- What ‘woke’ means, to different people;
- How the ancients overcame biases in understanding the world, in order to discover and navigate the world;
- How moderns have tried to overcome cognitive biases through constitutions and “political correctness” and being “woke,” and have been bitterly opposed by conservatives, who prefer tribal morality, to this day;
- And so the insight: the ancients overcame human psychological biases about the shape of the world, because they had economic incentives for doing so; yet despite their success, millennia later there are still flat-earthers. While attempts to overcome tribalist human nature has led to grand movements like the US Constitution, yet most people to this day prefer tribalist mindsets: see conservatives.
- And so: human nature is inescapable. The dreams of utopias are likely only dreams.
This item on Jerry Coyne’s site today — combined with following the implications of thought in yesterday’s blog post — suggested to me a new fundamental insight.
Jerry Coyne, Why Evolution Is True, Are we past peak woke in America?
