Podcasts about evolutionary

On this, our 345th Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss immigration, AI, and rawness. First: a new Harper's article chronicles the effects on local people of the mass migration across the Darién Gap in Panama between 2021 and 2025, and what has happened since the number of people coming up from Colombia has dropped to a trickle. The reporting on the ground is excellent—human and honest—while the political analysis is naïve at best. Then: what is it to be raw, how is it inherently human, and what is its relationship to grief, and to AI? *****Our sponsors:  Cozy Earth: Head to https://cozyearth.com and use code DARKHORSE for an exclusive 20% off on home and sleepwear.Puori: Clean and safe supplements, lab tested and guaranteed. Go to http://Puori.com/DarkHorse for 32% off grass-fed whey protein with a subscription. DarkHorse code works on all products!SaunaSpace: deep radiant heat from red and infrared incandescence—detox and decrease pain, reverse screen fatigue and improve your mood. http://Sauna.Space/DarkHorse for 10% off sitewide.   *****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.comHeather's newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.comOur book, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.org  Music: "Marble Machine" by WintergatanThis track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.netFree License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergatan.net  Thumbnail  Courtesy Getty Images: John Moore / Getty Images South America*****Mentioned in this episode:Minding the Gap: https://harpers.org/2026/09/general-interest-minding-the-gap-belen-fernandez-jasmine-liu/Fernández – At the Edge of Empire: https://harpers.org/archive/2026/10/at-the-edge-of-empire-belen-fernandez-panama-immigration-towns/Heying – Raw: https://naturalselections.substack.com/p/rawCrawford, Why We Drive: [can you create an affiliate link for this] https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Drive-Toward-Philosophy/dp/0062741969/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Y-PChdMBwHIDKvANAvihY7QLld0SKDGsAFdX8CZrjpTCa4LSx-TBsJo41Sl6JPbm-Ag2zIDy2woM-RCOjRAS0caXHPTH9ozjlifRrjsqc9Q.XcCZSCGXxdZVue61CBJ8YSVti4Emu5qyMkb7a1mFUiw&qid=1790800365&sr=8-2*****Timestamps:00:00:00 Boredom Makes the Time Go Slow00:03:57 Sponsor: Cozy Earth00:07:35 Sponsor: Puori00:09:22 Sponsor: SaunaSpace00:12:05 Fat Bear Week: The Prepper's Mascot00:16:40 Back to the Darién Gap00:18:52 Invasion or Migration? Both.00:24:24 How America Carved Panama From Colombia00:30:33 Is a Boom Now a Right?00:35:41 Where Did the Aid Organizations Go?00:40:53 The Surge Was Too Fast to Be Organic00:44:41 Why There's No Road Through the Darién00:46:31 Great Reporting, Bad Geopolitics00:51:00 Mayorkas, HIAS, and the Chinese Camp00:52:10 Deport Only the Worst of the Worst?00:58:09 This Is All of Us01:02:12 Migration as Osmotic Pressure01:06:15 The Feminization of Systems01:10:01 Raw: Unprocessed, Unfiltered, Unclothed01:21:02 The AI That Couldn't Lace a Wheel01:27:27 Speedometer vs. the Wind in Your Hair01:33:16 The Rawness of Grief01:35:41 Why Can't Sociopaths Fake Grief?01:39:59 Real Grief Is Raw. AI Is Cooked.01:42:34 Playgrounds With Nails Sticking OutSupport the show

Who knew that you could blame evolutionary biology for doom scrolling, binging on donuts or getting seasick? In this episode, we talk to Dr. Rob Kurzban, an evolutionary psychologist, about how human feelings and behaviors are shaped by evolution. He e...

When you see a fossil, or hear the word, you should not automatically think millions of years. In an attempt to maintain the illusion that fossils automatically must be millions of years old, evolutionists dismiss the examples of young fossils as freaks of nature. However, there are many examples of recent fossils.It was low tide when a circular rock was discovered on a western Australian beach. A little over two feet in diameter, the wheel-shaped rock weighed 165 pounds. It was hard and solid, even ringing like a bell when struck. Examination proved that the rock was a dense high calcium sandstone. Even before it was cut open for study, the rock seemed unusual. Once it was cut open it became clear that this was fossilized fence wire. Further analysis identified the wire as "Number 8" fence wire that was used at a nearby sheep station between 1920 and 1970. It was standard practice that after ten years old fence wires were replaced. The old wire was coiled and often thrown into the sea. This fossil could have been only about 30 years old and not more than 80 years old!The existence of fossils does not disprove the Bible's account of history, which dates the earth at only about 6,000 years old. If fossils can form in a relatively few number of years, 6,000 years are more than enough time to form all the millions of fossils discovered.Luke 19:40“And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.”Prayer: Lord, protect me from being misled by those who doubt Your Word. Amen.REF.: Creation, "Fascinating Fossil Fence-Wire" To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1232/29?v=20251111

Even without the contributions of modern medicine and technology, humans have been evolving to live longer lives for centuries. So what led to this evolution and why is aging important? Michael Gurven is a professor of anthropology at the University of California Santa Barbara. He's also the author of Seven Decades: How We Evolved to Live Longer, a book that examines the evolutionary causes behind life expectancy. Michael and Greg discuss the key reasons behind why we age, how Michael's field work with the Tsimané people in Bolivia informed his conclusions about life expectancies, and whether or not we should take any lessons on aging from our hunter-gatherer ancestors. *unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:Aging isn't just about physical fitness05:03: If we were completely, entirely dependent only on our physical fitness for extracting meaning and value and work out of our environment, then maybe we wouldn't age as much or maybe we wouldn't live as long. But because we inhabit a niche where our brains, our skills, our knowledge, the services we render play such an important role, you can still be positively impacting your biological fitness even if your VO2 max is not what it once was, your muscular strength is not what it once was.  And so that's basically part of the argument of the book, that even though you're no longer reproducing once, you know, menopause hits,  at age 50 or so, that the next couple decades after that can still be evolutionarily relevant, so much so that selection has worked to make sure that we live those extra couple decades.Long life is a story of cooperation20:36: There are obstacles that are more social and more almost moral that we had to overcome in order to achieve our long-lived existence as a species, which is somewhere in the book I say, the story of long life is really a story about cooperation, as much as anything else.Longevity comes with trade-offs10:55: This idea that we can just, like, flip one switch, and all of a sudden we're going to get extra lifespan, extra health span at zero cost, right? No cognitive deficits, no hit on our fertility or our fecundity. It's just really far-fetched. You know, evolution would've figured that out by now.Usefulness matters more than age45:14: As your physical body starts aging to the point where it starts compromising your, ability to be useful to others, that's where you start seeing it's not age so much that matters, but that functional utility, seems to matter more, and that shapes whether or not people feel depressed and whether people feel lonely.Show Links:Recommended Resources:Tsimané Aeta peopleGeorge Christopher Williams Marshall SahlinsGuest Profile:Faculty Profile at UC Santa Barbara Professional Profile on LinkedInThe Gurven LabGuest Work:Seven Decades: How We Evolved to Live LongerIf you enjoyed this show, here are some other unSILOed episodes you may like:Sarah HrdySue Armstrong Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dr. Catherine Salmon is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Redlands and an evolutionary psychologist who has spent over two decades studying erotic fiction, pornography, and female sexuality. She's the co-author of Warrior Lovers: Erotic Fiction, Evolution and Female Sexuality and The Secret Power of Middle Children, and her research explores what romance novels and porn — the private products billions of people consume — reveal about the evolved mating psychology of men and women.In this episode, we discuss:(1:56) What Romance Novels Reveal About What Women Really Want(2:59) Why Romance Novel Heroes Are Always "Capable" Alpha Men(6:18) Is Attraction to Wealth Learned or Evolutionary?(12:17) Bad Boys vs. Nice Guys: The "Dad or Cad" Theory(16:38) Why Romance Is About Long-Term Mating and Porn Is About Short-Term(19:52) How Birth Control Changed Women's Short-Term Mating(32:48) Why Being "Chosen" by a High-Option Man Matters So Much(42:46) The Hidden Tests Women Use to Screen Men(43:37) The Gladiator Frog: Nature's Version of a Commitment Test(50:12) How Porn Is Becoming a Coping Skill for Anxious Young Men(54:53) Do Dating Apps Create a False Illusion of Abundance?(1:02:42) What Is "Mismatch Theory"?(1:10:44) The Link Between Absent Fathers and Earlier Puberty(1:18:01) Why Middle Children Make the Most Loyal Partners(1:23:52) What Men and Women Misunderstand About Each OtherLearn more about Dr. Catherine Salmon here:Website: https://www.redlands.edu/faculty-and-staff-directory/psychology/catherine-salmonBooks: Warrior Lovers: Erotic Fiction, Evolution and Female Sexuality: https://a.co/d/039nhjPpThe Secret Power of Middle Children: https://a.co/d/03p2WXhQWatch this on Youtube: https://youtu.be/VuJeYaForIA

