#778 Carles Lalueza-Fox - Inequality: A Genetic History
Dr. Carles Lalueza-Fox is Director of the Natural Science Museum in Barcelona. He participated in the Neanderthal Genome Project and led the first retrieval of the genome of an 8,000-year-old European hunter-gatherer. He is the author of Inequality: A Genetic History.
In this episode, we focus on Inequality. We start by talking about the premise of the book, and the current state of global inequality, with its social and political consequences. We get into the scientific tools we can use to study inequality in the past. We discuss sexual selection and assortative mating; if inequality is the result of individual traits or social structures; unequal patterns of reproduction; and the transition from foraging to agriculture. We discuss if the concept of “race” makes sense in genetics. We talk about archaeology; patrilocality and high female mobility; a gender bias in reproduction; and mating systems (polygyny and monogamy). We go through two examples of historical events that shaped population genetics and inequality, including the European colonization of the Americas and the slave trade across the Atlantic, and the Mongol empire. We discuss the impact of gene-editing techniques on science and society. Finally, we talk about the future of inequality, and discuss if inequality is an inevitable feature of human society.
Time Links:
Intro
The current state of global inequality
The social and political consequences of inequality
Scientific tools to study inequality in the past
Sexual selection and assortative mating
What is more important: individual traits or social structures?
Studying unequal reproductive patterns
The transition from foraging to agriculture
Does the concept of “race” make sense, from the perspective of genetics?
Studying inequality through archaeology (material goods, health inequality)
Patrilocality and high female mobility
A gender bias in reproduction
Mating systems (polygyny, monogamy)
The impact of the European colonization of the Americas
The Mongol empire
Gene-editing technologies
The future of inequality
Is inequality an inevitable feature of human society?
Follow Dr. Lalueza-Fox’s work!
Follow Dr. Lalueza-Fox’s work:
Natural Science Museum in Barcelona: http://bit.ly/3wiKswW
ResearchGate profile: http://bit.ly/3GcU96h
Inequality: http://bit.ly/3ObeU47