YouSaid · the spoken record

Lisa Feldman Barrett

lines on the record: 164
first: 2020-11-20
most recent: 2020-11-20
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Know, I would say I don't think that we're here by accident because I think, like I said, there are constraints. Like there are some physical constraints about Earth. Now, of course, if you were a cosmologist, you could say, well, the fact that the Earth, if you were to do the Big Bang over again and keep doing it over and over and over again, would you still get the same solar systems? Would you still get the same planets? The same solar systems, the same planets. I don't know, but my guess is probably not because there are random things that happen that can, again, send things in one direct, you know, make one set of trajectories possible in another set impossible. But I guess my, if I were going to bet something, money or something valuable, I would probably say it's not zero.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I would say probably high. I don't know. But, you know, but do I think what's the likelihood that we would end up with exactly the same or very similar? I think it's low, actually. I wouldn't say it's low, but I would say it's not 100%. And I'm not even sure it's 50%.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That's because I don't know anything about. Yeah, I mean, you know, I don't really well versed that. What's the problem? So, what's the probability that the animals will begin in the ocean and crawl out onto land?”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“This is not science. But I would say, okay, well, what's the probability that it's going to be a carbon life form probably high?”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I think, you know, as you know better than anyone else, that the answer to that question is, of course, there's some probability that that could happen, right? It's not a yes or no answer. It's what's the probability that that would happen. And there's a whole distribution of possibilities. So maybe we end up, what's the probability we end up with exactly the same complement of creatures, including us. What's the likelihood that we end up with Creatures that are similar to humans, but you know, similar in certain ways, let's say, but not exactly humans or, you know, all the way to a completely different distribution of creatures.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Much better than other animals. And, you know, correspondingly, other animals can do some things much better than we can. We can't grow back limbs. We can't lift 50 times our own body weight. Well, I mean, maybe you can, but I can't lift 50 times my own body”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“If it's a big kitchen in a really big house. Not telling you anything special, right? If it's a big kitchen in a small house, then that might be a place that you want to eat for dinner because it's more likely that that kitchen is large for a special reason. And so the cerebral cortex of a human brain isn't in and of itself special because of its size. However, There are some genetic changes that have happened in the human brain. As it's grown To whatever sizes typical for the whole brain size, right? There are some changes that do give the human brain slightly more of some. Capacities, they're not special, but there's just, they just, you know, we can do some things.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But, well, what I was going to say is, but our cerebral cortex is not larger than what you would expect for a brain of its size. So relative to, say, an ape, like a gorilla or a chimp, or even a mammal, like a dolphin or an elephant, our brains, our cerebral cortex is as large as you would expect it to be for a brain of our size. There's nothing special about our cerebral cortex, and this is something I explain in the book where I say, okay, by analogy, if you walk into somebody's house and you see that they have a huge kitchen, You know, you might think, well, maybe this is a place I really definitely want to eat dinner at because, you know, these people must be gourmet cooks. But you don't know anything about what the size of their kitchen means unless you consider it in relation to the size of the rest of the house.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In a brain that is not unique exactly, but that is, you know, it does have some features that make it particularly useful for us to do all of these things, to have all of these things intertwined. Our brains are actually the last time we talked, I made a mistake because I said in my enthusiasm, I said, you know, our brains are not larger, are relative to our bodies. Our brains are not larger than other primates. And that's actually not true, actually. Our brains relative to our body size is somewhat larger. An ape who's not a human, that's not a human, their brains are larger than their body sizes than, say, relative to a smaller monkey. And a human's brain is larger relative to its body size than a gorilla.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That we communicate with each other very, very efficiently. We have language, but we're not the only animals who are efficient communicators. There are lots of other animals who can efficiently communicate, like bees, for example. You know, we cooperate really well with one another to do grand things, but there are other animals that cooperate too. And so every innovation that we have, other animals have too. What we have is we have all of those together interwoven in this very complex dance.