The Nature & Nurture Podcast

Dr. Matt Zwolinski is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of San Diego specializing in Political Philosophy and Applied Ethics. He is the director of USD’s Center for Ethics, Economics, and Public Policy, and co-author, together with John Tomasi, of The Individualists: Radicals, Reactionaries, and the Struggle for the Soul of Libertarianism.In this episode we discuss the intellectual history of libertarianism as it relates to human progress exploring six core values of libertarianism and related philosophies as discussed in The Individualists: private property, skepticism of authority, free markets, individualism, spontaneous order, and individual liberty.

Nicholas Wade is the author of several books on human evolution, and has served as staff writer and editor for Nature, Science, and the science section of The New York Times.In this episode, we discuss Nicholas’ latest book The Origins of Politics on the evolutionary psychology of social cognition, tribalism, altruism, aggression, and other psychological factors relevant to understanding modern politics. 

Dr. Simon LeVay is a neuroscientist and author of Attraction, Love, Sex: The Inside Story.

Dr. Lars Krutak is an anthropologist, a research associate at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, host of the Discovery Channel series Tattoo Hunter, and author of Indigenous Tattoo Traditions.

Dr. Robert King is a researcher at the School of Applied Psychology of University College Cork in Ireland. He is an expert in evolutionary psychology, sexual selection, and the science of orgasms, as detailed in his book Naturally Selective: Evolution, Orgasm, and Female Choice. 

Dr. Jaap de Roode is the Samuel C. Dobbs Professor of Biology at Emory University, and the author of Doctors by Nature: How Ants, Apes, & Other Animals Heal Themselves. He is an expert in the population biology of parasites and virus transmission, and how animals defend themselves against these threats.

Dr. Eric Kaufmann is a Professor of Politics at The University of Buckingham and Director of the Centre for Heterodox Social Science. He is the author of several books including The Third Awokening: A 12-Point Plan for Rolling Back Progressive Extremism.In this episode, Eric and I discuss The Third Awokening, beginning with the history of the term woke, its intellectual foundations in postmodernism and ties to Marxism, and its connection to identity politics.

Dr. Bill von Hippel is a social psychologist and author of The Social Paradox: Autonomy, Connection, and Why We Need Both to Find Happiness.

Dr. Dean Hamer is a geneticist, author of several books including The Science of Desire and The God Gene, and a filmmaker. In this episode, we talk about Dean’s background in genetics and how the science of sexual orientation helped shape the “born this way” movement in gay civil rights. We talk about ethical debates surrounding the biological study of sexual orientation, and why it should be prioritized, and examine various evolutionary, genetic, hormonal, and neurological theories for sexual orientation. We talk about the role of prenatal sex hormones, fraternal birth order, the maternal immune hypothesis, the evolutionary gay uncle hypothesis, antagonistic pleiotropy, and more. We also discuss connections between sexual attraction and philosophy of mind, sex differences in sex drive, animal research on mating psychology, and more. Lastly, we talk about Dean’s recent work on gender and sexuality in the Pacific Islands, cultural anthropology documenting gender and sexual diversity across history, and how to best approach ethical discussion and research on sensitive topics related to sex and gender.

Dr. Helen Joyce is a journalist, mathematician, women’s right advocate, and author of Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality. In this episode, we talk about Helen’s background in mathematics and transition into journalism, and eventually the so-called gender culture war. We discuss sex differences in personality, why gender nonconformity is normal, and why the transgender debate has turned into such a contentious and politicized topic. We trace this story back to both the complex biology of sex differentiation, and postmodern philosophical problems surrounding identity, and how these decision points become difficult to enshrine into law. We discuss what social and legal norms should be surrounding protected gendered spaces, freedom of speech and pronoun use, intersex populations, libertarianism, and whether adults should be free to choose medical sex reassignment. Helen offers sound and practical advice for individuals wanting to navigate these contentious waters with an open mind, and do right by people when trying to both remain respectful to individuals struggling with gender dysphoria and not invalidate the truths of biological sex.