The future of tribalism

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox Media Podcast Network

Society & Culture, News, Politics, News Commentary, Philosophy

4.6 • 10.8K Ratings

🗓️ 22 June 2023

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sean Illing talks with evolutionary anthropologist David Samson, whose new book Our Tribal Future delves into how tribalism has shaped the human story — and how we might be able to mitigate its negative effects in the future. Sean and David discuss how and when tribal organization came on the scene, what changed in human organization when it did, and how taking advantage of some positive aspects of tribal alignment could provide a path toward inoculating humanity against stubborn, regressive divisiveness. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), host, The Gray Area Guest: David Samson (@Primalprimate), professor of anthropology, University of Toronto; author References: Our Tribal Future: How to Channel Our Foundational Human Instincts into a Force for Good by David R. Samson (St. Martin's; 2023) "Dunbar's number" by Robin Dunbar (New Scientist) The Nunn Lab, Duke University PDF: Surgeon General's Advisory on Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation (May 3) "Human Response to Disaster" by Charles E. Fritz (Proceedings of the HFES, vol. 18 no. 3; 1974) Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari (Signal; 2014) The Expanding Circle: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress by Peter Singer (Princeton; 2011) "Peter Singer on his ethical legacy" (The Gray Area; May 25) Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society by Nicholas A. Christakis (Little Brown Spark; 2019) Bill Nye debates Ken Ham (Feb. 4, 2014) God and Evolution? The Implications of Darwin's Theory for Fundamentalism, the Bible, and the Meaning of Life by Daniel J. Samson (Solon; 2006) Enjoyed this episode? Rate The Gray Area ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of The Gray Area. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Support The Gray Area by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by: Producer: Erikk Geannikis Engineer: Patrick Boyd Editorial Director, Vox Talk: A.M. Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you follow the news in recent years, here's a word you've heard a ton.
0:06.0	Tribalism.
0:07.0	Political tribalism.
0:09.0	Political tribalism.
0:10.0	You know, pick a side, put on the uniform, and that's who you root for.
0:13.0	And almost always, when you do hear that word, it's negative.
0:18.0	Political tribalism.
0:19.0	Political polarization, the division, the quote unquote tribalism.
0:22.0	Epistemological tribalism.
0:23.0	It is pure tribalism that they're engaging in.
0:26.0	It's all bad.
0:28.0	To be tribalist is to be caught up in some kind of toxic, self-reinforcing social dynamic
0:35.0	that makes living together nearly impossible.
0:40.0	But the story of tribalism is a little more complicated than that.
0:45.0	We are, after all, a deeply social species.
0:49.0	And that means none of us are truly free from the impulse to identify with a group of people we trust.
0:55.0	The question is, what do we do with this impulse?
1:02.0	I'm Sean Elling, and this is The Grey Area.
1:09.0	Today's guest is David Samson.
1:14.0	He's a professor of anthropology at the University of Toronto,
1:18.0	where he's also the director of the Sleep and Human Evolution Lab.
1:22.0	And he's the author of a new book called Our Tribal Future.
	...

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