Wood From Eden

Wood From Eden explores the intersections of evolutionary psychology, societal norms, and human behavior. It delves into topics like fertility rates, patriarchal structures, the philosophy of happiness, and the impact of modern technologies and economies on human societies. The substack also touches on current events, historical analyses, and personal improvement through evolutionary psychology.

Evolutionary Psychology Societal Norms Human Behavior Fertility Rates Patriarchal Structures Philosophy of Happiness Impact of Modern Technologies Economic Influences on Society Historical Analysis Personal Improvement

The hottest Substack posts of Wood From Eden

And their main takeaways

Make children part of the competition of life

1056 implied HN points • 11 Mar 24
  1. Children should be included in the competition of life to increase their value and importance in society.
  2. There is a need to change the societal mindset to make raising a family as important as excelling in a career.
  3. Creating labor market sanctuaries for parents and making family a part of the competition can help reverse the trend of declining birth rates.

Slightly against human nature

1392 implied HN points • 19 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Stability Child development
  1. Foster care systems often fail to provide stable living conditions for children from adverse circumstances, impacting their chances in life.
  2. Research suggests that, on average, foster care does not provide better outcomes for children compared to staying with their birth families.
  3. Human nature and the need for stability suggest that foster children face unique challenges, including a lack of consistent relationships and environments.

AI images litter the internet

528 implied HN points • 18 Mar 24
🎨 Art & Illustration AI Art Visual storytelling
  1. AI-generated images are becoming prevalent on the internet, but their superficiality can hinder deeper meaning and understanding.
  2. The proliferation of AI images can crowd out images of real people and places, which traditionally provide more valuable information and opportunities for discovery.
  3. In a digital age where sharing reality is crucial, efforts should be made to prioritize genuine, real-world images over AI-generated ones to maintain authenticity and meaning.

Paid content: Food for n00bs

192 implied HN points • 15 Mar 24
🍲 Food & Drink Cooking
  1. The post is about cooking for beginners and trying to address the challenges faced by those who struggle in the kitchen.
  2. The content is reserved for paid subscribers only, indicating that it offers specific, valuable information that might not be accessible otherwise.
  3. The author emphasizes the idea of coming together to solve problems, highlighting a sense of community and shared support among individuals with similar challenges.
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The Wood From Eden book recommendations page

432 implied HN points • 06 Feb 24
📚 Literature Anthropology History Psychology Philosophy
  1. It's valuable to explore book recommendations even if you can't read them all from cover to cover.
  2. Readers can share book and film recommendations on specific categories on the Wood From Eden book recommendations page.
  3. The principle behind the recommendations page is to create a space for like-minded readers to share and discover new, interesting books and films.

Capitalism put an end to systematic warfare

960 implied HN points • 11 Dec 23
🌍 World Politics Warfare Evolution Economics Capitalism
  1. Capitalism led to the decline of systematic warfare as the main way for producers to compete.
  2. Human evolution has been a struggle between individual and group selection, where societies with best productivity survived wars.
  3. The shift to the market economy allowed producers to compete directly, promoting productivity without the need for destructive warfare.

Philosophy is the mathematics of language

816 implied HN points • 23 Dec 23
📖 Philosophy Language Mathematics Concepts Logic Epistemology
  1. Philosophy is the art of clarifying concepts and finding links between them.
  2. Philosophy is similar to mathematics in that it explores relationships between concepts, just as mathematics explores relationships between numbers.
  3. Concepts in philosophy change over time, making it a field that evolves constantly unlike mathematics which is built on stable concepts.

The philosophy of Peter Turchin

1296 implied HN points • 21 Sep 23
📖 Philosophy Social theory
  1. Peter Turchin studies human populations like animal populations, focusing on carrying capacity and elite overproduction.
  2. Turchin's theory involves cycles of immiseration, unrest, and epidemics in societies.
  3. Turchin's idea of macroevolution and human psychology connects to Jonathan Haidt's analogy of people forming opinions based on emotions.

Paid content: On the division of labor

192 implied HN points • 13 Feb 24
📖 Philosophy
  1. The post is about paid content regarding the division of labor.
  2. The content is available for paid subscribers only.
  3. There are options to subscribe or sign in if you are already a paid subscriber.

Wood in danger

480 implied HN points • 17 Dec 23
🌞 Climate & Environment Human Impact
  1. Dutch elm disease has devastated elm tree populations worldwide due to a unique destructive fungal infection.
  2. The industrial revolution has facilitated the spread of tree pathogens globally through transportation networks.
  3. Efforts such as vaccination and selective breeding show promise in combating tree diseases, highlighting the importance of human intervention in preserving tree species.

Gender transitioning is great for the 1 percent

1056 implied HN points • 05 Sep 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Teenagers
  1. Gender transitioning can have a significant impact on society, not just individuals.
  2. Allowing teenagers to undergo life-changing treatments before 18 can lead to different outcomes in appearance and identity.
  3. The focus shouldn't solely be on individual happiness in body modification decisions, but also consider societal implications.

Men consume relationships. Women produce them.

720 implied HN points • 31 Aug 23
🎭️ Culture Relationships Gender Social Dynamics Human behavior
  1. Women tend to consider relationships as work, while men view them as leisure.
  2. Men often approach romantic relationships like consumers, while women see them as a project to build and maintain.
  3. There is a difference in the amount of intellectual investment that men and women put into relationships, with women generally devoting more intellectual effort.

The origins of patriarchy

1392 implied HN points • 17 Jan 23
  1. Patriarchy has roots in the success of male-dominated military cooperation throughout history.
  2. Successful societies in history had a warrior class ruling over others, but industrial warfare and female inclusion changed this dynamic.
  3. Different societies had varying levels of patriarchy due to memetic drift and class structures affecting norms around gender roles.

Burying wood chips to solve the climate crisis

480 implied HN points • 14 Sep 23
  1. Carbon dioxide removal is a key focus in addressing climate change.
  2. Traditional methods like reforestation have limitations in scaling up for large carbon dioxide removal.
  3. Innovative solutions like burying wood chips underground may offer a cost-effective and scalable approach to carbon removal.

WfEPP: The Rational Household throws up

48 implied HN points • 28 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Disease Prevention
  1. The post discusses winter vomiting disease and warns sensitive readers about the content.
  2. The content is available only to paid subscribers, with a prompt to subscribe or sign in for access.
  3. The post title hints at insights related to 'The Rational Household' in the context of the discussed disease.

Mongols of North America

528 implied HN points • 07 Aug 23
💾 History American history Colonialism
  1. The Comanche people used the arrival of horses on the plains to develop a new way of life centered around horses and hunting bison from horseback.
  2. The Spanish colony of New Mexico had to resort to cooperation and appeasement with the Comanche, offering lavish gifts in exchange for peace and stopping raiding.
  3. The decline of the bison population due to hunting by commercial buffalo hunters in the 1870s was a decisive blow to the Comanche economy, leading to their ultimate decline and confinement to reservations.

Religion of today

576 implied HN points • 15 Jul 23
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Religion Climate change Monotheism
  1. People often believe in things just because many others do, like in a religious way
  2. There are different perspectives on climate change, with debates on data interpretation and policy urgency
  3. It's crucial to give attention to various potential disasters, not just focus on a single issue like carbon dioxide emissions

Paid content: Help the baby find a name

96 implied HN points • 07 Jan 24
  1. The post is about helping a baby find a name
  2. It is paid content on woodfromeden.substack.com
  3. You need to be a paid subscriber to access the content

It was the end of the world as they knew it

432 implied HN points • 21 Jul 23
🔬 Science
  1. 66 million years ago, an asteroid caused the end of the dinosaurs and led to mass extinction.
  2. The impact caused immense destruction, including a tsunami, shockwave, and impact winter.
  3. Humanity faces challenges in asteroid deflection due to the need for early action and space travel limitations.

Slut-onomics: How the scarcity of sluts tears the social fabric apart

32 HN points • 12 Feb 24
🎭️ Culture Society Gender Relationships Sexuality Feminism
  1. The availability of casual sex has always been uneven among men, with only a minority having most access.
  2. Slut-shaming in the past may have helped some men downplay their conquests, reducing competition and maintaining peace.
  3. The shift from categorizing women as 'good' or 'bad' to grading them on a scale has intensified competition and made rejections more personal.

Games people play, public version

576 implied HN points • 08 Jan 23
  1. Communication can often involve playing games with fixed outcomes.
  2. People might play games to maintain social interaction or alleviate loneliness.
  3. The dynamics of defending obviously stupid ideas to create social status and provoke reactions in public contexts.

How I cured myself with evolutionary psychology

768 implied HN points • 21 Oct 22
  1. Evolutionary psychology can offer insights into mental health and well-being.
  2. Consider how modern life differs from ancestral life to understand potential sources of psychological discomfort.
  3. Reflecting on evolutionary history may provide guidance on personal fulfillment and happiness.

Make sex useful again

816 implied HN points • 22 Sep 22
  1. People are having less sex despite more sexual freedom and openness.
  2. The shift from a clan-based society to modern institutions has made sex less important.
  3. Sexual desires can be negotiated to build better relationships and prioritize social connections over individual desires.

Why are all the ladies chasing the Chads?

576 implied HN points • 05 Dec 22
  1. The dating scene is experiencing a shift towards polygamous mating.
  2. Commitment is becoming less common as societal norms change.
  3. Some men are resorting to dominance tactics to navigate discomfort in modern dating.