Bret Weinstein & Heather Heying: The Rate of Change is Outpacing Our Abilities to Adapt

Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying, the hosts of the renowned DarkHorse Podcast came to Prague for the book launch of the Czech edition of their book "The Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century". Seizing this unique opportunity, our institute's director, Adam Růžička, invited them to our podcast, Společná řeč.
Get the Czech edition of the book here ► bit.ly/kup-lovce
Listen to other episodes of our podcast:
• John Vervaeke: If We D...
• Nadine Strossen: We sh...
• Jacob Mchangama: We Ar...
For evolutionary biologists Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein, the cause of our woes is clear: the modern world is out of sync with our ancient brains and bodies. We evolved to live in clans, but today most people don't even know their neighbors' names. Survival in our earliest societies depended on leveraging the advantages of our sex differences, but today even the concept of biological sex is increasingly dismissed as offensive. The cognitive dissonance spawned by trying to live in a society we're not built for is killing us.
In this book, in Czechia under the title "Průvodce lovce-sběrače po 21. století", Heying and Weinstein cut through the politically fraught discourse surrounding issues like sex, gender, diet, parenting, sleep, education, and more to outline a science-based worldview that will empower you to live a better, wiser life. They distill more than 20 years of research and first-hand accounts from the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth into straightforward principles and guidance for confronting our culture of hyper-novelty.
NAŠE WEBY:
► ih21.org
► bezsvobodyslova.cz
ODEBÍREJTE NAŠE KANÁLY:
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PODCAST SPOLEČNÁ ŘEČ:
► Spotify: bit.ly/spotify_spolecnarec
► KZbin: bit.ly/youtube_spolecnarec

[@robertryan1663]

Read the book when it was first released in the USA. Few books have inspired my worldview as much as this one. After hearing this, I'm going to start Re-reading it this weekend.

[@MattAngiono]

Me too. Very intriguing work indeed! I'd still be following everything of theirs if it weren't for them shaming their audience for calling for a ceasefire or being in support of the people of Palestine. That position blew my mind and goes against everything I stand for in this world. I guess it's why you should never craft someone into your hero, as they will surely disappoint eventually

[@Nah_Bohdi]

I thought they were describing a new book!

[@KAZVorpal]

The sun IS NOT BAD FOR YOU. You should go out in the sun regularly. Without sunscreen. It is only severe sunburn that is strongly linked to skin cancer, not sunlight per se. And the best way to avoid accidentally ending up with severe sunburn is to gradually get used to regular exposure to strong sunlight. Once you are used to it, tanned, you will almost never get severe sunburn.

[@MattAngiono]

I agree. I almost never use sunscreen. Hardly ever get burned either

[@ms-jl6dl]

First time in ten years I see someone sane when it comes to sunlight. There's a reason why nicely tanned people look more attractive to us. Everything you said is decades old knowledge and truth. I'll just add that just being in sunlight (not necessarily sunSHINE) triggers one's immune system into boost cycle and that SOLARIUMS were integral part of all western hospitals for couple of hundreds of years up until the rise of antibiotics. For respiratory illnesses sunlight is almost as effective as antibiotics and for viral respiratory illnesses it's more effective than any AB's. Current research shows that for treatments of dementia,Alcheimers and Parkinsons sunlight IS THE MOST EFFECTIVE TREATMENT! 1,5 hours of outdoors daily stops the progression of those diseases. In British NHS they use NIR "hat" in treatments of those diseases since early 2022,those "hats" mimic the NIR spectrum of sunlight and are having very good results.

[@KAZVorpal]

​@@ms-jl6dl Don't forget vitamin D, which is almost more a hormone than "vitamin", and whose deficiency is a prime driver to the worsening of an illness in many people. One of the biggest correlations with people who had strong illness from the virus-that-shall-not be-named is low serum D. And then there's the regulatory impact of Near IR on the human system, including stress response, biorhythms, et cetera. Both, of course, are provided better by regular exposure to sunlight than any other source. The push to keep people out of the sun probably makes people sick, which benefits the "health" agencies and their corporate cronies.

[@carolynbrightfield8911]

The host is a really good interviewer. Thank you.

[@johnbrown4568]

Thank you for interviewing Bret and Heather.

[@InstituteH21]

We are glad you enjoyed it

[@MsKariSmith]

This was a facinating talk.

