Sexuality and Dominance Hierarchies (with Malcolm Collins)

Jan 13, 2021 1h 41m 19 insights Episode Page ↗
Spencer Greenberg speaks with Malcolm Collins, a neuroscientist and author, about his goal of preserving sentience. They discuss the spread of ideas, the suppression of research in areas like sexuality and gender differences, and the pervasive influence of subconscious dominance hierarchies in communities and relationships.
Actionable Insights

1. Cultivate Mental Sentience

Actively engage with new ideas, allowing them to compete with your existing beliefs to foster the emergence of better understanding and preserve your ability to adapt.

2. Update Worldview from Offense

If your worldview leads you to automatically dismiss ideas that offend you, recognize this as a barrier to growth and instead use offense as a prompt to re-evaluate your beliefs.

3. Use Offense as a Signal

When an idea offends you, recognize it as a credible challenge to your worldview and a signal that the idea might be worth deeper investigation rather than immediate dismissal.

4. Prioritize Honesty in Communication

When communicating critical information, especially in public health, prioritize complete honesty and transparency over misleading statements, even if well-intentioned, to maintain public trust.

5. Avoid Spreading False Information

Do not spread false information, even with good intentions, as it undermines credibility and makes it harder to gain public cooperation on important matters in the future.

6. Guard Against Community Cultural Drift

When building or participating in a community, be vigilant against ‘cultural drift,’ where internal dominance hierarchies can subvert the community’s original purpose by creating social challenges based on extreme interpretations of its values.

7. Reward Intellectual Humility

To foster a healthier community, try to create a social structure where admitting wrongness and demonstrating intellectual humility when faced with new information are pathways to gaining status.

8. Suppress Harmful Research Questions

If you anticipate that certain research findings could cause catastrophic social harm and you would not report them anyway, it is better not to conduct that research in the first place.

9. Be Transparent About Research Limits

When choosing not to pursue certain research due to potential harm, be transparent about this decision rather than conducting the research and then selectively reporting only ‘acceptable’ findings.

10. Foster Moderation in Communities

Consider how to design communities where a moderate approach to ideas is valued and rewarded within the social hierarchy, rather than extremism or rigid adherence to specific beliefs.

11. Seek Diverse Cultural Exposure

To prevent communities from spiraling into extremism, ensure they are exposed to a dominant culture that presents alternate viewpoints, as this external pressure can help maintain internal sanity.

12. Differentiate from Mainstream Norms

If your community’s core values become mainstream, actively seek ways to differentiate yourselves or risk members adopting extremist views to establish internal hierarchy and identity.

13. Avoid Extreme Displays of Values

In communities focused on specific values, avoid using extreme or obscure interpretations of those values as a means of gaining social dominance, as this can lead to unhelpful or even harmful practices.

14. Challenge Historical Research Biases

Be aware that historical research, especially in fields like medicine and sexuality, may be biased by the perspective of its (often male) researchers, leading to incomplete or skewed understandings.

15. Broaden Research Definitions

When studying human behavior, especially in complex areas like sexuality, ensure your research questions and definitions are broad enough to capture diverse experiences and avoid biases from your own perspective.

16. Recognize Memetic Strategies

Be aware that ideologies (memetic sets) often incorporate mechanisms (like ‘hell’ or ‘blasphemy’) that encourage their spread and self-preservation, making them harder to challenge.

17. Understand Dominance Challenges

In social dominance dynamics, walking away or not engaging when challenged can be perceived as a direct challenge, potentially forcing the other person to retaliate to maintain their social standing.

18. Research Naltrexone for Addiction

If you or a friend suffer from alcoholism, gambling addiction, or some forms of obesity, research the drug Naltrexone and its academic papers, then discuss it with your doctor, as many U.S. doctors may not be aware of its broad utility. (Always consult a doctor before taking any medication).

19. Question Your Reasons for Living

Actively challenge your intrinsic reasons for living to gain a deeper understanding of your motivations and purpose.