David Sloan Wilson - An Evolutionary Approach to a Meaningful Life

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David Sloan Wilson is one of the world’s foremost evolutionary thinkers and a gifted communicator about evolution to the general public. He is a SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University in New York. In addition to his teaching and research work, David is President of Prosocial World – an organisation which aims to catalyze positive cultural change to consciously evolve who we are, how we connect with each other, and how we interact with the planet. He is passionate about making evolutionary science more accessible to a wider audience, and in 2019, he was invited to speak with the Dalai Lama about his work. David is the author of several books on evolutionary theory, including: “This View of Life”, “Evolution for Everyone”, “Darwin’s Cathedral”, “Does Altruism Exist?”, and the co-author of “Prosocial”, along with Paul Atkins and Steven Hayes. In this conversation, we discuss some of the key insights and themes from David’s first novel: Atlas Hugged. This book is a must read for anyone interested in evolutionary theory and its implications for how we can best understand human nature, and also how best to live in this world. In the novel, David weaves together a lifetime’s worth of research and academic work into an engaging narrative, which offers science based solutions to some of life’s biggest questions, including how we can solve the problem of excessive individualism, how to create a ‘meaning system’ that is both highly motivating and based on scientific truth at the same time, and how we can use a managed process of cultural evolution to consciously evolve as a society. You can get the novel at: www.atlashugged.world, and learn more about David’s work at www.darwinianrevolution.com. Links: Get a copy of Atlas Hugged: https://atlashugged.world/​ This View of Life: https://amzn.to/323MrWA​ TVOL Magazine: https://thisviewoflife.com/​ Prosocial World: www.prosocial.world David’s books: https://amzn.to/3s31jiN​ Follow David on Twitter @David_S_Wilson Get our latest psychology lectures emailed to your inbox: http://bit.ly/new-talks5​ Check out our next event: http://theweekenduniversity.com/events/​ The Invention of Tradition - Eric Hobsbawm: https://amzn.to/3mxBQNe​ The Goodness Paradox - Richard Wrangham: https://amzn.to/3wJBaJt