Armand Leroi: an evolutionist for all seasons

Armand Marie Leroi is the author of Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body and The Lagoon: How Aristotle Invented Science. An evolutionary biologist at Imperial College London, Leroi has tackled race and eugenics, as well as published on the cultural evolution of music and the neutral theory of evolution. In a wide-ranging conversation, we discuss his attempts to tackle the concepts of race and eugenics as a public intellectual, his exploration of cultural evolution, and finally, the impact of the rise of “woke culture” has had on free inquiry in the United Kingdom Leroi is one of those intellectuals who should be better known, with his wide-ranging and always cogent commentaries on genetics, culture, and policy.