Aka: Lyght Phones It In. Aka Three Big Guys Carcinization.Reality remains stable in this episode of Hero's Blade Vibe Check. Lyght's returned from Commander Sealed and also plays some friendslop. Medusa's going to be more serious about cosplay, while defeating nemeses in Middle Earth. JD Earthmother blesses us with some poetry. Commander has evolved with the Three Big Guys Theory. Finally, stop complaining about new cards! Medusa and Lenny return to Smoking Mids and winge about sphinxes.Socials:indominus-lux.bsky.social@thelovelymedusa.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@ajanisgaypridemate.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@hbvc-mtg.bsky.social on Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Go check out Medusa's articles on Ko-Fi! https://ko-fi.com/thelovelymedusa⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MTG Lexicon, the Dive Bar of EDH on Twitch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Creative Media:MaldhoundLevDev's Standard Boomer Jund ListSteelCityMTGDecks:Lyght - Artifact Token Stuff | Tsagan REAL for REAL | Zacama EDH (My Naya "Mono Blue" Control Finisher)Medusa - Sloppy Copy | The Deadliest Riddle | Shrimple and Clean

On this, our 344th Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss new cats, fat bears, and overwhelmed frogs. The tilcayo, a newly named species of cat from Bolivia, is part of a group of New World “tiger cats” that live on the outskirts of the Amazon basin. We discuss Carnivoran relationships, cats more specifically, and what is known about the history and ecology of the tilcayo in particular. Then: it's fat bear week at Katmai National Park in Alaska, where grizzlies are fattening themselves on salmon for the Winter ahead; we discuss hibernation, reproductive diapause, and general chonkiness in bears. Finally: female Cope's gray treefrogs have a harder time choosing good mates when there's a lot of noise, and when there are too many suitors—kind of like how women often make bad choices when confronted with chaos and wingmen.*****Our sponsors:Cowboy Colostrum: Get 25% Off Cowboy Colostrum with code Darkhorse at https://cowboycolostrum.com/darkhorse.CrowdHealth: Pay for healthcare with crowdfunding instead of insurance. It's way better. Use code DarkHorse at http://JoinCrowdHealth.com to get 1st 3 months for $99/month.Branch Basics: Excellent, effective, simple, truly non-toxic cleaning supplies. Get 15% off with code DarkHorse at https://branchbasics.com/DarkHorse #branchbasicspod*****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.comHeather's newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.comOur book, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.orgMusic: "Marble Machine" by WintergatanThis track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.netFree License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergatan.net*****Mentioned in this episode:Lescroart & Nogales-Ascarrunz et al 2026. Phylogenomics and museomics reveal five distinct species of tiger cats in South America. Current Biology 36: 1-15: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(26)01110-3National Geographic's tilcayo pics: https://news.nationalgeographic.org/photos-new-wild-cat-species/Meet the bears: https://explore.org/meet-the-bears#h_75305921118711789688140871Hemingway et al 2026. Choice overload constrains mate choice independent of energetic masking. iScience 29: 1-13: https://www.cell.com/action/showPdf?pii=S2589-0042%2826%2902464-8 *****Timestamps:00:00:00 It Smells Like Autumn00:01:42 Cats, Fat Bears, and Overwhelmed Frogs00:05:23 Sponsor: Cowboy Colostrum00:09:23 Sponsor: CrowdHealth00:12:01 Sponsor: Branch Basics00:16:00 The Tilcayo: A Brand-New Cat00:20:30 An Orphaned Kitten in the Andes00:23:45 Inside Phylogenetics00:28:19 Carnivores vs. Carnivorans00:29:56 Hyenas: Cat Adjacent, Not a Cat00:37:36 The Answer Is Software00:44:48 Meet the Tilcayo00:46:51 Five Cryptic Species of Tiger Cat00:50:01 Why So Many Little Cats?00:59:15 Sympatric, Allopatric, or Parapatric?01:01:47 Apologies to the Dog People01:03:57 80% Neurotic, 10% Psychotic01:07:37 A Raccoon, a Lemur, and a Wild Kitten01:13:33 Fat Bear Week01:18:12 The Bears' Cupboard Strategy01:23:45 Yes, Bears Have Diapause01:26:26 Strategy, Luck, or Dominance?01:33:26 Overwhelmed Frogs01:39:19 Why Are Frog Choruses So Loud?01:45:29 What Counts as a Good Choice?01:47:07 Clubs, Wingmen, and Bad Decisions01:51:05 Hot Guys With Less to Say01:52:02 Be Good to the Ones You LoveSupport the show

How often do you get to talk to a guest who has both an Academy Award and who invented textbook machine learning algorithms? John Platt has an Oscar, two textbook algorithms, two named asteroids, and an Erdos-Bacon number of 6. This was easily the most fun bio of all the guests we've read to date. And the result was an epic and fun chat covering Google's Empirical Research Assistance (ERA), how AI can help battle climate change, and tons of great stories about the co-evolution of science and AI.John's colleague Dave Bacon likes to tease John that his career has been defined by being twenty years early to the next big thing. This may be convolutional neural networks (some credit him with coining the term), fusion research, quantum computing. John and Google have been working on solving some of humanity's hardest problems with AI and computation for well over a decade now. Recently John and his team set their sights on using AI to solve any scientific problem that can be written down as a score.Google's Empirical Research Assistance (ERA)John's team has taken on many hard scientific problems over the years. In solving these, they noticed a pattern, many scientific problems can be reduced to what John calls a “scoreable task”. Once you have the score function, the goal is to find some code that maximizes the score. The hard part is in formulating the score, but once you have the score finding the maximizer can still be quite a lot of effort.John's team set out to automate solutions to this general problem. This came out of the idea of an “auto-Kaggle” AI, which can solve any Kaggle problem you can throw at it. Kaggle is owned by Google, so all the data was ready and easily available to them!The result is Google's Empirical Research Assistance or ERA (paper, github, blog). ERA is surprisingly simple conceptually. Gemini (or your LLM of choice) keeps a running tree of past experiments (notebooks) and where they're going. It's a close cousin of Monte Carlo Tree Search: at each iteration the Upper Confidence Bound rule picks which notebooks are most promising to mutate. This is optimistic, not greedy, so sometimes even the fifth-best notebook gets chosen. Gemini then proposes mutations for each one, about ten at a time. The history of each branch is shared, so different leaves can learn from each other.“It's almost like having a hyper-eager grad student who doesn't sleep.”Evolutionary algorithms have been around since the 70s, but this works because Gemini actually knows where to look! What's even more interesting is that there was a step change between Gemini 2.0 and 2.5, and this went from just not working to working great.ERA is so powerful that John and his team solved many outstanding problems with it, resulting in at least ten papers. Some of these were climate change related, which we talk about in the next section.So, we had to ask: if you have an optimization god how do you avoid fooling yourself? John's answer is that ERA provides predictive models. It's up to the scientist to make sure they're truly descriptive. Some of this just involves good old-fashioned careful machine learning science. “It's a power tool. It can slice your fingers off.” This led to some fun discussion about Kaggle competitions, and the fun ways people can overfit to datasets without meaningfully solving the problem you actually care about: Google's contrail-detection competition was won by entrants who noticed a half-pixel error in the labels (is the origin at the corner of the pixel or the center?) and this turned out to be a part of the winning special sauce. Great for winning $15,000, not so helpful if you actually want to solve contrails.“People themselves will act like these LLMs and try to reward hack. It goes back to Goodhart's law: any metric that becomes a target is no longer good as a metric.”His advice for where to start instead?“Always just fit linear regression. Just do it. Just do it. Just do it. Or SVM.”Tackling Climate Change with AIJohn and his team have worked extensively to mitigate the effects of climate change. We talked about several of their initiatives.Perhaps the most interesting result we talked about was reducing the effects of condensation trails (contrails) from airplanes. Those little streaks you see running behind planes somehow account for 1% of all human-induced global warming?!? Some of these trails of ice crystals can hang out for days. These crystals are black in the infrared, acting like a thermal blanket that traps heat day and night.It's easy to understand what's happening here, a region of atmosphere becomes “ice supersaturated”, and a tiny bit of exhaust seeds water vapor that instantly crystallizes. The scale here is astounding, with a single gram of exhaust resulting in ten kilograms of ice crystals.The solution to all of this is quite simple, in principle! We know what parts of the atmosphere are most likely for the trails to form. Just have the planes drop a flight level or two. Problem solved, right? Well, the hard part is accounting for how much warming was prevented. This is a counterfactual problem, parts of which stumped John's team for over two years. They had a working model for the heat-trapping half, but not for the reflected sunlight. ERA was able to find a simple model with some confounders they hadn't considered. Cracked it!Modeling climate generally is a hard problem. Climate is best thought of an attractor of many different possible weather outcomes. This makes it much harder to model.“Weather is where you are on the attractor, and climate is the statistics of the attractor. The problem with climate is that we're altering it. The attractor itself is changing, it's moving.”John and his team have worked on treating both the symptoms and the disease of climate change, with several other works in the area. Another fun example we briefly cover is FireSat, a way of using a constellation of satellites to rapidly identify fires before they grow too big to put out. For anyone living in California, you understand the problem. In dry years a small fire can result in hundreds of thousands of acres. If you could find this fire when it's the size of a room, it could be put out. By the time it hits an acre we have a much harder problem.Where is this all going? Looking forward by looking backBy now it should be clear John has an incredible and unique view over the intersection of science, computation, and AI. John talked about a class on physics of computation he took with Richard Feynman back in 1982. This was when quantum computing was an ill-defined concept with no theory or experimental backing. John recalls every Tuesday was a guest lecture, and every Thursday was Feynman explaining why the Tuesday guest was wrong. John also recalls doing science back when there was essentially no compute, a million operations per second was cutting edge.What is John's recommendation: the most important skill is developing deep domain expertise. There's no other way to develop taste than to tackle hard problems. One surprising part of this is that John recommends spending time doing things the old fashioned way. Play with tools, and just implement things yourself.“You could drive up the mountain, or you could hike up the mountain, and maybe it's okay, even fun, to occasionally hike.”Summing it up, John's message to the audience is that there will still be a place for scientists, and that if anything it will just open up more opportunities for “the creative stuff, the rigorous stuff, the philosophy stuff.” But don't forget to spend time doing the grunt work.“There just seems to be this strong impetus in the world to optimize and squeeze everything out. But you do lose something when you hyper-optimize. It's overfit.”And whatever tools you end up using, John's advice is the same one Feynman gave him forty years ago: you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.We had a great time talking with John. We hope you enjoy! Also in this episode* Fusion is three years away, not thirty, if you ask John. And why the Lawson criterion means every fusion approach has an Achilles heel.* Why superconducting qubits are still finicky.* The asteroid he named after his mom, which turned out to have a moon.* The looming helium shortage nobody talks about.* How NeurIPS started as people crashing a private workshop at Snowbird, and why Hopfield networks are all you need.* Being Carver Mead's sysadmin on a VAX with an 80 MB disk the size of a dishwasher.* Finding asteroids in 1985 with film, a stereoscope, and a letter to Brian Marsden. The Vera Rubin Observatory found 11,000 in six weeks.* The Feynman effect: total clarity in the room, none once you leave.* Quantum echoes, the NISQ era, and why he thinks quantum is neither thirty years away nor tomorrow.* A startup that wants to inject mercury into a fusion reactor and sell the transmuted gold. “It might not work.”* John's 20% time rule for his own group: do stuff for learning, and you don't even have to tell him what. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.latent.space/subscribe