[@timothyblazer1749]

Were not moving too fast. Were moving too fast for the 5000 year old system we live within. In that system, wisdom has been tossed out, replaced with power. Family has been tossed out, replaced with social programs. Merit has been tossed out, replaced with politics. The extent to which all of this has happened over time is the extent to which we have destroyed our ability to adapt. Systems have become totally inflexible and rigid, and small groups are not allowed to innovate in any meaningful way, other than to produce wealth, and even then not so much that it disrupts the powers of governments. We could handle 10 times this progress if we went to wisdom, family, and merit, and rid ourselves of the parasites that have infested the body politic. We need to rid ourselves of governments and take responsibility for our lives.

[@Ghanzo]

I think thats what is being intuited. In order to harness higher orders of complexity and power output, some sort of alignment is required in the global populace within our values and sense of direction, and ability to govern, to such a deep degree that it would retake the place that religion has traditionally taken, in a modern global context

[@justasimpleguy7211]

It's not the pace of technological change that's the problem. It's the pace of social and cultural change over the last several generations.

[@timothyblazer1749]

@@justasimpleguy7211 there has been near zero social change, except in how the knobs have been twiddled, IMO. It has been remarked by many that the hard left has become the kind of Christians they sought to destroy. In their case they use the same kinds of structures, but with different names and histories. 1. Doctrinal Absolutism ( Fundamentalism/Zealotry) 2. Socially unjust behaviors (Heresies/Degeneracy) 3. Cancellation (Shunning) 4. BAMN (the sword of God is always just) They are just rabid religious zealots of another protestant faith.

[@MattAngiono]

I think the problem has to do with WHAT is changing. When you change your social structures to the extent that within a lifetime, so much of what was once a given becomes not only questioned but useless or even taboo, ordinary people can't keep up and a certain chaos arises. I agree that if we had the proper wisdom, we could weather all kinds of immense changes. That doesn't mean it would be ideal though. Sometimes, change is great and leads to better lives, but often change is disorienting and makes our lives chaotic and less meaningful as we try to adapt. I don't think it's possible to rid ourselves of government and not bring about many challenges we are not prepared for. Maybe after we've developed our wisdom to a completely new level, but in our current state, I don't think this would lead to a peaceful existence. We essentially have to evolve beyond greed and competition (in an ultimate sense) or we will just regress to more violence

[@needparalegal]

You should read what you wrote. What you are actually saying is that the NEW SYSTEM is the problem and if we still used the OLD "traditional" system we would be fine.

[@afifahhamilton8843]

What a productive conversation! Thank you all. The interviewer (can't see his name) is marvellous! His English is superb. I wonder if he had heard the word 'boondoggles' before though! That's a tough one.

[@InstituteH21]

Thanks for such kind words! P.S.: The interviewer is a director of our Instutite founded in Czechia. Try other episodes of our irregular podcast - some are in english as well, f.e. this amazing talk with John Vervaeke. kzbin.info/www/bejne/npfdlZhpg854Y9Usi=1ZRzn5Apb1BbjUL-

[@ienekevanhouten4559]

I just love these two!

[@B-Nice]

Great conversation! Thank you for sharing this 🙏

[@nicolebelanger4745]

Ordering this book now. Love these two for their clarity

[@jbwentworthe6082]

We could borrow a title for this conversation from that long gone radio era - " Stay tuned folks - for the rest of the story". The facts that follow the salacious headline of the minute.❤

[@JudiWaggoner]

Wow you are so right I'm so glad someone see it too. I'm so thankful that you and your wife are brave enough to speak out thank you very appreciated. Judi

[@riffking2651]

Really interesting hearing the part of the discussion about depression and the world not responding. Very resonant. I'm a gen Y person who I'd say has had most of my intellectual development occur in front of a screen, and I am totally at a loss when I try to share my development with others in the real world. People are so far behind, and there are so few connection points of the ideas and values that I have immersed myself in. It really seems like creating a space within local environments to help people develop an understanding of the world and the skills to make sense of it in the context of a community is such a crucial part of navigating well towards the future, but this is a sales pitch that only ever lands on def ears because it is too abstract for most people. I'm at the point where I feel angry towards the people around me because they are being idiots without even knowing, and I have no reasonable way of communicating that with them. The anger is totally useless to me though, because that kind of negativity is perceived with confusion and distrust because they don't have a shared context to understand the frustration.

