#442 Nathan Lents - Human Errors: A Panorama of Our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes
RECORDED ON DECEMBER 17th 2020.
Dr. Nathan H. Lents is Professor of Biology and director of the honors program and the campus Macaulay Honors College program at John Jay College. Dr. Lents is noted for his work in cell biology, genetics, and forensic science, as well as his popular science writing and blogging on the evolution of human biology and behavior. He is the author of books like Not So Different: Finding Human Nature in Animals, and Human Errors: A Panorama of Our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes.
In this episode, we talk about Human Errors. During the interview, we discuss many different physical, physiological and psychological errors, including things like genetic errors, problems with our reproduction, and cognitive biases. We start by defining them. We also talk about the effects that modern medicine is having on our evolution; predicting our evolutionary future; to what extent we need these errors to function properly; sources of evidence for the fact that we are still evolving; eliminating the errors through genetic engineering and human enhancement; the possibility of living forever; and ways humans are better than other animals.
Time Links:
Intro
What are these errors?
The effects of modern medicine
Learning more about our evolutionary history
Predicting our evolutionary future
Genetic errors
Reproduction
Cognitive biases
Do we need these errors to function properly?
We are still evolving
Eliminating the errors (genetic engineering, human enhancement)
Can we live forever?
Ways humans are better than other animals
Follow Dr. Lents’ work!
Follow Dr. Lents’ work:
Faculty page: http://bit.ly/34lfuXz
The Human Evolution Blog: http://bit.ly/3mtzKfw
ResearchGate profile: http://bit.ly/2Wn4Nzb
Beastly Behavior (Psychology Today blog): http://bit.ly/34m9AVR
Amazon page: https://amzn.to/37rFyCk
Human Errors: https://amzn.to/3r7wUQS
Twitter handle: @nathanlents