Evolutionary biologist Daniel Lieberman challenges one of our most persistent beliefs about weight loss: that if you can't stick to a diet, you simply need more discipline.He explains why our bodies evolved to hold onto fat, why willpower can only take us so far, and how diet culture has turned eating into a cycle of guilt and shame.Daniel also shares the story of his own mother, whose obsession with avoiding fat came at a cost later in life, and introduces a simple way to spot bad advice: are you thinking like a fox, embracing nuance, or a hedgehog, convinced one idea explains everything?His message is simple: there is no perfect diet. There are only trade-offs, and understanding them might change the way you think about food, health and your own body.Daniel's latest book Fed Up is out now https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/59539/daniel-liebermanAG1

I've been fasting for years; in fact, it's a major economic lifehack for us, so I decided to read Dave Asprey's deep-dive book on the topic, Fast This Way. It captures the state-of-the-art science on the ancient practice of fasting, is packed with pragmatic takeaways, and the storytelling is compelling.01:56 Fasting as an Evolutionary and Biological Repair Mechanism04:55 Different Fasting Protocols: Intermittent, OMAD, 36-Hour Fast09:51 Fasting for COVID Resilience and Metabolic Health15:08 The Role of Supplements and Tools During Fasting20:00 Fasting, Dieting, and the Myth of Small Meals24:50 Fasting as a Primal and Cultural Practice30:06 Fasting as an Economic and Nootropic Hack34:58 Fasting for Spiritual Growth and Consciousness40:14 Enhancing Fasting with Nature, Sensory, and Spiritual Practices45:05 Fasting, Sex, and the Potential for Spiritual and Physical Benefits54:46 Fasting and Gender: Considerations for Women01:00:08 Philosophical Insights and the Future of FastingFor everything mentioned here, read: Fast This Way

If you've ever given birth in a hospital, depending on where you live, you may have noticed that hospitals still put babies into a big plastic bins. Reaching your baby is hard, you can't keep a hand on them easily, and if you've had a c-section, it's almost impossible to even pick up your baby. And yet, year after year, it stays the same. But hopefully not for long. Joining me today is Dr. Kristin Tully who has taken ideas that started in her graduate work to develop a new bassinet that meets family needs in that critical post-birth period. Dr. Tully is a medical anthropologist and Research Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her expertise is engaging patients, family members, clinicians, and community members through mixed methods research to understand health priorities and co-generate solutions to meet their needs. Broadly, her program of work promotes quality care by addressing what people need to know, feel, and have happen to be safe and well. Dr. Tully founded Couplet Care, Inc to offer the Couplet Care Bassinet™ to hospitals and birth centers to enhance inpatient postpartum care. The overbed bassinet was designed with families and health care professionals to improve maternal-infant access, thereby improving safety, enabling responsive feeding, and increasing satisfaction. Dr. Tully is also Associate Faculty at Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation at Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Tully at the University of North Carolina Couplet Care - https://www.med.unc.edu/obgyn/people/kristin-tully/ Dr. Tully's publications (Research Gate) - https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kristin-Tully Postnatal Patient Safety Learning Lab - https://www.postnatalsafety.com/our-work 4th Trimester Project website - https://newmomhealth.com/

On this, our 343rd Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss logic and scientific thinking, as it is done on politically hot topics (e.g. 9/11, Charlie Kirk), and on calmer topics like whether retrievers like to fetch (or just think that we like them to fetch), and whether domestic cats see people as big, clumsy cats. Putting all the hypotheses on the table, working hard to falsify even—especially—your favorite ones—and ending up with one left standing, is the scientific way, and how we arrive at answers that are most likely to be true.*****Our sponsors:Ridge: Upgrade your wallet today! Get 10% off @Ridge with code DARKHORSE at https://www.Ridge.com/darkhorse #RidgepodDose for your Liver: Tasty drink with milk thistle, ginger, dandelion & turmeric to support liver health. Get 35% off your first subscription at http://dosedaily.co/DarkHorse.Puori: Clean and safe supplements, lab tested and guaranteed. Go to http://Puori.com/DarkHorse for 32% off grass-fed whey protein with a subscription. DarkHorse code works on all products!*****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.comHeather's newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.comOur book, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.orgMusic: "Marble Machine" by WintergatanThis track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.netFree License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergatan.netThumbnail Courtesy Getty Images News: Jeremy Weine / Stringer*****Mentioned in this episode:Bret's talk in NYC, 9-10-26, at Turning the Tide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9tol-sQZAM&t=4sShermer tweet: https://x.com/michaelshermer/status/2099207300695429427Dog fetch: https://x.com/Rainmaker1973/status/2079691639153664273Neighborhood punk cat: https://x.com/Rainmaker1973/status/2093574318181474321Support the show

What is the Libra Equinox inviting you to explore as you enter this next season? Join Laura Orcutt and astrologer Dr. Stormie Grace LIVE as they explore the astrology of the Libra Equinox, the upcoming Libra lunation, and the larger Venus themes unfolding in the sky. Together, they'll help you understand the energies shaping this turning point and how you can work with them with greater awareness, balance, and intention.Then immediately underneath:✨ Join our FREE Libra Equinox Experience! Journey through the four elements with Amanda Walsh and explore practices designed to help you release what's complete, restore balance, and clarify what's ready to emerge next.

Most people assume becoming a parent is an emotional change, but a measurable part of it is hormonal, and it happens in fathers too. I sat down with Aldrich Chan, Psy.D., to talk about what changes in the brain, why the split we draw between mind and body does not hold up, and what decides whether stress reads as manageable or overwhelming when the hormones are identical either way.Want ad-free episodes? Subscribe to Forever Strong Insider: https://bit.ly/4u5VSReGet Aldrich Chan's books here: https://www.drchancnc.com/books

In this episode, Craig invites us to look closely at our emotions — how they rise and fall, sometimes intense, sometimes mild, like weather moving through the sky.Most of us exert a great deal of energy trying to steer our feelings: chasing the good ones, resisting the bad ones. But Craig points to something deeper than this ordinary pursuit of happiness — what he calls unconditional happiness. Not a peak we reach and hold onto, but a wholeness that was never dependent on our feelings in the first place.Craig explores what it means to let our feelings be exactly as they are, without judging them, managing them, or needing them to change. The episode closes with a guided meditation inviting you to take the radical position that how you feel, right now, is simply fine. Not because your feelings don't matter, but because your wholeness was never resting on them to begin with.To access the full transcript of this episode and discover more resources, visit the episode page on MeditationChangesEverything.com. You can also sign up there for Craig's weekly newsletter.For a deeper experience of Craig's approach to meditation, consider joining our Awakened Life membership program which offers in-depth guidance, a meditation workshop, and a live online retreat with Craig. Register today to receive your first month for 50% off at AwakenedLifeMembership.com.If you're interested in exploring more of Craig's meditation experiments, you're invited to tune in to a 90-minute online workshop Craig will be hosting called Meditation 2.0 – The Miracle of Direct Awakening. Register for free at FreeMeditationWorkshop.com.If you would like to share your experience of the podcast or have questions about Craig's teachings, please feel free to email us at support@craighamiltonglobal.com.

Have you ever circled a parking lot for ten minutes just to save yourself a 30-second walk, only to go inside and walk miles for fun? In this episode, we dive into the fascinating psychology behind how our brains calculate effort, goals, and energy conservation. Discover the hidden cognitive biases that dictate our daily movement and how to trick your brain into loving the extra steps.

