Special Evergreen episode! Bret and Heather discuss the meltdown at The Evergreen State College three years after the fact.  Support the show

E17 - The Evolutionary Lens with Bret Weinstein & Heather Heying | Evergreen 3 Years Post Meltdown | DarkHorse Podcast

On The DarkHorse Podcast, we will explore questions that matter, with tools that work. Weekly episodes of "The Evolutionary Lens" are co-hosted with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying, in which we use an evolutionary toolkit to reveal patterns in nature--including human nature. Guest episodes feature Bret hosting long form discussions. Some guests are well known, others obscure, but all are chosen because they have demonstrated unusual insight. The state and future of civilization will be a recurring theme, so buckle up!

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

Natural Sciences

Science & Medicine

News

Science

Politics

In this 222nd in a series of live discussions with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying (both PhDs in Biology), we talk about the state of the world through an evolutionary lens.

In this episode, we discuss evolution, and how we know that it is true. We discuss the different kinds of beliefs that people have—beliefs that attempt to reconcile with reality, vs beliefs that reconcile with social standing and comfort. If your beliefs put you on the outs with your friends, do you change your beliefs, or your friends? Are you willing to give up the cocktail party for reality? We also discuss research published in 2000 and funded by Fauci’s NIAID, which demonstrated that it was possible to make chimeric coronaviruses, swapping the spike protein from one to a different species entirely. Finally: sex-biased gene expression, in which genes are expressed differently in the two sexes, in anatomical systems as varied as brain, kidneys, and liver.
*****

Our sponsors:

Listening.com: Listen to academic papers, books, pdfs and more—on the go! Go to listening.com/DARKHORSE for a whole month free.

Maui Nui Venison: healthiest wild red meat on the planet, from steaks to bone broth to jerky. Go to mauinuivenison.com/darkhorse to get 20% off your first order.

Sundays: Dog food so tasty and healthy, even husbands swear by it. Go to www.sundaysfordogs.com/DARKHORSE to receive 35% off your first order.

*****

Join us on Locals! Get access to our Discord server, exclusive live streams, live chats for all streams, and early access to many podcasts: https://darkhorse.locals.com/

Heather’s newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.com

Our book, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://a.co/d/dunx3at

Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.org

*****

Mentioned in this episode:

Kennedy 2023. The Wuhan Cover-Up and the Terrifying Bio-Weapons Arms Race: https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510773981/the-wuhan-cover-up/

Kuo et al 2000. Retargeting of coronavirus by substitution of the spike glycoprotein ectodomain: crossing the host cell species barrier. Journal of virology, 74(3):1393-1406: https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/jvi.74.3.1393-1406.2000

Rodríguez-Montes et al 2023. Sex-biased gene expression across mammalian organ development and evolution. Science 382(6670), p.eadf1046: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf1046

 Support the Show.

Why Darwin was Right: The 222nd Evolutionary Lens with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying

Forrest Maready is the author of “The Moth in the Iron Lung”, among other books. It tells a very different story of the Polio epidemic than the one you are likely familiar with, a story with radically different implications for health and medicine. Bret talks with Forest about his book and his interpretation of the evidence with an evolutionary bent to the conversation.

Buy the Moth in the Iron Lung: https://a.co/d/dvYehmh
Follow Forest on X: https://x.com/forrestmaready

*****

Join DarkHorse on Locals! Get access to our Discord server, exclusive live streams, live chats for all streams, and early access to many podcasts: https://darkhorse.locals.com/

Please subscribe to this channel for more long form content like this, and subscribe to the clips channel @DarkHorse Podcast Clips for short clips of all our podcasts. 

Check out the DHP store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://www.darkhorsestore.org/

Theme Music: Thank you to Martin Molin of Wintergatan for providing us the rights to use their excellent music.

 Support the show

The Untold Story of Polio – Forrest Maready on DarkHorse

One month free DarkHorse Locals: https://darkhorse.locals.com/support/promo/DARKHORSE1MONTH

In this 221st in a series of live discussions with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying (both PhDs in Biology), we talk about the state of the world through an evolutionary lens.

In this episode, we discuss men competing against women in women’s sport, and the new research that shows there’s no problem at all. We are in a world of science cosplay, full of science skin suits. Then: cancel culture and its mirror image: promotion culture. The promotion of zombies to positions of power is a weapon of the culture. Also, if wisdom is about delayed gratification, and the counter-intuitive, and being comfortable with uncertainty, then we are in a society of deeply unwise people, a society led by people with the minds of children—just like in The Twilight Zone. Finally: how cats and humans communicate with one another by narrowing our eyes at each other.

*****

Our sponsors:

MUD\WTR: is a great coffee alternative with mushrooms, herbs (and cacao!) with 1/7 the caffeine as coffee. Visit www.mudwtr.com/darkhorse and use DARKHORSE at check out for $20 off, and a free frother!

Momentous: high-quality, science-backed, rigorously tested supplements. Go to livemomentous.com and use code DARKHORSE for 15% off.

Moink: Delicious grass-fed and grass-finished beef and lamb, pastured pork and chicken, and wild caught Alaskan salmon. Visit www.moinkbox.com/darkhorse to get a year’s worth of bacon free when you sign up.