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“All of the things that humans do that are very special, that seem very special, there's at least one other animal on the planet that can do those things too. What's special about the human brain is that we put them all together. So we learn from one another. We don't have to experience everything ourselves. We can watch another animal or another human experience something, and we can learn from that. Well, there are many other animals who can learn by copying.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So do octopuses have very complex brains. And all three sets of, all three of those brains are somewhat different from one another. Birds, some birds have very complex brains. Some even have rudimentary language. They have no cerebral cortex. I mean, admittedly, they have, this is now lesson two, right? They have, is it lesson two or lesson one? Let me think. No, this is lesson one. They have the same neurons, the same neurons that in a human become the cerebral cortex, birds have those neurons. They just don't form themselves into a cerebral cortex. But I mean, crows, for example, are very sophisticated animals. They can do a lot of the things that humans can do. In fact,”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“With our genes and so on and our, you know, the physical nature of our bodies to make some things more possible and some things less possible. Look, I mean, humans have very complex brains, but birds have complex brains. And so do, you know,”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I think the thing to say, or what I understand to be the case, is that there's variation. It's not unbounded variation. And there are selectors. There are pressures that we'll select. And so not anything is possible because we live on a planet that has certain physical realities to it, right? But those physical realities are what constrain. Possibilities, the physical realities of our genes and the physical realities of our corporeal bodies and the physical realities of life on this planet. So what I would say is that there's no direction, but there is, it's not infinite possibility because we live on a particular planet that has particular statistical regularities in it, and some things will never happen.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Where those other cultures would do better. So very individualistic cultures like ours may do much better under other types of selection pressures. But for COVID, for things like COVID, my colleague Michelle Galfont, her research shows that she looks at loose cultures and tight cultures, so cultures that have very, very strict rules versus cultures that are much more individualistic and where personal freedoms are more valued. And her research suggests that for pandemic circumstances, tight culture is actually, the people survive better.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Have different sets of norms and practices that allow, that will slow or speed the spread. And that's the point that I was actually trying to make here, that When the environment changes, that is, there's a mutation of a virus that is incredibly infectious. Some cultures will succumb, people in some cultures will succumb faster because of the particular Norms and practices that they've developed in their culture versus other cultures. Now, there could be some other Thing that changes”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Your immune system may be in a state that you can make enough antibodies to not show symptoms, not develop symptoms. And so, of course, what this means is, again, is that if I asked you, do you think a virus is the cause of a common cold or most people, if I ask this question, I can tell you I ask this question. So do you think a virus is the cause? Most people would say, yes, I think it is. And then I say, yeah, well, only 20 to 40 percent of people develop respiratory illness in exposure to a virus. So clearly. It is a necessary cause, but it's not a sufficient cause. And there are other causes again, so not simple single causes for things, right? Multiple interacting influences. So it is true that individuals vary in their susceptibility to illness upon exposure, but different cultures”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, not in these studies, actually. So, in these studies, the dose was consistent across all people. And everything, they were sequestered in hotel rooms, and what they ate was, you know, measured out by scientists and so on. And so when you hold dose, I mean, the dose issue is a real issue in the real world. But in these studies, that was controlled. And only somewhere between, depending on the study, between 20 and 40 percent of people became infected with a disease. Exposure to a virus doesn't mean de facto that you will develop an illness. You will be a carrier and you will spread the virus to other people, but you yourself may not.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And that's not what you see happening. What you do see happening, it is true that some people, I mean, we could use this as an example of essentialism also. So just to say like exposure to the virus does not mean that you will become infected with a disease. So, I mean, in controlled studies, one of which was actually a coronavirus, not COVID, but these are studies from 10 or so years ago, you know, only somewhere between 20 and 40 percent of people were developed respiratory illness when a virus was placed in their nose And so”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I mean, the way that I used to describe it was using those movies like The War of the Worlds or Pacific Rim, you know, where like aliens come down from outer space and they, you know, want to kill humans. And so all the humans band together as a species. And they all little squabbling from countries and whatever, you know, goes away and everyone is just one big. You know, well That That doesn't happen. I mean, because COVID, a virus. Like COVID 19 is like a creature from outer space.