Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey
Episode description
In order to give you all a break from the talk about the end of the world, this episode has Jonah speaking with psychologist Dr. Michele Gelfand about one of his pet-obsessions: “tight” and “loose” theories of culture. Why do places like Japan and Singapore seem to be in lockstep while the U.S. is so freewheeling? How should we tighten up, culturally, as a response to COVID? And why are Mexican teachers unions so weird? We ask the hard questions here on The Remnant, so don’t miss it.
Show Notes:
-Michele’s book, Rule Makers, Rule Breakers
-The complexity of fractals, for those who actually understand math
-Mexican teaching jobs are given to… teachers’ kids?
-The gum-free land of Singapore
-D.E. Brown’s list of universal traits across all human cultures
-Jonathan Haidt’s article, which then spawned a book, which then spawned a Remnant episode
-Robert Wright, The Moral Animal
-John Tooby’s “coalition instinct”
-Jonah’s Wednesday “news”letter
-Michele’s piece on COVID in the Boston Globe
-The fascinating concept of “pluralistic ignorance”
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