John Gowdy is Professor of Economics and Professor of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. He is the recipient of the Herman Daly Award for contributions to ecological economics, and author of Ultrasocial: The Evolution of Human Nature and the Quest for a Sustainable Future.

John joins me to explain how humans, like ants and termites, are “ultrasocial” and what this form of hyper-complex social organisation does to our relationships, our neurochemistry, and our individuality.

He says increasingly complex social organisation leads to a decrease in individual complexity. John argues that rather than environmental destruction and extreme inequality being due to human nature, they are the result of the adoption of agriculture by our ancestors.

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© Rachel Donald