Podcast episode about cultural evolution and critical blindness with Steije Hofhuis in Harvesting Happiness

Examining Cultural Evolution and Critical Blindness with Steije Hofhuis PhD

Original Air Date Wednesday, January 24 , 2024.

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Fear and doubt serve as powerful tools in the political landscape, allowing politicians to manipulate public perception and sow confusion. By labeling legitimate investigations or criticisms as “witch hunts,” these leaders attempt to delegitimize the concerns raised against them. This tactic not only deflects attention from the actual issues at hand but also erodes trust in the democratic process.

To discover how we can inoculate ourselves against cultural viruses, Harvesting Happiness Podcast Host Lisa Cypers Kamen speaks with a lecturer of cultural evolution at the Department of History and Art History at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, Steije Hofhuis PhD. Steije shares historical information about how witch hunts spread and how ideas about witchcraft adapted in new ways that stimulated more witch prosecutions. His research shows that cultural viruses, or mindbugs, adapted and evolved in a Darwinian manner throughout certain geographical areas and time periods.

Tune in:

Meet Our Guest:

Steije Hofhuis PhD is a lecturer in cultural history at the Department of History and Art History at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. His fields of interest include the Darwinian theory of evolution, early modern witch persecutions, the theory of history, and the history of migration and integration.

In 2016, he started his part-time PhD research, funded by the Stichting Professor van Winter Fonds, which, in 2022, resulted in the dissertation named Qualitative Darwinism: An Evolutionary History of Witch-hunting. He completed the Research Master’s in History at the University of Amsterdam in 2011, and from 2013-2016 he worked as a junior lecturer at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies of the same university.

Steije Hofhuis PhD — Examining Darwinian Cultural Evolution:

Commonalities of those suspected of witchcraft throughout history. {3:17}
Cultural viruses can evolve in a Darwinian way by adapting to an environment and spreading through people. {6:09}
A mini ice age in the 1500s led people to believe that people within their communities were allying with the devil to promote a diabolical conspiracy. {9:12}
Critical thinkers of the time warned that using torture would create false confessions and allegations. {11:44}
Creating fear and offering explanations to the unknowable was key to a mind bug’s success in spreading. {18:00}
Are there ways to protect ourselves from mind viruses? {28:07}

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Shareables:

“People became vulnerable to the idea that there were internal enemies, people within their own communities who had allied themselves with the devil.” @HofhuisSteije on @HHTalkRadio Share on X “Catholic inquisitors or upcoming elites allegedly used the witch hunts for particular purposes like repressing women, getting more power, and destroying traditional peasant culture.” @HofhuisSteije on @HHTalkRadio Share on X “One of the key ideas behind witch hunting was that the devil tried to seduce people into witchcraft but that women were particularly vulnerable.” @HofhuisSteije on @HHTalkRadio Share on X “What evidence would make us question our own convictions?” @HofhuisSteije on @HHTalkRadio Share on X

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