The Daily Quiz - Science and Nature Today's Questions: Question 1: What is Evolutionary psychology the study of? Question 2: How many pairs of chromosomes does the average person have? Question 3: Which gemstone consists of only one chemical element? Question 4: What is Archaeozoology the study of? Question 5: What is the name of the organ that filters blood? Question 6: What metal that is so soft it can be cut with a knife? Question 7: What animal is known as Orcinus orca? Question 8: Which bird often stands on one leg? Question 9: Which is an example of viral infection? This podcast is produced by Klassic Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Daily Quiz - Science and Nature Today's Questions: Question 1: What is Evolutionary psychology the study of? Question 2: How many pairs of chromosomes does the average person have? Question 3: Which gemstone consists of only one chemical element? Question 4: What is Archaeozoology the study of? Question 5: What is the name of the organ that filters blood? Question 6: What metal that is so soft it can be cut with a knife? Question 7: What animal is known as Orcinus orca? Question 8: Which bird often stands on one leg? Question 9: Which is an example of viral infection? This podcast is produced by Klassic Studios Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve DeWitt God, Why Am I Hurting? - Part B Study Guide for Spiritual Exiles, 1 Peter 1:6-8 Scripture Reference: 1 Peter 1:6-8 Visit the series page: Exiles: A study in 1 Peter Donate to Support The Journey Sermon Transcript for Spiritual Exiles, 1 Peter 1:6-8 Sermon Series: Spiritual ExilesMessage: God Why Am I Hurting? Airdate: 9/10-9/11/26Programs: 2354 23552014, what a year around this place. I mean, it was something else. And just on the surface to go from two campuses to four campuses all in one year, a remarkable, remarkable, thing that God has done. We give him glory for it, and, we want 2015 to be another year of, faithful ministry here, and thank you for your part in that. I really mean that.This is our weekend of the annual meeting, and that's partly why we made this video. It's a it's a year or it's a a weekend where our members, we have our annual meeting, and so it's kind of a year to look back, a time to look back on the on the past year. It also means that, because our meeting is between this service and the next, I know this is gonna be disappointing. The sermon's a little shorter. Little shorter.So appropriate, that I'm speaking on trials in this sermon. And I'm gonna get right into it because our time is fleeting. First Peter one verses six through seven, I've entitled this message, God, why am I hurting? That resonate resonate here today? Are you in a time in your life maybe where you are hurting, where there is a trial maybe that is a pain in your life right now, you might say, no.Not really. Just wait. K? Just wait. It's coming.Life in a broken world brings sorrows to us in all kinds of directions and in ways that we cannot anticipate. That day is most certainly coming. And Peter is writing this letter to a group of geographical exiles in the first century sent from Rome, living in Asia Minor, but they are they are spiritual exiles as well. They are suffering in a community that looks at their Christian faith, looks at their rejection of the immorality around them. They look down at them, and they are feeling alienated.They are feeling ostracized, and they are suffering in many different ways. And so Peter writes this letter to them to encourage them, and it is perhaps more than the only one maybe competing with the book would be the book of Job of, delivering to us, giving to us a theology of Christian suffering. How do I handle it? How should I look at it when God sovereignly brings pain into my life? First Peter is a very honest letter.It looks pain in the face and gives an answer. Did you know Christianity has an answer to suffering that the other religions of the world, the other philosophies struggle to provide in ways that we'll get into? So maybe you're here today and you're in pain, and you're thinking this is the sermon for me. Maybe you're here today and you're not in pain, but that day is coming. I want to prepare all of us to suffer so that when we are the ones experiencing that pain, we have a kind of grid.We have a kind of understanding that is ready to embrace the trials that come. I also wanna note that Christianity is based on suffering. I mean, our entire faith is built upon the suffering savior who came into this world, God steps into our pain in the person of Jesus, incarnates into this world, lives amongst us, experiences all of the weaknesses, all of the sufferings that we experience, and then suffered himself dying on the cross bearing the guilt and shame for all of our sins. Our savior was a suffering savior. We can say it that Christianity is is built on suffering.Now that doesn't sound so good. It doesn't look great on a billboard. You know, we're not gonna put up a billboard that says, Bethel Church, come suffer with us. Right? Because many people, they don't wanna hear that, and they want a faith that doesn't include any suffering, and yet it inevitably comes.Are we ready for that? Are you ready for that in your life? So our text is verses, six and seven, First Peter one. Please listen as I read. “In this, you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”This passage is Peter's first salvo of teaching on suffering. It's gonna continue through the letter. So this isn't everything that he has to say about it. There's much more to come. Notice that he begins with the the little phrase there, in this, you rejoice.You wouldn't expect a passage on suffering to have a and to begin with a word of joy, and he's referring there to what he's just talked about regarding our living hope. Our hope is living because our hope is in a living savior. And so because of that, we are we rejoice in this salvation, this new birth that God has given to us. Notice that joy and pain can coexist. We typically think, you know, when I am in pain, then I'm not joyous.Right? Or when I'm in joyous, I don't have any pain. And yet these two come together, indeed, they have to come together in a Christian theology of suffering because there is going to be ongoing problems and pain in life. There are gonna be ups and downs, and yet our Christian joy is not based upon our circumstances. It is grounded and based upon something that is enduring.Even Jesus himself, Hebrews, “who for the joy set before him endured the cross and despised its shame.” So don't see the these as enemies. These actually can be friends, joy, and pain. We'll get into more of that later. But in this passage, Peter gives four certainties in the midst of suffering.Four certainties that a Christian can hold on to, trust, and believe in even when life is hurting. So let's get into these now. Notice the first one is that our trials as Christians are temporary. They are temporary. The text now, “though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.”Peter's first point here is chronological. He is pointing something out that is obviously true. Now it doesn't seem that way to us when we are in the midst of pain. When we are hurting, what do we often think about the pain that we're feeling? We say things like this.This is never going to change. This is never gonna be fixed. I will always feel this way. This pain will never go away. That's how it seems to us.Right? Peter says, yes. It will. Yes. It will.Chronologically speaking, our sufferings and our trials and our pains are very small in duration when compared to the future that the Christian confidently expects, this eternal life that we have. Our lives are fleeting. Our days are numbered. They're short. Eternity is long.Peter points that out. He says, you know what now? For a little while, it's just a little while. It's temporary. You're not always going to feel this way.It's not always going to be this way. A day of change is coming. Chapter five verse 10, he writes, and after you have suffered a little while, there he says it again, “the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” Peter's wanting us to realize that that this trial that I am in is finite. Eternity is unending.My trial is temporary. Eternity is forever. And when I look at things from that grand perspective, it helps me put it into proper perspective. When I obsess about my trials, I think it's always going to be this way. Do you ever get sort of melodramatic about things?Right? Oh, it's never gonna be better. My life is over. You know, teenage girl says that when who knows what happened to her. Right?And she's, oh, you know. And we look at her and we say that is so immature. Peter says when we look at our trials like it's always going to be that way, we're looking immaturely. We're not seeing things from the grand perspective. Our trials are temporary.Someday, the present pain of our life will be over. Someday, Jesus himself is going to confirm, establish, comfort, minister. Someday, we are going to look back at our trials, and we are going to agree with God regarding them. Can you believe that? Now you might be in a trial right now going, I will never say that this was okay.I will never agree with this. Someday, God, I believe, is going to give us understanding regarding why this happened and why that happened and why that happened. I talked with a man after first service today. He's losing his job. He has thirty days.He was talking to somebody about this and that person said to him, I haven't been to church since Vietnam. But in light of the way you're responding to this, I might give it another chance. He always had tears in his eyes after first service to this point that I'm making. He goes, oh, these three years have been so hard, but maybe I see why God's doing it. Don't Don't you think heaven is going to be that kind of an experience where God goes, see when that happened right there?I did this with that with that person's life, and then this was the fruit of it. And we're gonna be going, I had no idea. And when we see it in the big picture, don't you think we will go, you know, God, you are infinitely wise. I now agree with that. And if I was you, I would have brought that into my life.Praise be to God. Okay? Heaven will be that I think. For a Christian, realize friends, for a Christian, this life that we're in right now, this is as bad as it gets. Our lives right now are the worst experience that we are ever going to have.Why? Because eternity is going to be bliss, heaven, and joy. So this is as bad as it gets for the Christian. For the unbeliever, it's the opposite. This is as good as it gets.Life in this broken world with all of its pain and all of its uncertainty is far better than what lies ahead for the unbeliever. But for us, this is as bad as it gets. This is temporary pain. That helps, doesn't it? Indeed, it