Are You Thinking Your Thoughts, Or Are They Thinking You?

You like to think of yourself as someone who thinks for themselves. But what if the ideas running through your head aren't really yours — what if they found you, infected you, and quietly rewrote your behaviour to help themselves spread?

In this episode, we take an unusual detour into evolutionary biology — because it turns out the science of genes, parasites, and natural selection explains more about your psychology than most self-help books ever will.

We cover why you are, in a very real sense, a vehicle built to carry ancient replicators. How social media, advertising, and even religion use the same cognitive vulnerabilities as a brain parasite that makes rats fall in love with cats. And why understanding the mechanism of influence is the first — and most underrated — step to genuine mental autonomy.

This is a preview of an episode from How to Change the World. See details below.

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CHAPTERS

00:00 Introduction

02:24 You Are a Robot

04:12 Patterns of Nature

05:45 Act 1: Control

06:20 Nico Tinbergen and the Randy Fish

08:46 The Primordial Soup Starter Kit

10:04 Algorithmic Governance

11:24 Act 2: Co-operation

13:44 Moral Judgement and the Birth of Religion

15:25 Act 3: External Control

17:38 Remote Control

20:44 Act 4: Idea Vats

21:10 Consciousness

23:13 What Is a Meme?

24:14 Genes vs Memes Speed

26:03 Idea Propagation

28:29 Carrier Class

30:23 Act 5: Game Theory

31:00 Where to Find the Full Episode

TOPICS

Free will, cognitive bias, evolutionary psychology, memes, Richard Dawkins, selfish gene, mindset, belief systems, mental models, psychology of influence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices