Polite Society Can Kill You: The 214th Evolutionary Lens with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying

In this 214th in a series of live discussions with Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying (both PhDs in Biology), we talk about the state of the world through an evolutionary lens.

In this episode, we discuss polite society, RSV, and Google’s Gemini. Under what circumstances should we listen to, or defer to, the will of polite society? How can we tell if those conditions are changing? With regard to RSV (Respiratory Syncitial Virus), how deadly is it? To whom? What drugs—vaccinations and otherwise—are available, and to whom? While Politico mocks those who question the use of RSV vaccine in children, the New York Times points out there is no FDA authorized RSV vaccine for children. We also discuss the RSV vaccine that was authorized for children in the 1960s—and how it made subsequent illness far worse for those vaccinated. Finally: how does Google’s roll-out of Gemini AI reveal what is going on behind the scenes? A discussion of positive and negative feedback illustrates more broadly what Gemini reveals.

*****

Our sponsors:

Freespoke: our new favorite search engine, which prioritizes privacy. Check out freespoke.com/darkhorseand make it your default search engine.

PaleoValley: Wide array of amazing products, including SuperFood Golden Milk and beef sticks. Go to https://paleovalley.com/darkhorse for 15% off your first order.

American Hartford Gold: Get up to $5,000 of free silver on your first qualifying order. Call 866-828-1117 or text “DARKHORSE” to 998899.

*****

Join us on Locals! Get access to our Discord server, exclusive live streams, live chats for all streams, and early access to many podcasts: https://darkhorse.locals.com/

Heather’s newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.com

Our book, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://a.co/d/dunx3at

Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.org

*****

Mentioned in this episode:

Suspension of Curiosity leads to Serious Adverse Events: https://open.substack.com/pub/naturalselections/p/suspension-of-curiosity-leads-to
Matt Orfalea: Nobody is Safe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI3yU5Z2adI&t=28s

MilkBar TV: pandemic of the unvaccinated: https://twitter.com/TheMilkBarTV/status/1761934974784246068

Politico: “There’s a New Life-Saving Vaccine. Why Won’t People Take It?”: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/02/13/next-front-vaccine-wars-00141054

New York Times: “Some Pregnant Women and Infants Received the Wrong R.S.V. Shots”: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/14/health/rsv-shots-pregnant-women-infants.html

RSV according to the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vpd/rsv/public/child.html

Welliver 2003. Review of epidemiology and clinical risk factors for severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection. The Journal of Pediatrics, 143(5): 112-117: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022347603005080

Castilow et al 2007. Understanding respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine-enhanced disease. Immunologic Research, 39: 225-239: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12026-007-0071-6.pdf

*****
Timestamps:
(00:00) Start
(00:02:25) Welcome
(00:05:15) Sponsors
(00:12:27) Polite society
(00:24:30) Biden
(00:41:05) Israel-Gaza
(00:47:40) Mandated COVID injections at elite universities
(00:49:35) RSV
(01:04:25) Link back to polite society
(01:09:55) NYT on RSV
(01:17:00) Vaccine enhanced disease and naming conventions
(01:27:45) Summary
(01:31:45) Gemini AI
(01:38:25) Positive and negative feedback
(01:47:41) Taiwanese version of Hunter Gatherers Guide and wrap up