does.Secondly, Peter points out that trials are painful. Trials are painful. Though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials. That's a pretty good word to describe what pain feels like. Right?It's grievous to us. And do I really need a lot of proof text on this one? Just to prove to you that trials are painful, that we feel within us when we are in a trial. And by trial here, I it's it's all of it, the various trials that he talks about. It can be physical.It can be emotional. It can be relational. It can be marital. It can be financial. It can be political.It can be injustice. It can be emotional worry, fear, misery, depression, and I mean, the things that the things that can create pain in us are incredibly varied, aren't they? All of them, we feel very personally when we experience them. I also find over time in my life that not only are the trials varied, but my ability to handle them is varied. There are things that when I was younger wouldn't have bothered me, now they bother me, like birthdays.There are things that when I was young bothered me, but now from a perspective of maturity doesn't bother me anymore. Right? It's so varied. It's so changing. But over all of that, we certainly can say the trials are painful.We would rather not be in them. Amen? Okay. That'd be my preference. A trouble free life.No more trials. I mean, that'd be like heaven, wouldn't it? Oh, wait. It is heaven. Are you with me?Okay. Alright. Third, reality and certainty with trials. And this now gets into kind of the nub of what Peter is wanting us to see is that trials are revealing and trials are refining. Again, the text, “so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”What is one of the biggest things that we wanna know when we are in the midst of a trial? We search for why. Right? Why is this happening? Why am I feeling this?Why am I sorrowing like I am? Why am I so depressed about this? And atheism comes along and gives what answer? Nothing. Secular humanism comes along and gives what answer?Nothing. Agnosticism comes along and gives what answer? E. Evolutionary theory comes along and gives what answer to our pain? Nothing.Christianity comes along, and it's got a purpose statement. Right there, you see it. So that. Why do I go through the troubles that I do? Why do I go through these things?Is there some reason behind it? And indeed, there is. In fact, you see, previously, he says, if necessary about our trials. If necessary what do you mean if necessary? That seems to indicate somebody is determining whether I ought to go through this or not.Is there a sovereign somebody that is sovereignly guiding and directing in the details of my life and determining whether this is good or not, necessary or not. Indeed, that is Christianity, that there is a sovereign God who doesn't simply, like the agnostics teach, live out there in the extended world and hope the best for us, but rather he is sovereignly over every single detail of our life. There's nothing that will ever happen to the Christian that we that that God did not sovereignly bring to us. Now by that, it doesn't mean that God endorses evil. And someday, we will never endorse evil either.We'll never look at the Holocaust and say, yeah. Great. But God uses evil, and God uses these things to accomplish his purposes. That's what Joseph said in Genesis, right, to his brothers. “You intended it for evil.God intended it for good.” That's the the the wonder of the mystery of God that he can, in the complexities of the universe, use even evil for his divine good and sovereign purposes. And so we see then that in Christian in a Christian theology of suffering, there is a purpose to it. And I think that alone is one of the great certainties that we have to cling to, that this is not random. This is not chaos.This is not Satan winning. Rather, this is something that God is sovereignly guiding and directing. There is a purpose behind it. Sometimes that doesn't make sense to us when the kind and godly young man dies or when the righteous suffer and the unrighteous prosper. Do you ever feel that way?Maybe you feel about that way about yourself. I'm I'm busting my butt. I'm trying to be a good employee, student, wife, husband, parent, whatever. And here I am. I'm dying on the vine, and you look at your neighbor who they're immoral, they profane God's name, and they just smile all the time.And you're like, that doesn't seem fair to me. As the hymn says, it is our God who does each day what he deems best. We trust that pain has a purpose and that God is behind it. The same faith that can believe in Jesus and trust my entire eternity to the truthfulness that Jesus did bear my guilt as he died on the cross is the same faith that now as a Christian in the midst of my suffering appropriates the promises of God and believes that this trial is as well under the sovereign hand of God and that he is doing something with it. We say, well, what is that something?Pastor Steve, could you please help? Notice what Peter says. What purpose do they serve? “So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire.” What Peter does here is he anticipates maybe people sort of getting lost in his theology, and he gives a very clear illustration that they could all understand and we can all understand here as well.He brings up gold. Now ancient people were interested in gold. Why? It was the most precious commodity that they had. I mean, today, if you listen to the radio and different things, you see these advertisements.The stock market's uncertain. Buy gold. Right? And they show gold bars and people smiling because they have gold bars, and they encourage you to buy gold. It's the only lasting value in the world.That's the way that they viewed it in the first century. It was their most precious commodity. It was the most long lasting thing that they had, gold. So if you've ever seen, King Tut's tomb or pictures of the jewelry and the gold at King Tut's tomb, then you know that the ancient world, they were really good with gold. I mean, they had figured out how to take gold out of the mountain and turn it into something very beautiful, incredibly beautiful, and intricate.So how do they do it? Well, like today, what they would do is they would mine the gold, and then they would heat it. Right? They would heat up that gold with fires in a furnace. They would heat it up and heat it up and heat it up.And gold reaches a point where it melts. And as it gets hotter, the hotter it gets, the more the impurities of the gold rise to the surface. And so the ancients would heat up that gold and they would heat up that gold and the impurities. In other words, everything that was not gold would rise to the top, and then they would just skim off the top. And by doing that, the gold then, the karat of the gold, and by that, I mean k a r a t.Not to confuse some of you that are thinking about lunch right now. Carat, the the purity of the gold, and the value then would would increase. Okay? And they all got how that worked, and I hope that maybe, you get how that works as well. Because Peter is drawing an analogy here.Do you see it? The analogy is that fire reveals the gold and fire refines the gold. It reveals what is actually gold and separates the impurities and by doing that it refines it. And what he's saying here is that our faith is like gold and our trials are like fire. Fire reveals the genuine gold, and trials reveal the genuine faith.Should I say that again? Fire reveals the genuine gold. Trials reveal the genuine faith within us. Now you don't have to be around the church very long to see this in action. If you're around a church, some family or some individual is gonna suddenly find themselves in a trial, a fiery trial, as Peter calls it elsewhere.And you can watch how this works. And sometimes it's beautiful. Right? Because here you have sort of generic family a, and you didn't know them that well. You didn't know that much about them, but you hear about the trial.And out of that trial, you see a family that is turning to God in ways that you had never seen before. They're wanting the church to be in prayer for them. They're seeking spiritual, counsel and help. They're turning to God in the midst of their trial. They're trusting in things that they they don't know how it's gonna work out, but our trust is in God.And please, won't you pray for us? And you see in that trial a faith that you had never seen before. And it's a beautiful thing to see that. The genuineness of their faith is being revealed by the trial. In a sense, they didn't know what was in them.They didn't realize what they had, that saving faith in them, now showing its true color, its true karat in the midst of a fiery trial. At the same time, you don't have to be around the church very long to have generic family b in the church who comes under a similar trial. And they are unprepared for it. Their faith is has no, bandwidth for it. In that trial, all of a sudden, they are overwhelmed.Or they feel like, wait. This is not what I signed up for. They're like kinda like bandwagon Christians. They sort of join the church. They get on the Christianity bandwagon, and then paint then life hurts.And they're like, I need a different bandwagon. And off they go in a 100 different directions forsaking what they profess to be true in their life. What has the trial done for them? The trial has revealed that their faith was not genuine. The heat of the trial has done that.It is our response to trials that says so much. And by the way, this doesn't mean that we're like super Christians. And like from now on here at Bethel Church, if you ever have a trial, you must be like, my faith is being revealed and I love it. You know, it's not like that at all. There is room in this for normal human concern and worry and fear and the battling of fear and faith and all of that.So it's not like we're all walking around on some great spiritual plane somehow. But in the essence of it, there is an endurance that faith, genuine faith has that comes through the trial different, better, refined, revealed in ways that previously had been unknown. Trials are also great purifiers. Great purifiers. I read a little bit this week in preparation for this that modern gold refining, they heat up the gold to 3,000 degrees.That's hot, isn't it? And I got thinking to myself, what if you could interview the gold while it's being heated up, while it's coming under this kind of temperature? What might the gold be saying as it's getting hot? I see statements like this: “This is hot! This hurts! This stinks! Get me out of here! Why is this happening? Why do I get this and silver gets off easy? Please stop this right now. The guy in charge of this doesn't love me.” But what does the goldsmith know? The goldsmith knows that the only way for that gold to be purified is by heat. Now I stand before you a man who wished that wasn't true.I