In this episode, Stephen Blackwood sits down with evolutionary biologists Drs Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying for a wide-ranging conversation on education, science, and the human condition. The couple reflect on their formative experiences in the arts and sciences, and on the figures who modeled for them a life of inquiry. They discuss what makes a great teacher: not conformity, but a willingness to encourage risk, to embrace sidestreams of thought, ultimately aiming to kindle a spark of inspiration rather than prescribe a procedure to carry out.
From there, the conversation turns to falsification, formalization, and the abuses of the scientific method. The trio explore the limitations of empiricism, particularly in complex adaptive systems like biology and human society, and the dangers of prematurely applying scientific tools to the humanities. Yet they also emphasize the necessity of integrating these disciplines with rigor, humility, and imagination. Science, they argue, must be both exacting and open to correction if it is to serve truth rather than ideology.
Finally, they address the challenges of our age: the evolutionary novelty of social media, the fragility of our dopaminergic circuitry, and the cultural unpreparedness for the hyper-novelty of the modern world. Shame, humility, and courage each have a place in reclaiming our humanity. The conversation closes with reflections on advice for young people, urging a posture of humility before complex problems and a determination to cultivate ways of life that align with our deepest needs as human beings.
