Dangers of the mental multiverse: The 287th Evolutionary Lens with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying

Today we discuss “gender affirming surgeries”, AI and the future of cognition, and wild foxes. Kaiser Permanente is pausing surgery on trans-presenting children—we discuss sex and gender, meaning and identity, delusion and madness. Then: unlike the physical multiverse, mental multiverses are common, and becoming more so, as AI makes it ever more difficult to know what is true. We discuss grief, and how our worlds must fork when we think, but do not know, that someone has died. Similarly, when events are unclear—who was responsible for the death of President Kennedy in 1963? Are aliens visiting Earth—we must keep multiple mental universes alive in our heads at once. Correctives to this include meeting people in person, and embracing belief systems that have timeless value. Finally: more wild foxes, this time trying to eat a raccoon carcass. Included: discussion of the evolution of territoriality, parental care, and animal behavior more generally.

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Mentioned in this episode:

Kaiser Permanente pauses “gender-affirming surgery” for minors: https://x.com/BillboardChris/status/1948119275094552610

Do not affirm, do not comply: https://darkhorsestore.org/products/do-not-affirm-do-not-comply-t-shirt-unisex

From Myths to the Multiverse: How Knowledge Evolves w/ Bret Weinstein & Brett Hall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp8DevWKCic

Malaysia Airlines 370: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/search-missing-malaysia-airlines-flight-suspended-end-year-rcna199653