4.9 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 18 September 2025
⏱️ 55 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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In this insightful episode of Passion Struck, John R. Miles sits down with psychologist and author William von Hippel to unpack the central theme of his latest book, The Social Paradox: Autonomy, Connection, and Why We Need Both to Find Happiness. Together, they explore how modern life has tilted heavily toward autonomy—careers, smartphones, and endless options—often at the expense of deep connection and belonging.
Drawing on research with the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania, von Hippel explains why our ancestors’ lives, though materially sparse, were rich in connection and happiness—and why our overemphasis on independence leaves many feeling lonely and invisible.
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| 0:11.2 | Coming up next on Passionstruck. It's a problem that youngsters are using social media so heavily. |
| 0:17.0 | What I'm worried about is that, as you say, if it's just the straw that broke the camel's back, |
| 0:21.2 | and if it's not the whole problem, people are going to expect big returns on these changes. And I think we're going to see small returns on these changes. I think that they'll make a difference. I think that there's a host of reasons why I think phones are bad ideas. In my book, I talk about how we become lazy in our social habits because it's so easy to get on social media and so difficult to go across town to get together with our friends. But in fact, going across town to get together with their friends is the most important thing we can do. And we don't understand our own desire sometimes. And so we do the lazy, easy, less satisfying thing. Welcome to Passion Struck. Hi, I'm your host, John R. Miles, and on the show, we decipher the secrets, tips, |
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