Living on Earth: Forests, Corals, Consciousness, and the Making of the World with Peter Godfrey-Smith

Inquiring Minds

Science, Society & Culture, Neuroscience, Female Host, Interview, Social Sciences, Critical Thinking

4.4 • 848 Ratings

🗓️ 12 September 2024

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of Inquiring Minds, Indre Viscontis sits down with Peter Godfrey-Smith, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney and author of Living on Earth: Forests, Corals, Consciousness, and the Making of the World. Peter takes us on an enthralling journey through the evolution of culture and its impact on consciousness and society. Together they explore the crucial role culture plays in human development, especially how children absorb behaviors from their communities, the intriguing culture-like behaviors of non-human animals such as bowerbirds creating elaborate displays, and how various species, especially human behavior, shape their environments. Join us for a thought-provoking conversation about how living beings influence the Earth's evolutionary history and how our evolutionary standing as humans should not dictate specific choices for the future.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You and Betty and the nancy's and bills and Joes and James will find in the study of science
0:06.4	a richer, more rewarding life.
0:10.2	Hey, welcome to Inquiring Minds. I'm Indrae Viscontas.
0:13.6	This is a podcast that explores the space where science and society collide.
0:18.1	We want to find out what's true, what's left to discover, and why it matters.
0:25.9	Usually, when we think about our evolutionary history, where are these human capacities like
0:35.3	consciousness and culture come from.
0:44.3	We tend to emphasize the role that the environment or natural selection had on our ancestors and precursors.
0:49.6	We don't often think about the impact that living beings had on their environments and how they shape the evolution of the earth.
0:53.4	Now, as we face potentially massive changes in our habitat, thanks to a warming climate,
0:58.0	we tend to focus again on how humans can both adapt and affect these changes.
1:03.0	But maybe it's time to take a closer look at how other species have also affected the planet over millions of years
1:10.0	and how that impacts the evolution of our
1:12.8	own culture and consciousness. Enter Peter Godfrey Smith. He's a professor in the School of
1:18.9	History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Sydney, and he's just published the third
1:23.9	book in his trilogy, painting a detailed panoramic picture of our planet and the
1:28.5	living beings that occupy it called Living on Earth, Forests, Corals, Consciousness, and the
1:35.2	making of the world. Peter Godfrey Smith, welcome to inquiring minds.
1:40.5	It's a pleasure to be here.
1:42.7	So I want to really get into the culture question question because for me, this was really one of the
1:47.6	fascinating parts of your book as you talk about sort of the importance and the evolution
1:54.1	of culture.
	...

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