#141 Moshe Hoffman: Game Theory, Norm Enforcement, and Evolutionary Psychology

------------------Support the channel------------ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thedissenter PayPal: paypal.me/thedissenter ------------------Follow me on--------------------- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thedissenteryt/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheDissenterYT Dr. Moshe Hoffman is a Research Scientist at MIT Media Lab & Lecturer at Harvard's Department of Economics. He applies game theory, models of learning and evolution, and experimental methods, to try to decipher the (often subconscious and subtle) incentives that shape our social behavior, preferences, and ideologies. Dr. Hoffman obtained his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business and his B.S. in Economics from the University of Chicago. He also co-designed and teaches "Game Theory and Social Behavior" which lays out a lot of the evidence and models behind this approach. In this episode, we talk about Game Theory. We first establish the aspects of behavior Game Theory studies, and how it does it, referring to strategies of social interaction studied by Robert Axelrod, which Richard Dawkins talks about in The Selfish Gene. In the second part of the interview, we go through the critiques that Dr. Hoffman made of Evolutionary Psychology (https://twitter.com/Moshe_Hoffman/status/1073270050809937923), focusing on aesthetics, religion, and social norms and morality. Time Links: 00:49 What is game theory, and how it works 11:39 Evolved strategies and environmental cues               24:20 Dawkins, Axelrod, The Selfish Gene, and strategies of social interaction          31:58 The evolution of cooperation and altruism      33:47 Norm enforcement  37:35 Evolutionary Psychology (EP)    40:29 What Dr. Hoffman thinks EP gets wrong – pre-adaptations      51:44 Beauty, aesthetics, and artistic behavior   59:43 Extrinsic properties and social aspects of art 1:06:55 Conspicuous consumption 1:19:59 Religion, and other by-products of mental adaptations  1:27:12 How social norms evolve, and the case of Chinese foot-binding 1:33:21 Innate cognition and cultural evolution 1:36:12 Emergent properties and “novel” strategies of the mind 1:46:27 Follow Dr. Hoffman’s work! -- Follow Dr. Hoffman’s work: Faculty page: https://tinyurl.com/y7g2ubal Personal website: https://tinyurl.com/yboyxvxu Articles on Researchgate: https://tinyurl.com/ybxwknfs Twitter handle: @Moshe_Hoffman Twitter thread on Evolutionary Psychology: https://twitter.com/Moshe_Hoffman/status/1073270050809937923 -- A HUGE THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS: KARIN LIETZCKE, ANN BLANCHETTE, JUNOS, SCIMED, PER HELGE HAAKSTD LARSEN, LAU GUERREIRO, RUI BELEZA, MIGUEL ESTRADA, ANTÓNIO CUNHA, CHANTEL GELINAS, JIM FRANK, JERRY MULLER, FRANCIS FORD, HANS FREDRIK SUNDE, BRIAN RIVERA AND ADRIANO ANDRADE! I also leave you with the link to a recent montage video I did with the interviews I have released until the end of June 2018: https://youtu.be/efdb18WdZUo And check out my playlists on: PSYCHOLOGY: https://tinyurl.com/ybalf8km PHILOSOPHY: https://tinyurl.com/yb6a7d3p<