[@DDeCicco]

Your words resonant with many of us, so you aren't alone. As you said, frustration isn't the answer; one potential solution is to become your best self, fully and truly. Others may not understand or appreciate it at first, and it isn't our responsibility to make them do so. Good luck on your journey, we're all right there beside you.

[@riffking2651]

@@DDeCicco that sounds like a better idea than destroying myself in an attempt to cope...

[@DDeCicco]

@riffking2651 The temptation to treat our current circumstances with despair is completely understandable, and I struggle with it myself. If you have the interest, I strongly recommend picking up zen meditation.

[@jbwentworthe6082]

Free Speech. what a novelty.😊 Thank you

[@ton146]

I dont know if this comment will get to heather but I do want to thank her for the detailed and highlighted EULA form she discussed I think on darkhorse. I got the right answer by just following the money. i dont follow the darkhorse podcast regularly but I did catch that one and was glad I did. Tony. Johannesburg

[@douglaskbrown1154]

Learned so much. Thank all of you.

[@1965simonfellows]

Between Us how cultures create emotions, Batja Mesquita. You may love this book. Also listen to Prof. Lisa Feldman Barrett about depression and metabolism.

[@KGS922]

Legend says Heather's mic is still reverberating 33:29

[@orsoncart802]

Great interview! Thank you. 👍👍👍

[@glennmitchell9107]

Does it matter that not all humans are able to adapt? Is there an optimum percentage of successfully adaptive humans that are necessary for societies to survive and/or flourish? Does it matter that 20% or 70% of humans fail to adapt to a particular rate of change?

[@rachelpickens6025]

Ya wtf gives 😮 just live and let live ❤

[@missh1774]

What will my digital AI or algorithm do if I post in here? Im so digging this next level from Bret and Heather 💛.

[@ArtworkAnon]

I love you guys. ❤

[@johnmitchell2741]

Incredible🥵🥳 talk . I will be watching this several times hopefully before the world ends

[@nicoledickens2366]

This was really fun to listen to! I like how off the normal interview into those really important weeds we got into. 🌻

[@stefc7122]

Thank you for this interview. On Twitter your focus on anything but our predicament tends to be a distraction and causes division. I don’t think division will be helpful when global industrialized civilization implodes on all of us. #TalkCollapse to help ease the decent if that is even possible.

[@kevinking8222]

Hey Bret, I have a question (if you read this, maybe someone else has an answer and forgive me if uou emded up answering ... Listening while doing other things and wanted to ask before I forgot about it): With respect to the whole metaphorically true thing you made an assertion that a belief structure that is literally false but helpful and therefore metaphorically true should be reinforced, more of a normative statement than descriptive, which is how I've always taken your idea. (I've always heard of this second hand ... It makes sense descriptively.) I felt a tension however with the previous segment in the interview regarding civilizational sensesence, an excellent idea. Should ideas that might be helpful even of they're false be reinforced if that speeds civilizational senescence. The thing about false beliefs is thay eventually reality catches up with them, right? I think ideas should both be helpful and grounded in reality. Any lie even if helpful in the short term should be met with heightened scrutiny; and lie is used advisedly because knowingly reinforcing false beliefs meets mu definition of "lie".

[@ryanviningtube]

Optimus could also be a big part of 4th frontier

[@farinshore8900]

Academics have noted since the 19th century that the rate of (industrial) progress is a threat to our well-being. What do you think of the idea of degrowth ?

[@MattAngiono]

You should look up Caleb Maupin... Degrowth is mostly a byproduct of an overly productive capitalist system, where the issue isn't how much is produced, but how why and for who. Under our current context, degrowth will not lead to a more sustainable system, but rather much more inequality, which in turn makes the system way less stable and less sustainable, ironically. I'm a huge environmental minded person, but the problem arises more from how we allocate the wealth, which means we produce so much useless junk we don't even want. Think of how often we throw away perfectly good food or products because they just aren't right for the market in its current state

[@farinshore8900]

@@MattAngiono thanx for the heads up. I will take the time to listen to Caleb Maupin.

[@dsm5d723]

Kundera is my literary her0. The b00k of Laughter and Reminiscences of the Future is being written on the air. Other materials too. That parrot, bro. Munich was a blessing in disguise, OR WAS IT!!! Funny movie nonetheless. Lineage algebra anyone? I found mine.