*****

Join us on Locals! Get access to our Discord server, exclusive live streams, live chats for all streams, and early access to many podcasts: https://darkhorse.locals.com/

Heather’s newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.com

Our book, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://a.co/d/dunx3at

Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.org

*****

Mentioned in this episode:

Hamilton et al 2024. Strength, power and aerobic capacity of transgender athletes: a cross-sectional study. British Journal of Sports Medicine: https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/bjsports/early/2024/04/10/bjsports-2023-108029.full.pdf

Hilton and Lundberg 2021. Transgender women in the female category of sport: perspectives on testosterone suppression and performance advantage. Sports Medicine, 51: 199-214: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s40279-020-01389-3.pdf

Feynman’s Cargo Cult Science: https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.htm

Biden v Clifton Duncan: https://x.com/cliftonaduncan/status/1780532643051741657

Freddy Sayers at UnHerd: The Disinformation Industry: https://unherd.com/2024/04/inside-the-disinformation-industry/

Katherine Maher, new CEO of NPR, on the First Amendment: https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1780597079439446250

Humphrey et al 2020. The role of cat eye narrowing movements in cat–human communication. Scientific Reports, 10(1): 16503: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73426-0 Support the show

Babies Not on the Level: The 221st Evolutionary Lens with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying

Get 1 month free at the DarkHorse Locals channel: https://darkhorse.locals.com/support/promo/DARKHORSE1MONTH

In this 220th in a series of live discussions with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying (both PhDs in Biology), we talk about the state of the world through an evolutionary lens.

In this episode, we discuss the modern Dark Age. Topics include informational advantage, entropy, and reason. We discuss whether all static rules are gameable, and whether adjusting your model to increase predictive power can help you evade the sophists. We also ask what people in North Korea actually think about their lives relative to the rest of the world, and how their situation is analogous to that of people who have been kidnapped, or to that of a populace that is convinced by authorities to do things that are against their interests. At what scales does Stockholm Syndrome apply? We also discuss confidence and humility, intellectual obstructionism, and the value of track records.

*****

Our sponsors:

American Hartford Gold: Get up to $5,000 of free silver on your first qualifying order. Call 866-828-1117 or text “DARKHORSE” to 998899.

Seed: Start a new healthy habit today with Seed probiotics. Use code darkhorse at https://seed.com/darkhorse to get 25% off your first month of Seed's DS-01® Daily Synbiotic.

Maui Nui Venison: healthiest wild red meat on the planet, from steaks to bone broth to jerky. Go to mauinuivenison.com/darkhorse to get 20% off your first order.

*****

Join us on Locals! Get access to our Discord server, exclusive live streams, live chats for all streams, and early access to many podcasts: https://darkhorse.locals.com/

Heather’s newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.com

Our book, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://a.co/d/dunx3at

Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.org

Mentioned in this episode:

Excerpt from Chandler Burr’s book about Luca Turin, The Emperor of Scent: https://chandlerburr.com/books

Mattias Desmet’s The Psychology of Totalitarianism: https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/the-psychology-of-totalitarianism/

Evolutionary Lens Livestream 121 from April 2, 2022, Welcome to the Noble Psy-Op: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrfL6fRW150

 Support the show

Intellectual Stockholm Syndrome: The 220th Evolutionary Lens with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying

In this 219th in a series of live discussions with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying (both PhDs in Biology), we talk about the state of the world through an evolutionary lens.

In this episode, we discuss evolution and intelligent design, and why the failures of institutions and institutional science during Covid are causing people to question everything that science has concluded. We also discuss motonormativity—aka car brain—both steel manning it as a concept, and critiquing the research that named the phenomenon. Finally: sex chromosomes in cephalopods (octopus and their kin)—older than you think.

*****

Our sponsors:

MUD\WTR: is a coffee alternative with mushrooms and herbs (and cacao!) and is delicious, with 1/7 the caffeine as coffee. Visit www.mudwtr.com/darkhorsepod and use DARKHORSEPOD at check out for 15% off. 

ARMRA: Colostrum is our first food, and can help restore your health and resilience as an adult. Go to www.tryarmra.com/DARKHORSE to get 15% off your first order.

MDHearing: To get our $397 when you buy a PAIR offer plus free charging case, head to shopmdhearing.com/DARKHORSE and use code DARKHORSE.

*****

Join us on Locals! Get access to our Discord server, exclusive live streams, live chats for all streams, and early access to many podcasts: https://darkhorse.locals.com/

Heather’s newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.com

Our book, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://a.co/d/dunx3at

Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.org

*****

Mentioned in this episode:

“Giving Up Darwin” - Gelernter’s review of Meyers’ book: https://claremontreviewofbooks.com/giving-up-darwin/

Motonormativity: critical car theory (at Principled Bicycling): https://substack.com/home/post/p-142960056

Walker et al 2023. Motonormativity: how social norms hide a major public health hazard: https://www.inderscienceonline.com/doi/abs/10.1504/IJENVH.2023.135446?af=R

Oldest known animal sex chromosome evolved in octopuses 380 million years ago: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00637-0

Coffing et al 2024. Cephalopod Sex Determination and its Ancient Evolutionary Origin Revealed by Chromosome-level Assembly of the California Two-Spot Octopus: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.02.21.581452v2.full.pdf

 Support the show

E17 - The Evolutionary Lens with Bret Weinstein & Heather Heying | Evergreen 3 Years Post Meltdown | DarkHorse Podcast

Download our free app to listen on your phone