Shaping AI for Good: Prosocial Hybrid Intelligence for a Thriving Future - A conversation between Cornelia Walther and David Sloan Wilson
This View of Life
AI is no longer a distant future - it’s shaping our lives right now. But what if we could design it not just to be smart, but to be good? In this powerful conversation, Cornelia Walther and evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson explore how we can build AI systems that truly serve people and the planet. They dive into the concept of Prosocial AI, technology that’s designed to support human connection, equity, and environmental sustainability—and the emerging field of hybrid intelligence, where human empathy and creativity team up with AI’s speed and precision....
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Democracy’s Deep Roots: From Hunter-Gatherers to Modern Society -- A conversation between Vivek Venkataraman and David Sloan Wilson
This View of Life
What if the roots of democracy run far deeper than ancient Greece or Enlightenment Europe, but back to our evolutionary origins as humans? In this thought-provoking conversation, evolutionary anthropologist Vivek Venkataraman and renowned scientist David Sloan Wilson dig into how early human societies, particularly hunter-gatherers, managed to balance individual freedom with the needs of the group. Long before constitutions and parliaments, our ancestors developed powerful, organic systems for cooperation, decision-making, and fairness. This discussion explores how evolution shaped us into...
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Decolonizing Ecology: Rethinking Nature in a Broken World
This View of Life
A conversation between Madhusudan Katti and Amitangshu Acharya Join us for a thought-provoking virtual dialogue exploring how colonial worldviews have shaped modern ecology - and what it means to decolonize our relationship with nature in an era of social and environmental upheaval. Building on themes from the This View of Life series , ecologist Madhusudan Katti and writer-researcher Amitangshu Acharya delve into questions at the intersection of science, history, and justice. Together, they’ll challenge dominant narratives and invite us to reimagine ecological knowledge that is rooted...
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Addressing the Wicked Problem of Housing Insecurity in Binghamton New York with Rebecca Rathmell
This View of Life
Originally published on September 9, 2024
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Hunter-Gatherer Societies, Human Origins, and Modern Democracies with Vivek Venkataraman (Part 2)
This View of Life
Hunter-gatherer societies are fascinating in their own right and--with appropriate caution--a major source of insight about our ancestral past, stretching back to our origin as a species. Remarkably, hunter-gatherer societies also have much to teach us about modern Democratic governance. Vivek Venkataraman is an idea guide to this subject, with a background in philosophy, primatology, and human evolutionary biology, along with direct experience living with and researching indigenous people in Malaysia. Originally published January 29, 2025.
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Hunter-Gatherer Societies, Human Origins, and Modern Democracies with Vivek Venkataraman (Part 1)
This View of Life
Originally published on January 8, 2025. Hunter-gatherer societies are fascinating in their own right and--with appropriate caution--a major source of insight about our ancestral past, stretching back to our origin as a species. Remarkably, hunter-gatherer societies also have much to teach us about modern Democratic governance. Vivek Venkataraman is an idea guide to this subject, with a background in philosophy, primatology, and human evolutionary biology, along with direct experience living with and researching indigenous people in Malaysia. Check out the resources, articles, and more...
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Barry-Wehmiller’s Bold Experiment in Prosocial Cultural Evolution
This View of Life
Who is Barry-Wehmiller (BW)? Not a person, but a and star attraction of the . If you are familiar with this movement, you might have read , by CEO Bob Chapman and , co-founder of the Conscious Capitalism movement. Or perhaps a Harvard Business School case report titled . But BW deserves to become known far beyond its current circle of fame. Not only has it created an extraordinary culture of caring for itself, but it has replicated its culture in over 140 other companies that it has acquired--or rather adopted, to use its preferred word. Stated in scientific...
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Assessing the Complexity/Evolution Paradigm for Economics with Eric Beinhocker
This View of Life
The first book-length articulation of an economic paradigm based on complex systems science and evolutionary science was Eric Beinhocker's , published in 2006. He is currently Professor of Public Policy Practice at Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government and . Eric joins me to assess progress during the last 18 years and prospects for the future. One of Eric's recent essays that we discuss is titled . Originally published on August 7, 2024.
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Evolving Prosocial Cities, with Jonathan Rose
This View of Life
Few people know more about cities than Jonathan Rose, author of . Jonathan is a practitioner in addition to a scholar. His is at the forefront of "building wellbeing through communities of opportunity". In our conversation, we discuss how two bodies of knowledge that are new within the last 50 years--complex systems science and generalized Darwinism--can help to catalyze prosocial cultural evolution at the scale of whole cities. Originally published on August 10, 2024.
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Conscious Capitalism Viewed Through The Lens of a New Paradigm with Bob Chapman & Raj Sisodia
This View of Life
Conscious capitalism is well known as a business movement that goes against almost everything that is taught in business school. However, the same movement makes perfect sense when viewed through the lens of a based on a combination of complex systems science and evolutionary science. I discuss this paradigm shift with two leaders of the Conscious Capitalism movement and . Originally published May 10, 2024.
info_outlineIs it time to fundamentally rethink economics - its theoretical foundations, activities and processes; its purpose and goals? How should we reimagine and redesign our economic models to better reflect and serve human needs and wants, and the flourishing of all life on our one planet?
It is often said that the world faces challenges that are complex and systemic. But in fact, the world is a complex, interconnected “system of systems”. These complexities and interconnectivities amplify the global challenges facing us, whether economic, social or environmental. They also mean that a deep understanding of the behaviour of these systems is critical to solving these problems for the long-term.
Leading evolutionary theorist David Sloan Wilson and influential economist Dennis Snower have long advocated for an improved understanding of economics as a complex system.
Across a recent series of major articles, they argue for a paradigm shift away from the orthodox, neoclassical model of economics, which focuses on individual challenges to be tackled through decisions by individual decision-makers and views ‘externalities’ as a phenomenon to be ‘corrected’ through government intervention, in favour of a new multilevel paradigm, based on insights from evolutionary science. This is a model that takes proper account of the complexity of our social natures and relations, and the centrality of collective challenges in our lives – challenges that can only be effectively tackled through a carefully orchestrated, context-specific combination of social, political and institutional mechanisms.
Though such a paradigm shift has long proved elusive, Snower and Sloan Wilson argue that is an achievable goal, and one that’s more necessary now than ever before, at a time of economic and ecological crisis, when new narratives and new modes of cooperation will be critical to building successful multilateral alliances for innovation and change.