[@richarddobson4382]

Niche pronounced "nitch" makes me think of "snitch". Just saying. I am of course from Europe (England). Long live our differences.

[@TheSocr8s]

I hereby dub the genetic value of practicing religion in your community “religious functionalism”. Also, I agree about its potential value whether true or not. I would not have said that until very recently. Pacal’s wager doesn’t capture the future effect you point out since his goal is maximizing personal benefit, which terminates its utility upon our death.

[@goproengineers]

Lets talk about Les W. The DOJ lawyer during Kennedy admin., Who was on the FDA anti-trust suit to make drugs safe ans to test the hell out if them. Bring in Dr Robert Mallone as well to speak to Remdesivir.

[@nicoledickens2366]

18:46 my kids (which ASD) recognize the screen is not responsive but are very confused as to why the tv doesn't respond to touch select. The tablet has been a great teaching device and in addition to playing in the real world. I think the lack of free play and the Gen X safetism are more isolating than the tablet/phone in early developmental stages (pre 10/11 years).

[@glennmitchell9107]

What is the role of necessity in a human's ability to find his niche? If human's can survive with no effort, has nature lost its ability to force humans into any particular niche?

[@KAZVorpal]

The mistake is in calling it "evolutionary" instead of "selective process". Forgivable, because they're evolutionary biologists. Society changing is not "adaptive evolution", it's a selective process.

[@glennmitchell9107]

This sounds little different from all the other predictions of catastrophe based on anecdote.

[@stevrgrs]

I like Eric Weinstein but it was tacky to correct the interviewer on the word “niche”. It’s of Latin origin and French and the French pronunciation is like Neesh. NOT nitch. At the very least both are “correct” and didn’t need correction :(

[@richarddobson4382]

True. Perhaps he should have been aware of (or expressed his knowledge of) the fact that each are appropriate in certain geographical locations or speech groups. It is good to accept that both pronunciations have a validity, I think.

[@Ccrow78789]

Disagree with their take on religion. There are many who hold destructive views that are religious in nature. I would argue the most tenets of Leftist idealogy replace or mimick religious belief for its followers, yet the effect on the future generations is negative and likely fatal .

[@rdkuless]

Bret.. anyone who believes in the Afterlife (heaven or hell) does not believe that God is keeping track to reward or punish us upon death.. The cross offers salvation if we accept Jesus into our hearts, we have to repent (turn away from sin) ask forgiveness. Jesus came to take our place from eternal damnation.. Believe it or not.. Whether that is good or bad, i believe it is where Humans get their moral compass. So i believe it is good. And on some level, you have to ask, where does your moral compass come from if not a believe in good and evil?

[@anitakephart3851]

On a psychological behaviorial note, I have noticed that Bret is talking , Heather will look at him and look towards him on a continuous basis. and when Heather is talking, Bret in fact does not look towards her at all. I have my theory ( ies) on why. Any therapist or behaviorist want to comment on this, please? Thank you.

[@Groksaurus]

Snitches get niches

[@1965simonfellows]

....ref pornography... . one cannot say ones damaging the other person. One can say one may damage. Mr Weinstein does this rather often when talks about various subjects.

[@rdkuless]

as a biologist, you know the term "KIND".. it is very specific to a species ... Apes and HomoSapiens are two different "kind" so they cannot mate and have off spring. The scientific information is clear on this fact.. Requirement: similarities in DNA and being the same kind for reproduction to take place.. Until we can have sex and produce offspring that is half human and half ape, evolution is an impossible premise. There has never been an archeological find where a half this and half that skeleton have been unearthed.. So at this point it is just an unproven theory/Hypothesis.. I ask seriously, why is there such a push to call theory a fact if there is no imperial evidence and that has not been proven yet..?

[@blogintonblakley2708]

"The rate of change is outpacing our abilities to adapt." This has been true since civilization began...

[@KAZVorpal]

It's one thing for someone to mispronounce niche. Many Americans do. It's another entirely for someone to correct the person pronouncing it correctly, and then keep mispronouncing it for the rest of the conversation. Makes this hard to watch. It's neesh. It's neesh TO AMERICANS unless they are simply ignorant. I love Bret and Heather, but this is painful to experience them getting that so wrong, so repeatedly.

[@TheShootist]

no. it is nitch not neeeeche