John Gowdy: “Superorganisms, Crazy Ants, and Fire Apes, Oh My!"”
Episode 14
April 13, 2022
(Conversation Recorded on February 22, 2022.)
On this episode, we meet with Ecological Economist, John Gowdy.
Gowdy explores the revolution in biology and its significance in society. How do different cultures manifest human nature? What role has agriculture, and specific crops, played in how societies developed?
Further, Gowdy discusses the relationship between capitalism, surplus, and The Superorganism. Does human agency matter to the Superorganism? What role do blind evolutionary mechanisms play in the development of our society?
About John Gowdy
John M. Gowdy is Professor of Economics and Professor of Science and Technology Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. He is the recipient of the Herman Daly Award for contributions to ecological economics.
Show Notes & Links to Learn More
00:46 - John Gowdy Info, Works, Ultrasocial: The Evolution of Human Nature and the Quest for a Sustainable Future
03:11 - Evolutionary biology
03:52 - Sociobiology
03:59 - E.O. Wilson
04:32 - Epigenetics
04:53 - Environmental conditions and bird egg development
05:32 - Pregnant women’s nutrition in East and West Germany and child development
06:57 - Evolution of Evolvability
07:29 - Blank slate psychology
07:39 - Prepared learning
08:06 - Wheat vs rice growing economies in China
08:56 - Humans are incredibly social animals
09:10 - Human behaviors
09:45 - Waulrasian model
11:43 - Discount rate
13:15 - Multi-level and Group selection
14:39 - David Sloan Wilson
15:11 - Gowdy’s work on ants and social insects (with Lisi Krall)
16:25 - Ant colony in California at war with another colony
15:45 - Chimpanzee’s using ant to heals wounds on one another
17:33 - Biomass of humans the same as that of ants
17:49 - Ultrasociality
17:52 - Lisi Krall
18:14 - Paul Shepard
18:48 - Donald Campbell
20:49 - NorthWest Coast Native Americans hierarchies without agriculture
21:33 - Potlatch
22:07 - Into the Wild
22:25 - Eusocial
22:41 - Human neuron formation
24:02 - John Gowdy on the Superorganism password: John Gowdy
25:01 - The importance of surplus
26:20 - Human Population growth
26:32 - James Scott Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States
26:56 - Holocene and stable climate
28:24 - Noosphere
28:47 - Francis Hyland
32:01 - Nate’s Superorganism paper
34:01 - Human brains 10% smaller post agriculture
34:41 - Growth is required to remain stable
37:09 - Downward Causation
38:10 - Energy intensiveness of bitcoin
38:37 - Money has no biophysical energy ties
39:14 - The Great Acceleration
42:12 - Reindeer on St. Matthew’s Island
44:28 - Totipotency
45:22 - 500 billion fossil workers
46:46 - Clark Spencer Larsen and the decline in human health post-agriculture
47:38 - Sex at Dawn Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha
49:21 - Nate on oil depletion
50:00 - Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen Entropy Law and the Economic Process
50:55 - Peak oil in the 1970s and tight oil shale
52:22 - Early state economies were organized by the state
53:22 - Tesla started with a government loan and makes money selling carbon credits
53:58 - We underpay for the main input to our economy
54:23 - Friedrich Hayek
56:46 - Ronald Wright A Short History of Progress
57:49 - Tikopia Jared Diamond
57:54 - Tokugawa, Japan
59:58 - E.O. Wilson Half Earths
1:03:11 - John Gowdy Limited Wants, Unlimited Needs: A Reader On Hunter-Gatherer Economics And The Environment
1:04:08 - Naturalistic Fallacy