical fallacies. They define logic and logical fallacy, then go on to explain that logical fallacies are often used as manipulation techniques. James asserts that you can gain an important advantage when you learn to spot when you yourself commit a logical fallacy because it demonstrates that you are missing something in your understanding of the subject, or that your conclusion may simply be wrong, thereby affording you a golden opportunity to improve your knowledge.

 James and Matt go on to delve into many of the most common, most interesting, and sometimes the funniest logical fallacies. They reference Nassim Taleb’s contribution to logical fallacy literature including his Ludic Fallacy, as well as non sequitur, Red herring fallacy, adhominem, sunk cost, and many others. 

We hope you enjoy this episode of Here’s One For Ya, and that perhaps this episode helps you to identify when people (maybe even including yourself) do not have a coherent mental model of what they are talking about.