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because if the environment were to change drastically, Some of those solutions will work better than others. And you can see that happening with COVID.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“ecological parts of the world but for individual humans there are definitely some systems that are better and some systems that are worse right but when when anthropologists or when neuroscientists or biologists are talking the other not usually talking about the lives of individual people they're talking about you know the species what's better for the species the survivability of the species and what's better for the survivability of the species is variation that we have lots of cultures with lots of different solutions”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I can say I would very much prefer certain, I have certain beliefs and I really want everyone in the world to live by those beliefs, you know. But as a scientist, I know that It's not really the case that for the species, any one of these is better than any other, there are different solutions that work differentially well in particular.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And some cultures that are much more egalitarian. There are some cultures that in the debate of like getting along versus getting ahead, there are some cultures that really prioritize the individual over the group. And there are other cultures that really prioritize the group over the individual. It's not like one of these is right and one of these is wrong. It's that, you know, different combinations of these features are different solutions that humans have come up with for living in groups, which is a major adaptive advantage of our species. And it's not the case that one of these is better and one of these is worse. Although as a person, of course, I have opinions about that. And as a person.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Or creatures of the earth first, let's say. And I don't think we know how flexible those attitudes are because I don't think the research really tells us that. But in any case, there are, you know, and there are beliefs, people also have beliefs about there's this really interesting research in really an anthropology that looks at What are cultures particularly afraid of? Like what the people in a particular culture are organizing their social systems to prevent certain types of problem. So what are the problems that they're worried about? And so there are some cultures that are much more hierarchical.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, exactly. That's exactly right. And so there are some people who, there is research which suggests that there are some people who will tell you, I think it's appropriate and better to help, I should help my family more than I should help my neighbors and I should help my neighbors more than I should help the average stranger. And I should help you know the average stranger in my country more than I should help somebody outside my country. And I should help humans more than I should help, you know, other animals. Right. So there's a clear hierarchy of helping. And there are other people who You know, their niche is much more inclusive, right? And that they're humans first.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I mean, that's the kitschy way to say it. We're tribes, we're tribal. Yeah. So that's the kitschy way to say it. What I would say is that. You know, there are a lot of features. You can use to describe yourself, you don't have one identity, you don't have one self, you have many selves, you have many identities. Sometimes you're a man, sometimes you're a scientist, sometimes you're a brother or a sister”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I definitely agree with you, but I think the caveat here is that humans, the research suggests that humans Capable of great acts of kindness and great acts of generosity to people in their in-group. And”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Don't think Hitler is an anomaly. You know, even if it's less probable that that would happen, it's possible that it could happen again. And it's not like he's a bad seed. I mean, I just want to say, of course, he's completely 100% responsible for his actions and all the bad things that happen. So I'm not in any way, this is not me saying.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Or, you know, and I'm not saying that as a Pollyanna-ish person. I think there's a lot of room for competition and debate and so on. But I don't see Hitler as an anomaly. And I never have, that was even before I learned anything about neuroscience. And now I would say knowing what we know about developmental trajectories and life histories and how important that is, you know, knowing what we know about that the whole question of like nature versus nurture is a completely wrong question. You know, we have the kind of nature that requires nurture. We have the kind of genes that allow infants to be born with unfinished brains, where the brains, their brains are wired across a 25-year period with wiring instructions from the world that is created for them.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Know like you can't, you don't know what he was thinking inside his head, you don't know what he was feeling, but he was totally professional doing his job. So I guess I just, I had a bit of a different, you know, view, I guess. And so I also think that about people. I think everybody is capable of kindness. But, you know, it's the question is how much does it take and what are the circumstances? So for a lot, some people, it's going to take a lot. And for some people, it only takes a little bit. You know, are we actually... Cultivating an environment for the next generation that Provides opportunities for people to go in the direction of caring and kindness.