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On Humans

On Humans

Science

Encore | This Conversation Touched The Most Hearts in 2023 ~ Helen Fisher

Encore | This Conversation Touched The Most Hearts in 2023 ~ Helen Fisher

2024-01-07
Download Right click and do "save link as"

Happy New Year 2024!

To celebrate the new year, Spotify sent me a bunch of data points about 2023. I was particularly interested in one question: which conversation moved people the most? I already knew which episode people played the most. (That's episode 17 with Bernardo Kastrup.) But to listen is one thing. To share with friends and family is another.

The most shared episode was my conversation with Helen Fisher, titled "A Cultural Biology of Sex, Love, and Monogamy". It was one of my favourite conversations, too. Fisher offered a sweeping take on romantic love, combining fascinating anthropology with practical tips about maintaining passion in relationships. She even convinced my parents to re-design their TV arrangement...

Perhaps it deserves one more share. So here you go!

___

ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES

Why do we love? And how much does our culture shape the way we do so?

In this episode, Ilari talks with Helen Fisher about the powers that drive and shape our romantic relationships. Ilari and Professor Fisher discuss:

  • Is romantic love a modern invention?
  • Is monogamy a social invention? 
  • Do men care more about sex? Do women care more about romance?
  • Why agriculture, especially with the plough, caused havoc in romantic relationships.
  • Why divorces might be on the decline.
  • A science-based guide for maintaining romantic relations (based on couples who are still in love after 25 years)
  • Why (certain) antidepressants can kill the sex drive and blunt romantic love (to read more, see the end of the notes)
  • How common is polygamy or polyandry? Where in the world do we find most "free love"?
  • Why did homosexuality evolve?


Names mentioned

  • Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt (as recounted by Alison Gopnik in her The Gardener and the Carpenter)
  • Bill Jankowiak
  • Robert Sternberg (see episode 7)
  • Anderson Thompson
  • Bertrand Russell 


Technical terms and ethnic groups mentioned

  • Ventral tegmental area VTA
  • Hypothalamus
  • Dopamine, testosterone, oxytocin, vasopressin, serotonine
  • Monogamy (serial or lifelong; social or biological)
  • Polygamy (several wives) and polyandry (several husbands) 
  • Tlingit (the polyandrous Inuit society with wealthy women)
  • Oneida community (in New York State)


Dig Deeper

Antidepressants: To read more about the possible effects of SSRIs on sex drive and romantic love, see ⁠Tocco and Brumbaugh (2019)⁠. Below is a list of possible alternatives or complements to SSRIs (please consult with your doctor in all matters related to pharmaceuticals):

  • Fisher herself suggested that SNRIs could be less risky than SSRIs. Theoretically, dopamine reuptake inhibitors, such as bupropion, could also counter the risks associated with SSRIs (for a review, see ⁠Zisook et al. 2006⁠).
  • For alternative or complementary oral treatments of depression, see research on supplementation with a high dosage of Omega 3 (EPA and DHA, not ALA) (for a review, see ⁠Bhat & Ara 2015⁠).


Polyamory: In the episode, Professor Fisher suggests that many Amazonian tribes have informal polyandry, i.e. women have many partners, albeit only one formal husband. However, there are ⁠non-academic sources⁠ suggesting that formalised polyandry is common in the Zo’é community in Amazon. For some of these photos of Zo’é and other Amazonian tribes, many of whom exhibit remarkably liberal attitudes to sex, see the ⁠recent Amazonia exhibition⁠ in the London Science Museum.



view more

More Episodes

Season Highlights ~ Why Is It So Difficult To Cure Mental Illness? (with Gregory Berns)
2023-04-15
Distorting Darwinism, Or Why Evolution Does Not Prove That We Are Selfish ~ SOLO   
2023-04-08
How To Build A Free Society ~ Karl Widerquist
2023-03-26
Human Condition in the Long 20th Century; Or How Economics Changed Everything ~ Brad DeLong
2023-03-12
Could Mind Be More Fundamental Than Matter? ~ Bernardo Kastrup
2023-02-26
Does Poverty Make Us Selfish? ~ Jacqueline Mattis
2023-02-14
A Deep History of Equality ~ Elizabeth Anderson
2023-02-04
What Can Hunter-Gatherers Tell Us About Our Origins? Going Beyond the Bestsellers ~ Vivek V. Venkataraman
2023-01-19
Tracing the Roots of the Wealth of Nations ~ Oded Galor
2023-01-14
An Economic History of Homo Sapiens ~ Oded Galor
2023-01-04
Holiday Highlights ~ Patricia Churchland on Free Will & Neurophilosophy
2023-01-01
Holiday Highlights ~ Ruth Feldman on Empathy, Xenophobia, and Gay Dads
2022-12-29
Holiday Highlights ~ Philip Kitcher on Secular Humanism & Religion
2022-12-27
A Cultural Biology of Sex, Love, and Monogamy ~ Helen Fisher
2022-12-22
What Can Science Tell Us About Happiness? ~ Anna Alexandrova
2022-12-10
Do Dogs Feel Love & Other Questions in Animal Neuroscience ~ Gregory Berns
2022-12-03
Is War Natural For Humans? ~ Douglas P. Fry
2022-11-19
Psychology of Love & Hate ~ Robert Sternberg
2022-11-12
Are Grandmothers the Key to Our Evolutionary Success? ~ Kristen Hawkes
2022-11-05
Psychology of Conspiracy Theories & The Limits of Science ~ Michael Shermer
2022-10-25
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