mean, wouldn't it be great if if the way that our faith could be built and we could grow spiritually would be for God to lavish us with every desire of our hearts? And for there never to be a single problem the rest of our life that we would just be rich and happy and fat and, you know, healthy and eat what we want and have all these. I mean, wouldn't it be great if that was the way that our faith was built? Amen. You're not sure if you want to amen that or not.I think that would be fantastic. That's not the way that it works, is it? In fact, what happens to people who get everything they want? What do we call children like that? Brats.That's what we call them. The surest way to raise a brat is to give that kid everything he wants all the time. And spiritually, there's a lot of immature Christians running around wanting that same kind of an experience. That's immaturity. How do we grow friends?It's through pain. And you'd better be ready for it. And again, this doesn't look great on the church billboards. Come to Bethel Church and suffer along with us. But that's the Bible.And that's the experience of Jesus who, by the way, we're told to do what? Take up our cross and follow him. Is there room in your understanding of your Christian faith that when trials come into your life, it doesn't mean that God doesn't love you? Now that's easy to say when you're not in a trial. But Thursday of this week, you might be.Are you ready to embrace that trial? Does your faith in God have a bandwidth that can bear that? Peter says your faith is more valuable than gold. Gold was the most valuable thing that they had in that day. Peter says your faith trumps it.Why? Because gold perishes. Gold perishes. But our faith will last forever. Not because of us, but because of that persevering, preserving work of God in our life.When the heat is turned up on us, we wanna say stop. God's answer is this. You may not realize it, but your faith is far more valuable than your comfort. I am going to reveal it and refine it. This will be a short term pain, but it will be a long term gain.Are you ready? You know, as a pastor, our elders, our pastors, we often are called into those moments of pain. I did two funerals yesterday morning. Two very wonderful godly men in our church, Peter Hammer and Merle McCluskey, both families suffering loss. Dear, dear brothers in the Lord, these kinds of things happen.They heard me preach sermons like this all the time, and now they're dead. They their sojourn is over. Are you ready? Are you ready, or are just hoping it doesn't happen or that Jesus comes back before it happens? Now with that said, I don't think we should intentionally bring trouble to ourselves.So don't leave the service today and be like, you know what? Trials refine my faith. I want trials in my life and run your car into a guardrail or a light pole or something like that. K? There's enough pain in this world we don't need to add to it.It also doesn't mean that we should be trying to refine our other people's faith and say, you know what? He needs to grow. Especially you married couples. I don't want you thinking that way. Life has enough fiery trials all by itself.So what should we be thinking when we're in a trial? I've got some questions. When the heat is up, when the heat in life is coming up, what should I ask? Here's a few. Am I looking at this from a temporal or eternal perspective?Obsess over the problem, and it will be overwhelming. Pull back from it and see it from the grand perspective of the gospel and the story of God, now I have it in perspective. Do I do I realize that trials are necessary at times and are for my good? This is one of the things that I, in my difficult times in my life, I try to bring to bear the thought in my heart, this is good for me. And that's hard at times.Right? Because I got this other part of me going, no, it isn't. And then I've got my faith part going, yes. It is. No.It isn't. Yes. It is. No. It is.Yes. You lay in bed at night. You can't sleep because this is going on. Right? But faith refuses to give up the belief that there is a sovereign God and that these light and momentary trials are achieving for us a glory that far outweighs them all.Romans eight. I'm sorry. Second Corinthians four. Is my perspective shaped by confidence in God's sovereign and good plan for my life? Do you think God loves you or only when things are good and going the way you want?Do you believe he loves you? Friend, he does. He sent Jesus. Right? That is Romans eight.“If God didn't spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will we not also along with him graciously give us all things?” How can we doubt the love of God for us? He sent his son for us. Do I want to grow spiritually more than I want to live comfortably? How many people could honestly say, yes, I want to grow spiritually more than to have a comfortable life?Is faith refinement a personal goal? Do I aspire to a high karat content? I think those are all very helpful, and maybe we'll get those up on the web in case you would like those. They come right from the text. Now look at the end result here, and we have our fourth certainty in the text.Let me read it again. “So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” The fourth certainty is that purified faith has a goal in mind. If my goal is to grow spiritually, I have another goal in that, and it's an eternal perspective where I believe that this trial that I am going through is going to bring honor to God and also is going to bring commendation and honor to me. And this was my aha moment in my studies here because whenever you see it may result in praise and glory and honor, you just assume that this is talking about God.Right? Because there's so many passages in the Bible that say that. Philippians two, for example, “every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” And so you can look at that and say, well, who is the honor going to? It must be going to God.And indeed, in the end, all honor does go to God. But the text doesn't say that the honor here goes to God. It just says when it comes. It comes when Jesus is revealed. It comes at the end of time.And I think what Peter is doing here is he is including both. There is in my trouble and in my pain. Why do I want to respond in a God honoring way? Because I want God to be honored in this trial. And that is a very good motive for the Christian enduring suffering that Jesus may be honored in my life. I want him to be glorified in all things.Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen? Alright.So that we got down, especially at a church that is an all about him church. We got that down. But notice also that there is this reward that is also taught in Scripture that I receive. This commentation that I receive from Jesus in honor as he commends, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”Or a cup of cold water extended my name shall not be forgotten. And a host of other passages that teach us that as we honor the Lord in the ups and the downs of life, that we are putting our treasure in heaven as another example and that Jesus will reward us. Can that be motivating? I think so. I think so.In fact, to illustrate this, I'd like to return to the illustration that Peter is using, how both honors can happen, God and us. Let's go back to gold a second and to talk about gold used in in artwork. You know, back in the first century, they were doing what man has done for centuries, millennia, and that is use gold in art. Beautiful gold in, for example, jewelry. If you've, been to the museums in Chicago, there are displays there of ancient gold jewelry.And to this day, people pay to have tickets, and they go and they stand in front of the display, and they marvel at the intricate, jewelry and the and the craftsmanship of that those beautiful pieces of art. They stand there, and they're like, wow. And the wife's like, you ought to get me one of those. And, you know, these you just kinda stand there, and you admire the craftsmanship. You admire the artistic ability.You you admire the the art and the worth of that. Wow. That is just so absolutely beautiful. And so gold has itself a kind of I'm sorry. Art has its own kind of praise as we admire the art itself.But there is this other kind of honor that art produces, and that is honor for the maker of the art. So that it's not just the Messiah, it is Handel's Messiah. And it's just not the Fifth, it is Beethoven's fifth. And with great pieces of art, the art is valued and treasured, but then the real honor is for the amazing ability of the person who crafted it in the first place. And so how does that apply to what God is doing in the midst of my pain and my sorrow?As I realize that everything that comes into my life is from the sovereign hand of God, as I appropriate that faith, the same faith that trusted in Jesus for my eternity, I now trust him for this trial that I'm experiencing. And I remain faithful to the Lord. I try with the the strength that God provides to obey or to be steadfast or whatever I need to do in that trial. As I do that, God is shaping and forming in me in the story of my life a kind of artistic beauty. And the people around you see that, and they admire it.And they're like, isn't it beautiful and wonderful what that family is doing in response to that trial in their life? Isn't it great and wonderful what that man is doing as he prepares to lose his job by faith in Jesus, believing God is sovereign over it? And a host of other things as we admire and see that we are we're like the gallery of God. Our lives are a kind of masterpiece, a kind of artistic expression of the amazing power of God, but for our own honor as well. We hang in the gallery of God and people and angels and God himself admiring the beauty of what our lives live by faith in times of trouble, what that is, so that we as the art and God is the maker of the art, both receive honor and praise.And one motivating factor when I am in a time of trouble is I don't want to lose that reward. I don't want to lose that commendation from God. “Well done, good and faithful servant.” I don't wanna lose the opportunity to bring honor to him. By the way, I live by faith even when life hurts.So that at the end then of all of our troubles and all of our pains, there is God and there is us. His artwork, his masterpieces, honored and honored. Little h honor to us, big h honor to God. Paintings and painters, symphonies and composers, sinners and savior may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Much more on suffering in First Peter.We're just getting going. I'm gonna ask you, just to join me for a word of prayer. Would you stand with me, please, as we conclude our service together?* This transcript was generated using AI transcription technology and reviewed for accuracy but may contain errors. Please refer to the original audio for precise wording.

