culturalshifts

Here’s a little experiment. Take a second to think about how you would fill in the blank in this sentence: “I am _____.”

If you’re anything like me, the first descriptors that come to mind are personal attributes (like “curious” or “kind”) or identities (like “a journalist” or “a runner”). And if you answered that way, then I have some news for you: You are weird.

I mean that in a very specific way. In social science, WEIRD is an acronym that stands for Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic. Most societies in the world today — and throughout human history — don’t fit that description. And when people from non-WEIRD cultures answer the “I am” statement, they tend to give very different answers, defining themselves with relation-based descriptors like “Moe’s father” or “David’s brother.”

That difference is only the tip of the iceberg. Much of what we take for granted as basic elements of human psychology and ethics are actually a peculiar WEIRD way of viewing the world.

Joseph Henrich, an anthropologist at Harvard University, believes that this distinction between WEIRD and non-WEIRD psychologies is absolutely central to understanding our modern world. His 2020 book, “The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous,” explores the origins of these differences and argues that the emergence of a distinctly WEIRD psychology was central to the development of everything from the Industrial Revolution and market economies to representative government and human rights.

We discuss Henrich’s theory of how “cultural evolution” leads to psychological — even genetic — changes in humans, the difference between societies that experience “shame” as a dominant emotion as opposed to “guilt,” the unique power of religion in driving cultural change, how cultural inventions like reading have literally reshaped human biology, why religious communes tend to outlast secular ones, why Henrich believes there is no static “human nature” aside from our cultural learning abilities, how differences in moral psychology across the United States can predict Donald Trump’s 2016 and 2020 vote share, why higher levels of immigration tend to lead to far more innovation and more.

Book recommendations:

Why Europe? by Michael Mitterauer

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

The Chosen Few by Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein

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You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Roge Karma. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Mixing by Sonia Herrero. Our production team is Emefa Agawu, Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld and Kristin Lin. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Kristina Samulewski.

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Joe Biden orders the shootdown of a Chinese spy balloon…after it traverses the entire continental United States; Disney+ goes woker and woker; and we examine Satanism at the Grammys.

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Nearly every civilization since ancient times has portrayed explicit sexual acts. Sexuality’s numinous aspect has long brought it into close association with spirituality and religion. The powerful potential of sexual arousal is central to being human and has seized today’s collective via the Internet. Porn is symbolic of the widespread merchandising of desire, from toys to trucks. The unprecedented power of image in today’s world can now drive what Lost Goddesses author Giorgio Tricarico terms our “desiring multiplicities” and quest for limitlessness. Pornography can be addicting, and Jung maintained that “There is no illness that is not at the same time an unsuccessful attempt at a cure.” Pornography could also be an attempt to achieve a sense of integration and wholeness through reconnection with the archetype of the goddess.

HERE’S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE:

“The Dragon Queen, a young blonde woman, was not the rightful queen and needed to be tamed. Everyone said to throw her in the furnace, but I couldn’t do that to her. She had become a sort of friend and had come to trust me. I came to her through a room where archery practice was taking place, a cave to the kingdom. An old friend was a centaur, and he was teaching me to shoot the bow and arrow. He had many tiny arrows, which he shot into the queen’s cave and missed. She came out and said, “Let me show you how it’s done.” I then captured her by tackling her with a black sheet. Then I sat on her and started massaging her legs vigorously. She started to relax. I then went to her arms and belly. She completely relaxed. Then I uncovered her, and she was ready to learn how to live in our society. One of the guys in the archery group took on the job of teaching her how to eat. He showed her a vision of all kinds of foods and nutrition but started with feeding her only sweets—all kinds of candy. I was worried and said so. He said that because she was a dragon, we needed to start out with feeding her that way.”

REFERENCES:

Giorgio Tricarico. Lost Goddesses. https://www.amazon.com/dp/1782205322/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_PBJVC0D9VDDC2TYZW516

Sharon Blackie. If Women Rose Rooted. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B098CXQLLH/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_3AQDWXGFMVJA105QAT1T

RESOURCES:

Learn to Analyze your own Dreams: https://thisjungianlife.com/enroll/

In this episode I sit down with Charli D'Amelio and her family to discuss what it's been like since Charli blew up on TikTok. We hit real topics like being true to yourself and how to deal with hate. Be sure to let me know what hit home for you!

Tweet Me! @garyvee

Text Me! 212-931-5731

Today’s episode is from a previous sit down with Tom Bilyeu on his show ‘The Impact Theory’. Tom's a fellow entrepreneur and co-founder of Quest Nutrition. Have questions or comments, just Tweet or text me!
https://www.instagram.com/tombilyeu/
Tweet Me! @garyvee
Text Me! 212-931-5731

This meeting I had with my man Nipsey Hussel was complete fire - loved chatting with this dude and diving deep into the music industry, sports, why pushing out content at scale is key and much, MUCH more. There's SO much in this one meeting that I know you will all love <3 

Had such a blast at this talk down in Atlanta, Georgia ! Not only did I have some old friends in the crowd that I dealt with in my Wine Library days, but to be able to talk to a crowd that large that falls within a specific vertical is just so much fun for me. In this one I got to speak in front 1,000 different dealers and vendors in the automotive space and for anyone who's in B2B, this one's for you... check it out!! 

Neil deGrasse Tyson talks about science fiction, folk music and social justice with rock and roll legend and science geek David Crosby. Chuck Nice co-hosts, Thomas Sugrue provides historical context for the 1960s, and Bill Nye praises “People Power” and “The Pill.”