<description>&lt;p&gt;Humans have &lt;em&gt;not&lt;/em&gt; succeeded because of our raw intelligence.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Marooned European explorers regularly starved to death in areas where foragers thrived for 1000s of years.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I’ve always found this cultural evolution deeply mysterious.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;How do you discover the 10 steps for processing cassava so it won’t give you cyanide poisoning simply by trial and error?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Has the human brain declined in size over the last 10,000 years because we outsourced cultural evolution to a larger collective brain?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The most interesting part of the podcast is Henrich’s explanation of how the Catholic Church unintentionally instigated the Industrial Revolution through the dismantling of intensive kinship systems in medieval Europe.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Watch on &lt;a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcfhrThp1OU"&gt;Youtube&lt;/a&gt;; listen on &lt;a target="_blank" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/joseph-henrich-why-humans-survived-and-smarter/id1516093381?i=1000698914456"&gt;Apple Podcasts&lt;/a&gt; or &lt;a target="_blank" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/12zpiPQGJA215PJcDtNTjr?si=02bbf27382d24df5"&gt;Spotify&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;----------&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sponsors&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="https://scale.com/dwarkesh"&gt;Scale&lt;/a&gt; partners with major AI labs like Meta, Google Deepmind, and OpenAI. Through Scale’s Data Foundry, labs get access to high-quality data to fuel post-training, including advanced reasoning capabilities. If you’re an AI researcher or engineer, learn about how Scale’s Data Foundry and research lab, SEAL, can help you go beyond the current frontier at &lt;a target="_blank" href="https://scale.com/dwarkesh"&gt;scale.com/dwarkesh&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To sponsor a future episode, visit &lt;a target="_blank" href="https://www.dwarkesh.com/p/advertise"&gt;dwarkesh.com/p/advertise&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;----------&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Joseph’s books&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/WEIRDest-People-World-Psychologically-Particularly/dp/0374173222"&gt;The WEIRDest People in the World&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Our-Success-Evolution-Domesticating/dp/0691166854"&gt;The Secret of Our Success&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;----------&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Timestamps&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(0:00:00) - Humans didn’t succeed because of raw IQ&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(0:09:27) - How cultural evolution works&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(0:20:48) - Why is human brain size declining?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(0:32:00) - Will AGI have superhuman cultural learning?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(0:42:34) - Why Industrial Revolution happened in Europe&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(0:55:30) - Why China, Rome, India got left behind&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(1:21:09) - Loss of cultural variance in modern world&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(1:31:20) - Is individual genius real?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;(1:43:49) - IQ and collective brains&lt;/p&gt; &lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at &lt;a href="https://www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&amp;#38;utm_campaign=CTA_4"&gt;www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe&lt;/a&gt;</description>

Dwarkesh Podcast

Dwarkesh Patel

Joseph Henrich – Why Humans Survived and Smarter Species Didn't

MAR 12, 2025112 MIN
Dwarkesh Podcast

Joseph Henrich – Why Humans Survived and Smarter Species Didn't

MAR 12, 2025112 MIN

Description

<p>Humans have <em>not</em> succeeded because of our raw intelligence.</p><p>Marooned European explorers regularly starved to death in areas where foragers thrived for 1000s of years.</p><p>I’ve always found this cultural evolution deeply mysterious.</p><p>How do you discover the 10 steps for processing cassava so it won’t give you cyanide poisoning simply by trial and error?</p><p>Has the human brain declined in size over the last 10,000 years because we outsourced cultural evolution to a larger collective brain?</p><p>The most interesting part of the podcast is Henrich’s explanation of how the Catholic Church unintentionally instigated the Industrial Revolution through the dismantling of intensive kinship systems in medieval Europe.</p><p>Watch on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcfhrThp1OU">Youtube</a>; listen on <a target="_blank" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/joseph-henrich-why-humans-survived-and-smarter/id1516093381?i=1000698914456">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a target="_blank" href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/12zpiPQGJA215PJcDtNTjr?si=02bbf27382d24df5">Spotify</a>.</p><p>----------</p><p>Sponsors</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://scale.com/dwarkesh">Scale</a> partners with major AI labs like Meta, Google Deepmind, and OpenAI. Through Scale’s Data Foundry, labs get access to high-quality data to fuel post-training, including advanced reasoning capabilities. If you’re an AI researcher or engineer, learn about how Scale’s Data Foundry and research lab, SEAL, can help you go beyond the current frontier at <a target="_blank" href="https://scale.com/dwarkesh">scale.com/dwarkesh</a>.</p><p>To sponsor a future episode, visit <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dwarkesh.com/p/advertise">dwarkesh.com/p/advertise</a>.</p><p>----------</p><p>Joseph’s books</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/WEIRDest-People-World-Psychologically-Particularly/dp/0374173222">The WEIRDest People in the World</a></p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Our-Success-Evolution-Domesticating/dp/0691166854">The Secret of Our Success</a></p><p>----------</p><p>Timestamps</p><p>(0:00:00) - Humans didn’t succeed because of raw IQ</p><p>(0:09:27) - How cultural evolution works</p><p>(0:20:48) - Why is human brain size declining?</p><p>(0:32:00) - Will AGI have superhuman cultural learning?</p><p>(0:42:34) - Why Industrial Revolution happened in Europe</p><p>(0:55:30) - Why China, Rome, India got left behind</p><p>(1:21:09) - Loss of cultural variance in modern world</p><p>(1:31:20) - Is individual genius real?</p><p>(1:43:49) - IQ and collective brains</p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at <a href="https://www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_4">www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe</a>