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Steve DeWitt God, Why Am I Hurting? - Part A Study Guide for Spiritual Exiles, 1 Peter 1:6-8 Scripture Reference: 1 Peter 1:6-8 Visit the series page: Exiles: A study in 1 Peter Donate to Support The Journey Sermon Transcript for Spiritual Exiles, 1 Peter 1:6-8 Sermon Series: Spiritual ExilesMessage: God Why Am I Hurting? Airdate: 9/10-9/11/26Programs: 2354 23552014, what a year around this place. I mean, it was something else. And just on the surface to go from two campuses to four campuses all in one year, a remarkable, remarkable, thing that God has done. We give him glory for it, and, we want 2015 to be another year of, faithful ministry here, and thank you for your part in that. I really mean that.This is our weekend of the annual meeting, and that's partly why we made this video. It's a it's a year or it's a a weekend where our members, we have our annual meeting, and so it's kind of a year to look back, a time to look back on the on the past year. It also means that, because our meeting is between this service and the next, I know this is gonna be disappointing. The sermon's a little shorter. Little shorter.So appropriate, that I'm speaking on trials in this sermon. And I'm gonna get right into it because our time is fleeting. First Peter one verses six through seven, I've entitled this message, God, why am I hurting? That resonate resonate here today? Are you in a time in your life maybe where you are hurting, where there is a trial maybe that is a pain in your life right now, you might say, no.Not really. Just wait. K? Just wait. It's coming.Life in a broken world brings sorrows to us in all kinds of directions and in ways that we cannot anticipate. That day is most certainly coming. And Peter is writing this letter to a group of geographical exiles in the first century sent from Rome, living in Asia Minor, but they are they are spiritual exiles as well. They are suffering in a community that looks at their Christian faith, looks at their rejection of the immorality around them. They look down at them, and they are feeling alienated.They are feeling ostracized, and they are suffering in many different ways. And so Peter writes this letter to them to encourage them, and it is perhaps more than the only one maybe competing with the book would be the book of Job of, delivering to us, giving to us a theology of Christian suffering. How do I handle it? How should I look at it when God sovereignly brings pain into my life? First Peter is a very honest letter.It looks pain in the face and gives an answer. Did you know Christianity has an answer to suffering that the other religions of the world, the other philosophies struggle to provide in ways that we'll get into? So maybe you're here today and you're in pain, and you're thinking this is the sermon for me. Maybe you're here today and you're not in pain, but that day is coming. I want to prepare all of us to suffer so that when we are the ones experiencing that pain, we have a kind of grid.We have a kind of understanding that is ready to embrace the trials that come. I also wanna note that Christianity is based on suffering. I mean, our entire faith is built upon the suffering savior who came into this world, God steps into our pain in the person of Jesus, incarnates into this world, lives amongst us, experiences all of the weaknesses, all of the sufferings that we experience, and then suffered himself dying on the cross bearing the guilt and shame for all of our sins. Our savior was a suffering savior. We can say it that Christianity is is built on suffering.Now that doesn't sound so good. It doesn't look great on a billboard. You know, we're not gonna put up a billboard that says, Bethel Church, come suffer with us. Right? Because many people, they don't wanna hear that, and they want a faith that doesn't include any suffering, and yet it inevitably comes.Are we ready for that? Are you ready for that in your life? So our text is verses, six and seven, First Peter one. Please listen as I read. “In this, you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”This passage is Peter's first salvo of teaching on suffering. It's gonna continue through the letter. So this isn't everything that he has to say about it. There's much more to come. Notice that he begins with the the little phrase there, in this, you rejoice.You wouldn't expect a passage on suffering to have a and to begin with a word of joy, and he's referring there to what he's just talked about regarding our living hope. Our hope is living because our hope is in a living savior. And so because of that, we are we rejoice in this salvation, this new birth that God has given to us. Notice that joy and pain can coexist. We typically think, you know, when I am in pain, then I'm not joyous.Right? Or when I'm in joyous, I don't have any pain. And yet these two come together, indeed, they have to come together in a Christian theology of suffering because there is going to be ongoing problems and pain in life. There are gonna be ups and downs, and yet our Christian joy is not based upon our circumstances. It is grounded and based upon something that is enduring.Even Jesus himself, Hebrews, “who for the joy set before him endured the cross and despised its shame.” So don't see the these as enemies. These actually can be friends, joy, and pain. We'll get into more of that later. But in this passage, Peter gives four certainties in the midst of suffering.Four certainties that a Christian can hold on to, trust, and believe in even when life is hurting. So let's get into these now. Notice the first one is that our trials as Christians are temporary. They are temporary. The text now, “though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.”Peter's first point here is chronological. He is pointing something out that is obviously true. Now it doesn't seem that way to us when we are in the midst of pain. When we are hurting, what do we often think about the pain that we're feeling? We say things like this.This is never going to change. This is never gonna be fixed. I will always feel this way. This pain will never go away. That's how it seems to us.Right? Peter says, yes. It will. Yes. It will.Chronologically speaking, our sufferings and our trials and our pains are very small in duration when compared to the future that the Christian confidently expects, this eternal life that we have. Our lives are fleeting. Our days are numbered. They're short. Eternity is long.Peter points that out. He says, you know what now? For a little while, it's just a little while. It's temporary. You're not always going to feel this way.It's not always going to be this way. A day of change is coming. Chapter five verse 10, he writes, and after you have suffered a little while, there he says it again, “the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.” Peter's wanting us to realize that that this trial that I am in is finite. Eternity is unending.My trial is temporary. Eternity is forever. And when I look at things from that grand perspective, it helps me put it into proper perspective. When I obsess about my trials, I think it's always going to be this way. Do you ever get sort of melodramatic about things?Right? Oh, it's never gonna be better. My life is over. You know, teenage girl says that when who knows what happened to her. Right?And she's, oh, you know. And we look at her and we say that is so immature. Peter says when we look at our trials like it's always going to be that way, we're looking immaturely. We're not seeing things from the grand perspective. Our trials are temporary.Someday, the present pain of our life will be over. Someday, Jesus himself is going to confirm, establish, comfort, minister. Someday, we are going to look back at our trials, and we are going to agree with God regarding them. Can you believe that? Now you might be in a trial right now going, I will never say that this was okay.I will never agree with this. Someday, God, I believe, is going to give us understanding regarding why this happened and why that happened and why that happened. I talked with a man after first service today. He's losing his job. He has thirty days.He was talking to somebody about this and that person said to him, I haven't been to church since Vietnam. But in light of the way you're responding to this, I might give it another chance. He always had tears in his eyes after first service to this point that I'm making. He goes, oh, these three years have been so hard, but maybe I see why God's doing it. Don't Don't you think heaven is going to be that kind of an experience where God goes, see when that happened right there?I did this with that with that person's life, and then this was the fruit of it. And we're gonna be going, I had no idea. And when we see it in the big picture, don't you think we will go, you know, God, you are infinitely wise. I now agree with that. And if I was you, I would have brought that into my life.Praise be to God. Okay? Heaven will be that I think. For a Christian, realize friends, for a Christian, this life that we're in right now, this is as bad as it gets. Our lives right now are the worst experience that we are ever going to have.Why? Because eternity is going to be bliss, heaven, and joy. So this is as bad as it gets for the Christian. For the unbeliever, it's the opposite. This is as good as it gets.Life in this broken world with all of its pain and all of its uncertainty is far better than what lies ahead for the unbeliever. But for us, this is as bad as it gets. This is temporary pain. That helps, doesn't it? Indeed, it does.Secondly, Peter points out that trials are painful. Trials are painful. Though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials. That's a pretty good word to describe what pain feels like. Right?It's grievous to us. And do I really need a lot of proof text on this one? Just to prove to you that trials are painful, that we feel within us when we are in a trial. And by trial here, I it's it's all of it, the various trials that he talks about. It can be physical.It can be emotional. It can be relational. It can be marital. It can be financial. It can be political.It can be injustice. It can be emotional worry, fear, misery, depression, and I mean, the things that the things that can create pain in us are incredibly varied, aren't they? All of them, we feel very personally when we experience them. I also find over time in my life that not only are the trials varied, but my ability to handle them is varied. There are things that when I was younger wouldn't have bothered me, now they bother me, like birthdays.There are things that when I was young bothered me, but now from a perspective of maturity doesn't bother me anymore. Right? It's so varied. It's so changing. But over all of that, we certainly can say the trials are painful.We would rather not be in them. Amen? Okay. That'd be my preference. A trouble free life.No more trials. I mean, that'd be like heaven, wouldn't it? Oh, wait. It is heaven. Are you with me?Okay. Alright. Third, reality and certainty with trials. And this now gets into kind of the nub of what Peter is wanting us to see is that trials are revealing and trials are refining. Again, the text, “so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”What is one of the biggest things that we wanna know when we are in the midst of a trial? We search for why. Right? Why is this happening? Why am I feeling this?Why am I sorrowing like I am? Why am I so depressed about this? And atheism comes along and gives what answer? Nothing. Secular humanism comes along and gives what answer?Nothing. Agnosticism comes along and gives what answer? E. Evolutionary theory comes along and gives what answer to our pain? Nothing.Christianity comes along, and it's got a purpose statement. Right there, you see it. So that. Why do I go through the troubles that I do? Why do I go through these things?Is there some reason behind it? And indeed, there is. In fact, you see, previously, he says, if necessary about our trials. If necessary what do you mean if necessary? That seems to indicate somebody is determining whether I ought to go through this or not.Is there a sovereign somebody that is sovereignly guiding and directing in the details of my life and determining whether this is good or not, necessary or not. Indeed, that is Christianity, that there is a sovereign God who doesn't simply, like the agnostics teach, live out there in the extended world and hope the best for us, but rather he is sovereignly over every single detail of our life. There's nothing that will ever happen to the Christian that we that that God did not sovereignly bring to us. Now by that, it doesn't mean that God endorses evil. And someday, we will never endorse evil either.We'll never look at the Holocaust and say, yeah. Great. But God uses evil, and God uses these things to accomplish his purposes. That's what Joseph said in Genesis, right, to his brothers. “You intended it for evil.God intended it for good.” That's the the the wonder of the mystery of God that he can, in the complexities of the universe, use even evil for his divine good and sovereign purposes. And so we see then that in Christian in a Christian theology of suffering, there is a purpose to it. And I think that alone is one of the great certainties that we have to cling to, that this is not random. This is not chaos.This is not Satan winning. Rather, this is something that God is sovereignly guiding and directing. There is a purpose behind it. Sometimes that doesn't make sense to us when the kind and godly young man dies or when the righteous suffer and the unrighteous prosper. Do you ever feel that way?Maybe you feel about that way about yourself. I'm I'm busting my butt. I'm trying to be a good employee, student, wife, husband, parent, whatever. And here I am. I'm dying on the vine, and you look at your neighbor who they're immoral, they profane God's name, and they just