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But there's one scene where he goes in, he dresses up as a Jew. I laugh myself sick at that scene seriously But he goes in and there are these two old Jewish ladies What a bunch of sweethearts Oh my gosh. Like, really? I mean, that was what I was struck by. I mean, there are other ones, or like the babysitter, right? I mean, She was really kind. And yeah, so that's really what I was more struck by. Sure, there are other people who, you know, who do very bad things or say bad things or whatever. But, you know, or like there's one guy who's completely stoic, like the guy who's doing the sending the messages. I don't know if it's facts or whatever. He's just completely stoic, but he's doing his job, actually.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They took a complete stranger in a pandemic. Into their house Who does that? Like, that's a really nice thing. Or there's one scene. I mean, I don't want to spoil it for people who haven't seen it, but...”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Look at how generous people were in that, because he's making, there are a lot of people he makes fun of, and that's fine, but think about like those two guys, those.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Weak non linear interacting causes. And so little things that we might not even be aware of can shift someone's developmental trajectory from this to that. And that's enough to take it on a whole set of other paths that, you know, that, and that these things are happening all the time. So it's not random and it's not really, it's not deterministic in the sense that like everything you do determines your outcome. It's a little more like you're nudging someone from one set of possibilities to another set of possibilities. But I think the thing is I find optimistic is that the other side of that coin is also true. Right, so look at all the people who risk their lives to help people they didn't even know. I mean, I just watched Borat, the new Borat movie. And the thing that I came away with, but you know, the thing I came away with was.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Absolutely. And I guess the way that I would say it, I would agree 100%. And I guess the way that I would say it is like this. In the West, we have a way of reasoning about causation, which focuses on single simple causes for things. You know, there's an essence to Hitler. There's an essence to his character. He was born with that essence, or it was forged very, very early in his life. And that explains the landscape of his horrible landscape of his behavior. There's another way to think about it, a way that actually is much more consistent with what we know about biology, how biology works in the physical world, and that is that most things are complex, not as in, wow, this is really complex and hard, but complex as in complexity that is more than the sum of their parts, and that most phenomena have many, many”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I do know that what I have to say is so useful from a I don't know that I can say as a neuroscientist. Well, here are a study. That, you know, what I so I sort of have to take off my lab coat, right? And now I'm going to now conjecture as a human who just also who has opinions, but who also maybe has some knowledge about neuroscience. But I'm not speaking as a neuroscientist when I say this because I don't think neuroscientists know enough really to be able to say. But I guess the kinds of things I think about So, I have always thought, even before I knew anything about neuroscience, I've always thought that Think anybody could become Hitler, but I think the majority of people can be Can are capable of doing very bad things.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Know, we have ways of categorizing who's in our group and who isn't by non-physical ways, right? Even by just something abstract like an idea. And we are much more likely to extend help to people in our own group. At that moment, whatever feature you're using to define who's in your group and who isn't, we're more likely to help those people than even members of our own family at times. So humans are much more flexible in their... And the way that they help one another, but also in the way that they harm one another. So I don't. I don't think I subscribe to You know, we are primarily this, or we are primarily that. I don't think humans have essences in that way, really.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Support one another. They regulate each other's nervous systems in interesting ways, and they will be helpful to one another, right? So, for example, there's a whole literature on rodents and how they signal one another, what is safe to eat, and they will perform acts of generosity to their conspecifics that are related to them or who they were raised with. So if an animal was raised in a litter that they were raised in, although not even at the same time, they'll be more likely to help that animal. So there's always some kind of physical relationship between animals that predicts whether or not they'll help one another. For humans, Hum”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think so. I think so. So Know humans be violent? Yes. Can humans be really helpful? Yes, actually. And humans are interesting creatures because, you know, other animals can also be helpful to one another. In