Uploaded December 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Natural selection may be blind, but can human evolution be reduced to the logic of the “selfish gene”? How, for example, does our capacity to make choices and act altruistically fit into this picture? What exactly does our consciousness contribute, and how does it affect the way we understand the ongoing production of meaning within nature? Conversely, how does the recognition that we are also animals affect the way we see ourselves and our place within the natural landscape? These questions are being increasingly debated as we begin to turn from a purely biological understanding of evolution to a view of cultural and personal evolution that embraces our desire for prosocial outcomes and for solving problems across all levels of our existence.
Evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson discusses these topics and more with Wisconsin Public Radio's Steve Paulson.
November 14, 2024
The Morgan Library & Museum
Natural selection may be blind, but can human evolution be reduced to the logic of the “selfish gene”? How, for example, does our capacity to make choices and act altruistically fit into this picture? What exactly does our consciousness contribute, and how does it affect the way we understand the ongoing production of meaning within nature? Conversely, how does the recognition that we are also animals affect the way we see ourselves and our place within the natural landscape? These questions are being increasingly debated as we begin to turn from a purely biological understanding of evolution to a view of cultural and personal evolution that embraces our desire for prosocial outcomes and for solving problems across all levels of our existence.
Evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson discusses these topics and more with Wisconsin Public Radio's Steve Paulson.
November 14, 2024
The Morgan Library & Museum
