(Conversation recorded on November 28th, 2023)
On this episode, Nate is joined by Ashley Hodgson, a professor in behavioral economics, where she offers a perspective on the superorganism and what she calls ‘The New Enlightenment’. By taking a wide-lens look at the way our human systems work, we can see the incentives and structures that push power towards consumptive, short-sighted, and destructive pathways. How could we ‘rejigger’ these systems to be more aligned with values and goals conducive to supporting humans long into the future? What are the natural laws that inherently depreciate systems – and how might we think about counteracting them? As we enter a world where the perpetual growth we’ve come to expect is no longer possible, how can we lean into the creativity and ingenuity required when thinking about new economic paradigms?
About Ashley Hodgson
Ashley Hodgson is an Associate Professor of Economics and a YouTuber. She teaches Behavioral Economics, Digital Industries, Health Care Economics, and Blockchain Economics. Her YouTube channel, The New Enlightenment, explores topics related to economics, governance, and epistemics – that is, the determination of truth and validity – in a world of social media and increasing power concentration.
Show Notes & Links to Learn More
00:00 – Ashley Hodgson works + info, Youtube Channel
Videos for Further Learning:
Why does the human superorganism have cancer?
01:55 – St. Olaf College
04:40 – Behavioral Economics
05:05 – Superorganism + Ashley on the Superorganism
07:00 – David Laibson, Daniel Kahneman
07:40 – Game Theory
11:11 – Drop in the bucket problem, incentive structures
12:05 – Collective action problem
15:43 – Old Enlightenment
17:18 – System Depreciation
18:00 – Peter Turchin + Ashley’s review on Peter Turchin’s “End Times”
18:39 – Surplus and status/hierarchy, power law distributions
19:27 – Cyclical history
19:54 – Elite Overproduction, Mass Immiseration
21:01 – Reality Roundtable #7 on Poverty
21:20 – ALICE Household
22:38 – Mean vs Median income in the US
23:07 – Matthew Principle
24:58 – Plutocracy
25:11 – Cantillon Effect
32:02 – Frankly Series
34:54 – Salience
36:49 – New Deal, World War II Effects
37:30 – Human’s unique moral mechanisms
42:32 – Youth and in-person social skills
42:44 – Jonathan Haidt + TGS Podcast
43:50 – Blockchain, Bitcoin
46:05 – Different economic systems beyond capitalism and socialism
46:44 – Feedback Loops
48:25 – Creative Destruction of Institutions
1:03:07 – The Great Simplification Episode 100
