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Ep 14  |  John Gowdy

John Gowdy: “Superorganisms, Crazy Ants, and Fire Apes, Oh My!””

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John Gowdy The Great Simplification

On this episode, we meet with Ecological Economist, John Gowdy.

Gowdy explores the revolution in biology and its significance in society. How do different cultures manifest human nature? What role has agriculture, and specific crops, played in how societies developed?

Further, Gowdy discusses the relationship between capitalism, surplus, and The Superorganism. Does human agency matter to the Superorganism? What role do blind evolutionary mechanisms play in the development of our society?

About John Gowdy

John M. 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.

In French, we have a motto that says that a simple drawing is often better than a long explanation. Jean-Marc Jancovici Carbone 4 President

That’s very understandable because with left atmosphere thinking, one of the problems is that you see everything as a series of problems that must have solutions. Iain McGilchrist Neuroscientist and Philosopher

We can’t have hundreds and hundreds of real relationships that are healthy because that requires time and effort and full attention and awareness of being in real relationship and conversation with the other human. Nate Hagens Director of ISEOF

This is the crux of the whole problem. Individual parts of nature are more valuable than the biocomplexity of nature. Thomas Crowther Founder Restor

Show Notes & Links to Learn More

00:46 – John Gowdy Info, Works, Ultrasocial: The Evolution of Human Nature and the Quest for a Sustainable Future

03:11 – Evolutionary biology

03:52 – Sociobiology

03:59 – E.O. Wilson

04:32 – Epigenetics

04:53 – Environmental conditions and bird egg development

05:32 – Pregnant women’s nutrition in East and West Germany and child development

06:57 – Evolution of Evolvability

07:29 – Blank slate psychology

07:39 – Prepared learning

08:06 – Wheat vs rice growing economies in China

08:56 – Humans are incredibly social animals

09:10 – Human behaviors

09:45 – Waulrasian model

11:43 – Discount rate

13:15 – Multi-level and Group selection

14:39 – David Sloan Wilson

15:11 – Gowdy’s work on ants and social insects (with Lisi Krall)

16:25 – Ant colony in California at war with another colony 

15:45 – Chimpanzee’s using ant to heals wounds on one another

17:33 – Biomass of humans the same as that of ants

17:49 – Ultrasociality

17:52 – Lisi Krall

18:14 – Paul Shepard

18:48 – Donald Campbell

20:49 – NorthWest Coast Native Americans hierarchies without agriculture

21:33 – Potlatch

22:07 – Into the Wild

22:25 – Eusocial

22:41 – Human neuron formation

24:02 – John Gowdy on the Superorganism password: John Gowdy

25:01 – The importance of surplus

26:20 – Human Population growth

26:32 – James Scott Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States

26:56 – Holocene and stable climate

28:24 – Noosphere

28:47 – Francis Hyland

32:01 – Nate’s Superorganism paper

34:01 – Human brains 10% smaller post agriculture

34:41 – Growth is required to remain stable

37:09 – Downward Causation

38:10 – Energy intensiveness of bitcoin

38:37 – Money has no biophysical energy ties

39:14 – The Great Acceleration

42:12 – Reindeer on St. Matthew’s Island

44:28 – Totipotency

45:22 – 500 billion fossil workers

46:46 – Clark Spencer Larsen and the decline in human health post-agriculture

47:38 – Sex at Dawn Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha 

49:21 – Nate on oil depletion

50:00 – Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen Entropy Law and the Economic Process

50:55 – Peak oil in the 1970s and tight oil shale

52:22 – Early state economies were organized by the state

53:22 – Tesla started with a government loan and makes money selling carbon credits

53:58 – We underpay for the main input to our economy

54:23 – Friedrich Hayek

56:46 – Ronald Wright A Short History of Progress

57:49 – Tikopia Jared Diamond

57:54 – Tokugawa, Japan

59:58 – E.O. Wilson Half Earths

1:03:11 – John Gowdy Limited Wants, Unlimited Needs: A Reader On Hunter-Gatherer Economics And The Environment

1:04:08 – Naturalistic Fallacy

1:04:32 – Consumption was equal in Hunters and Gatherers

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