Sexuality and Dominance Hierarchies (with Malcolm Collins)
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.
Deep Dive Analysis
12 Topic Outline
Malcolm Collins' Background and Life Goals
The Velocity of Ideas and the 'Offense Detector'
Ethical Considerations in Research: Suppressing or Avoiding Data
Failures of Mainstream Institutions: COVID-19 Mask Guidance
Naltrexone: An Undersung Drug for Addiction Treatment
Problems in Traditional Sexuality Research Methodology
Re-evaluating Sexual Arousal Patterns and Gender Differences
The Role of Disgust in the Sexual Arousal System
Evolutionary Origins of Arousal: Dominance and Submission
Polygyny, Monogamy, and Social Stability
Dominance Hierarchies in Social Structures
Cultural Drift and Extremism in Intentional Communities
6 Key Concepts
Preservation of Sentience
Malcolm Collins's core goal, defined as the ability to take in new ideas, have them compete with old ideas within one's mental landscape, and allow the best idea to emerge. It's viewed as an active fight against 'mimetic sets' that prevent serious consideration of competing worldviews.
Offense Detector
A mental mechanism that signals when an idea credibly challenges one's worldview, distinct from mere concern or worry. Malcolm suggests it's an internal signal to 'dig in' and understand the challenging idea, but ideologies often misuse it to dismiss ideas.
Memetic Sets
Viral and potentially dangerous sets of ideas (like religions or political ideologies) that spread effectively from human brain to human brain. These sets evolve to defend themselves, often by preventing individuals from seriously considering any nuance of a competing worldview.
Polymorphic Traits
Biological traits where an organism's entire morphology or behavior transforms when population levels or environmental conditions reach a certain threshold. Examples include grasshoppers turning into locusts or baboons changing social structures based on population density.
Sexual Inhibition System
A biological mechanism, observed to be more common in females than males, where the presence of certain environmental stimuli (e.g., a crying child) can immediately turn off the arousal system, regardless of other arousing factors. This system likely serves an evolutionary purpose related to offspring care.
Cultural Drift
A phenomenon in intentionally established communities where the very values the community aims to promote (e.g., rationalism, wokeness) become the basis for social challenges and status competition. This can lead to extremist iterations of the community that subvert its original purpose.
10 Questions Answered
His goal is the 'preservation of sentience,' which he defines as the ability to take in new ideas, have them compete, and allow the best ideas to emerge within one's mental landscape, viewing it as an active fight against dangerous 'mimetic sets.'
Offense acts as a mental detector, signaling when an idea credibly challenges one's existing worldview, prompting a deeper engagement with that idea. However, ideologies often exploit this by teaching people to dismiss offensive ideas, thereby preventing worldview updates.
Researchers might suppress or avoid certain research questions (e.g., on pedophilia or gender differences) due to the potential for social harm, misinterpretation, or misuse of the findings by hateful ideologies, even if the research itself is scientifically sound.
Organizations like the U.S. Surgeon General and WHO initially stated that masks were ineffective for the general public, later reversing their positions. Malcolm argues this eroded public trust and was a disservice to science, as smart people knew masks were important even before the virus reached the U.S.
Naltrexone is a drug that blocks opioid pathways in the brain, primarily known for treating heroin addiction. It is also highly effective (80% success rate) in treating alcoholism by reducing the desire to drink over time, and can help with other addictions like gambling and some forms of obesity.
Much traditional research, often conducted by males with a male mindset, failed to account for how females consume erotic material (e.g., erotic fanfiction/romance novels) and often presumed a simple 'gay-straight spectrum' that doesn't fully capture the diverse and unbundled arousal patterns in the human brain.
It is hypothesized that disgust and arousal might be inverse versions of the same system, using similar developmental structures and neurological mechanisms. This could explain why things typically considered disgusting (like feces or insects) can be arousing for a significant portion of the population.
Evolution seems to have hijacked the arousal system, originally for breeding, to also motivate dominance competitions among early ancestors. This explains why dominance and submission themes are so prevalent in sexual contexts like BDSM, which often doesn't even require sex.
While polygyny is common in many small, independent cultures, it tends to lead to more social ills (higher rates of rape, lower honesty, more stealing, terrorism, prostitution) in larger societies, potentially due to a higher number of unattached males.
In groups, individuals have subconscious dominance rankings. When a dominant member suggests an idea and is challenged by a lower-ranking member, the group's reaction (solidarity with the dominant or support for the challenger) can shift relative dominance values, leading to 'dominance gambits' and potential 'dominance coups.'
19 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.
8 Key Quotes
Offense is an emotion we feel when something credibly challenges our worldview.
Malcolm Collins
If any ideology can get people to use this detection system as a method for filtering ideas, they've already lost.
Malcolm Collins
If I know going into something that I'm not going to report one type of answer, or I'm not going to ideologically want to defend one sort of answer, it's best to sort of bubble that before it goes out.
Malcolm Collins
I think that people often really don't understand what heritable things mean. And that's part of why they're afraid of this idea of heritability.
Spencer Greenberg
Evolution is a cheap programmer.
Malcolm Collins
BDSM is in many respects a kabuki theater of early human submission and dominance displays.
Malcolm Collins
The love system appears to have been hijacked by our systems for social cohesion.
Malcolm Collins
The process of election is now meaningless because you have not a dictatorship, but a strong control of either a group of people within this community or a single individual within this community.
Malcolm Collins