fact, there's a whole literature, booming literature, on how other animals are”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, so it's interesting. I mean, there are zeitgeists in how humans think about themselves, right? And so if you look in the 20th century, You can see that the idea of an inner beast that we're just predators were just basically animals, baseless animals, violent animals that have to be contained by culture and by our prodigious neocortex really took hold particularly after World War I and really held sway for much of that century. And then around, at least in Western writing, I would say, you know, we're talking mainly about Western scientific writing, Western philosophical writing. And then late 90s maybe, you start to see books and articles about our social nature that were social animals. And we are social animals, but what does that mean exactly?”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, and in fact, that's absolutely right. And in fact, some scientists think that theory of mind, your ability to make inferences about the inner life of other creatures, actually developed under the selection pressure of predation. It makes you a better predator.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, actually, the brain goes with the development of a head and the development of visual system and auditory system and an olfactory system and so on. Your senses are developing and the other thing that's happening, right, is that animals are getting bigger. And also their niche is getting bigger.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I would say they're a major adaptation after there's a split between vertebrates and invertebrates. So amphioxis is thought to be very, very similar to the animal that before that split. But then after the development, very quickly after the development of a head is the development of a jaw. Is a big thing. And what goes along with that is the development of a brain.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Vibrations, olfaction, definitely, because of the concentration of the more concentrated something is, the more likely it is to be close to you. So animals developed senses. They developed a head like a literal head. So amphioxis doesn't even have a head really. It's just a problem.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“All of a sudden, it becomes important to have to be able to sense your environment because you need to know, is that blob up ahead going to eat me or should I eat it? And so all of a sudden you want distance senses are very useful. And so in the water, distance senses are vision and a little bit hearing. Olfaction smelling and touch because in the water touch is a distant sense because you can feel the vibration so It's right. So On land, vision is a distant sense, touch not so much, but for elephants maybe, right?”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“A little container, yeah, and so, and really it doesn't move very much, it can move, it just sort of wriggles. It doesn't have very sophisticated movement. And it's this really sweet little animal. It sort of wriggles its way to a spot and then plants itself. In the sand and just filters food as the food goes by. And then when the food concentration decreases, it just ejects itself, wriggles to some spot randomly where probabilistically there will be more food and plants itself again. So it's not really aware, very aware that it has an environment. It has a niche, but that niche is very small and it's not really experiencing that niche very much. So it's basically like a little stomach on a stick. That's really what it is But when animals start to literally hunt each other,”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Detecting light and dark for circadian rhythm purposes. And it can't hear. It has a vestibular cell to keep its body upright. It has a very rudimentary sense of touch and it doesn't really have any internal organs other than this like basically stomach. It's like a, just like a, it doesn't, it doesn't have an enteric nervous system. It doesn't have like a gut that, you know, moves like we do. It just has basically a tube. So it's like”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And so you can, by looking at various animals in their developmental state, meaning not, you don't look at adult animals, you look at embryos of animals and developing animals. You can piece together a different story. And that story is that brains evolved under the selection pressure of hunting. In the Cambrian period, hunting emerged on the scene where animals deliberately ate one another. And what, so you know, before the Cambrian period, the animals didn't really have, well, they didn't have brains, but they also didn't have senses really, the very, very rudimentary senses. So the animal that I wrote about in seven and a half lessons is called an amphioxis or a lancelet. Little amphioxis has no eyes. It has no ears, it has no nose, it has no eyes, it has a couple of cells for”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And you can look at some animals. So we scientists call an environment that an animal lives in a niche, their environmental niche. What are the things in the environment that matter to that animal? And so there are some animals whose niche hasn't changed in 400 million years. These creatures are modern creatures, but they're living in a niche that hasn't changed much, and so their biology hasn't changed much. And you can kind of verify that by looking at the genes that lurk deep, you know, in the molecular structure of cells.”
2020-11-20 · Lex Fridman Podcast · #140 – Lisa Feldman Barrett: Love, Evolution, and the Human Brain · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source