Natural Reward Podcast

Today, my brother Jon Gilbert addresses problems of income inequality and rising costs of living in the USA. In the first half of this episode, Jon presents figures showing the problem as it has manifested since the 1950s. Jon then argues that we may address the problem with a market-based solution: the use of "labor coins" to remove taxes on costs of living and transfer taxes to more frivolous expenditures. This is an interesting idea that I have never heard before, but which seems to mesh with various trends including the use of cryptocurrency and former experiments with dual-currency economic systems. We discuss the potential benefits of this solution in streamlining government bureaucracy and promoting equitable outcomes for full-time workers. Jon also discusses the possible caveats of the approach and the necessity of experiments that would assess whether the system works and how to fine tune it.  

Andrés Vega is a native Costa Rican who has devoted his life to conservation, education, and research in Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. In this episode, I speak with Andrés about how he got interested in conservation and his new approach to preserving wildlife. Andrés recounts his first morning in Corcovado, in which he got to see, and get chased by, some of the most charismatic large animals that live there.  We talk about the geological and biological features that make Corcovado park a hotspot of biodiversity and endemism, the history of the park, and the conservation issues facing it. Along the way, Andrés relates fascinating tales of real or apparent "logs!" We then discuss Andrés's new grassroots campaign that encourages villagers to protect wildlife instead of poach.  Andrés provides an example of how local-level activism can promote conservation more effectively than national government. With your help, Andrés hopes to build shelters for local patrols, buy satellite collars to track and protect white-lipped peccaries, and educate local communities on how to effectively monitor and prevent poaching (GoFundMe).  Ultimately, Andrés hopes to rescue the animals and preserve the habitat that left him in awe, or chased him, on that first morning (additional links)! 

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Nikunj Goel about about spatial sorting, which refers to the build up of dispersal morphs on expanding edges of populations. Dr. Goel is a postdoctoral researcher at UT Austin working with Tim Keitt. We begin with a discussion of Dr. Goel’s background in physics and math, how he got interested in biology, and his work in ecology. We then get into Dr. Goel’s views on biological theory, and his approach to using the Price equation to model spatial sorting. I ask Dr. Goel to share his perspective on the conceptual background of spatial sorting, including whether he views it as a type of natural selection, and his approach to modelling it. I then tell Dr. Goel that I think spatial sorting is significant because it is often involved with population expansion and invasion of new habitats. I also tell Dr. Goel about my own views on "general theory" in biology and the use of the Price equation in the field of social evolution. We also cover relevant history of evolutionary theory. See naturalreward.com for a list of references.

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Komi German about a reviewer’s reaction to her book proposal. All academics deal with rejection. How a researcher deals with rejection determines whether she gets her work published, and how it will appear. We brainstorm strategies to deal with the reviewer’s response and the question of what approach to take in a revision. We discuss whether Komi should try to appeal to her opponents, or whether she should try to appeal to third parties. We also cover some of the issues surrounding Freedom of Expression, including those raised by foundational documents of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the Chicago Statement of Principles, the Chicago Report, and Yale’s Woodward report. 

In this episode, I speak with Dr. Komi German about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies in academia and related issues. Komi is a Research Fellow at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Freedom (FIRE). Komi recently completed her Ph. D. in psychology at UC Riverside with a dissertation entitled, "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Policies in Academia: The Faculty's Response." Komi's dissertation reviews the history of DEI in academia and reports the results of her surveys of UC Riverside professors about their views on DEI initiatives. In this podcast, we will cover issues like exclusion, censorship, authoritarianism, freedom of speech, implicit bias, cynicism, dogmatism, diversity statements, privilege, nobility, and the relevance of Friedrich Nietzsche and Charles Darwin to the Ivory Tower.