smile all the time.And you're like, that doesn't seem fair to me. As the hymn says, it is our God who does each day what he deems best. We trust that pain has a purpose and that God is behind it. The same faith that can believe in Jesus and trust my entire eternity to the truthfulness that Jesus did bear my guilt as he died on the cross is the same faith that now as a Christian in the midst of my suffering appropriates the promises of God and believes that this trial is as well under the sovereign hand of God and that he is doing something with it. We say, well, what is that something?Pastor Steve, could you please help? Notice what Peter says. What purpose do they serve? “So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire.” What Peter does here is he anticipates maybe people sort of getting lost in his theology, and he gives a very clear illustration that they could all understand and we can all understand here as well.He brings up gold. Now ancient people were interested in gold. Why? It was the most precious commodity that they had. I mean, today, if you listen to the radio and different things, you see these advertisements.The stock market's uncertain. Buy gold. Right? And they show gold bars and people smiling because they have gold bars, and they encourage you to buy gold. It's the only lasting value in the world.That's the way that they viewed it in the first century. It was their most precious commodity. It was the most long lasting thing that they had, gold. So if you've ever seen, King Tut's tomb or pictures of the jewelry and the gold at King Tut's tomb, then you know that the ancient world, they were really good with gold. I mean, they had figured out how to take gold out of the mountain and turn it into something very beautiful, incredibly beautiful, and intricate.So how do they do it? Well, like today, what they would do is they would mine the gold, and then they would heat it. Right? They would heat up that gold with fires in a furnace. They would heat it up and heat it up and heat it up.And gold reaches a point where it melts. And as it gets hotter, the hotter it gets, the more the impurities of the gold rise to the surface. And so the ancients would heat up that gold and they would heat up that gold and the impurities. In other words, everything that was not gold would rise to the top, and then they would just skim off the top. And by doing that, the gold then, the karat of the gold, and by that, I mean k a r a t.Not to confuse some of you that are thinking about lunch right now. Carat, the the purity of the gold, and the value then would would increase. Okay? And they all got how that worked, and I hope that maybe, you get how that works as well. Because Peter is drawing an analogy here.Do you see it? The analogy is that fire reveals the gold and fire refines the gold. It reveals what is actually gold and separates the impurities and by doing that it refines it. And what he's saying here is that our faith is like gold and our trials are like fire. Fire reveals the genuine gold, and trials reveal the genuine faith.Should I say that again? Fire reveals the genuine gold. Trials reveal the genuine faith within us. Now you don't have to be around the church very long to see this in action. If you're around a church, some family or some individual is gonna suddenly find themselves in a trial, a fiery trial, as Peter calls it elsewhere.And you can watch how this works. And sometimes it's beautiful. Right? Because here you have sort of generic family a, and you didn't know them that well. You didn't know that much about them, but you hear about the trial.And out of that trial, you see a family that is turning to God in ways that you had never seen before. They're wanting the church to be in prayer for them. They're seeking spiritual, counsel and help. They're turning to God in the midst of their trial. They're trusting in things that they they don't know how it's gonna work out, but our trust is in God.And please, won't you pray for us? And you see in that trial a faith that you had never seen before. And it's a beautiful thing to see that. The genuineness of their faith is being revealed by the trial. In a sense, they didn't know what was in them.They didn't realize what they had, that saving faith in them, now showing its true color, its true karat in the midst of a fiery trial. At the same time, you don't have to be around the church very long to have generic family b in the church who comes under a similar trial. And they are unprepared for it. Their faith is has no, bandwidth for it. In that trial, all of a sudden, they are overwhelmed.Or they feel like, wait. This is not what I signed up for. They're like kinda like bandwagon Christians. They sort of join the church. They get on the Christianity bandwagon, and then paint then life hurts.And they're like, I need a different bandwagon. And off they go in a 100 different directions forsaking what they profess to be true in their life. What has the trial done for them? The trial has revealed that their faith was not genuine. The heat of the trial has done that.It is our response to trials that says so much. And by the way, this doesn't mean that we're like super Christians. And like from now on here at Bethel Church, if you ever have a trial, you must be like, my faith is being revealed and I love it. You know, it's not like that at all. There is room in this for normal human concern and worry and fear and the battling of fear and faith and all of that.So it's not like we're all walking around on some great spiritual plane somehow. But in the essence of it, there is an endurance that faith, genuine faith has that comes through the trial different, better, refined, revealed in ways that previously had been unknown. Trials are also great purifiers. Great purifiers. I read a little bit this week in preparation for this that modern gold refining, they heat up the gold to 3,000 degrees.That's hot, isn't it? And I got thinking to myself, what if you could interview the gold while it's being heated up, while it's coming under this kind of temperature? What might the gold be saying as it's getting hot? I see statements like this: “This is hot! This hurts! This stinks! Get me out of here! Why is this happening? Why do I get this and silver gets off easy? Please stop this right now. The guy in charge of this doesn't love me.” But what does the goldsmith know? The goldsmith knows that the only way for that gold to be purified is by heat. Now I stand before you a man who wished that wasn't true.I mean, wouldn't it be great if if the way that our faith could be built and we could grow spiritually would be for God to lavish us with every desire of our hearts? And for there never to be a single problem the rest of our life that we would just be rich and happy and fat and, you know, healthy and eat what we want and have all these. I mean, wouldn't it be great if that was the way that our faith was built? Amen. You're not sure if you want to amen that or not.I think that would be fantastic. That's not the way that it works, is it? In fact, what happens to people who get everything they want? What do we call children like that? Brats.That's what we call them. The surest way to raise a brat is to give that kid everything he wants all the time. And spiritually, there's a lot of immature Christians running around wanting that same kind of an experience. That's immaturity. How do we grow friends?It's through pain. And you'd better be ready for it. And again, this doesn't look great on the church billboards. Come to Bethel Church and suffer along with us. But that's the Bible.And that's the experience of Jesus who, by the way, we're told to do what? Take up our cross and follow him. Is there room in your understanding of your Christian faith that when trials come into your life, it doesn't mean that God doesn't love you? Now that's easy to say when you're not in a trial. But Thursday of this week, you might be.Are you ready to embrace that trial? Does your faith in God have a bandwidth that can bear that? Peter says your faith is more valuable than gold. Gold was the most valuable thing that they had in that day. Peter says your faith trumps it.Why? Because gold perishes. Gold perishes. But our faith will last forever. Not because of us, but because of that persevering, preserving work of God in our life.When the heat is turned up on us, we wanna say stop. God's answer is this. You may not realize it, but your faith is far more valuable than your comfort. I am going to reveal it and refine it. This will be a short term pain, but it will be a long term gain.Are you ready? You know, as a pastor, our elders, our pastors, we often are called into those moments of pain. I did two funerals yesterday morning. Two very wonderful godly men in our church, Peter Hammer and Merle McCluskey, both families suffering loss. Dear, dear brothers in the Lord, these kinds of things happen.They heard me preach sermons like this all the time, and now they're dead. They their sojourn is over. Are you ready? Are you ready, or are just hoping it doesn't happen or that Jesus comes back before it happens? Now with that said, I don't think we should intentionally bring trouble to ourselves.So don't leave the service today and be like, you know what? Trials refine my faith. I want trials in my life and run your car into a guardrail or a light pole or something like that. K? There's enough pain in this world we don't need to add to it.It also doesn't mean that we should be trying to refine our other people's faith and say, you know what? He needs to grow. Especially you married couples. I don't want you thinking that way. Life has enough fiery trials all by itself.So what should we be thinking when we're in a trial? I've got some questions. When the heat is up, when the heat in life is coming up, what should I ask? Here's a few. Am I looking at this from a temporal or eternal perspective?Obsess over the problem, and it will be overwhelming. Pull back from it and see it from the grand perspective of the gospel and the story of God, now I have it in perspective. Do I do I realize that trials are necessary at times and are for my good? This is one of the things that I, in my difficult times in my life, I try to bring to bear the thought in my heart, this is good for me. And that's hard at times.Right? Because I got this other part of me going, no, it isn't. And then I've got my faith part going, yes. It is. No.It isn't. Yes. It is. No. It is.Yes. You lay in bed at night. You can't sleep because this is going on. Right? But faith refuses to give up the belief that there is a sovereign God and that these light and momentary trials are achieving for us a glory that far outweighs them all.Romans eight. I'm sorry. Second Corinthians four. Is my perspective shaped by confidence in God's sovereign and good plan for my life? Do you think God loves you or only when things are good and going the way you want?Do you believe he loves you? Friend, he does. He sent Jesus. Right? That is Romans eight.“If God didn't spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will we not also along with him graciously give us all things?” How can we doubt the love of God for us? He sent his son for us. Do I want to grow spiritually more than I want to live comfortably? How many people could honestly say, yes, I want to grow spiritually more than to have a comfortable life?Is faith refinement a personal goal? Do I aspire to a high karat content? I think those are all very helpful, and maybe we'll get those up on the web in case you would like those. They come right from the text. Now look at the end result here, and we have our fourth certainty in the text.Let me read it again. “So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” The fourth certainty is that purified faith has a goal in mind. If my goal is to grow spiritually, I have another goal in that, and it's an eternal perspective where I believe that this trial that I am going through is going to bring honor to God and also is going to bring commendation and honor to me. And this was my aha moment in my studies here because whenever you see it may result in praise and glory and honor, you just assume that this is talking about God.Right? Because there's so many passages in the Bible that say that. Philippians two, for example, “every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” And so you can look at that and say, well, who is the honor going to? It must be going to God.And indeed, in the end, all honor does go to God. But the text doesn't say that the honor here goes to God. It just says when it comes. It comes when Jesus is revealed. It comes at the end of time.And I think what Peter is doing here is he is including both. There is in my trouble and in my pain. Why do I want to respond in a God honoring way? Because I want God to be honored in this trial. And that is a very good motive for the Christian enduring suffering that Jesus may be honored in my life. I want him to be glorified in all things.Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen? Alright.So that we got down, especially at a church that is an all about him church. We got that down. But notice also that there is this reward that is also taught in Scripture that I receive. This commentation that I receive from Jesus in honor as he commends, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”Or a cup of cold water extended my name shall not be forgotten. And a host of other passages that teach us that as we honor the Lord in the ups and the downs of life, that we are putting our treasure in heaven as another example and that Jesus will reward us. Can that be motivating? I think so. I think so.In fact, to illustrate this, I'd like to return to the illustration that Peter is using, how both honors can happen, God and us. Let's go back to gold a second and to talk about gold used in in artwork. You know, back in the first century, they were doing what man has done for centuries, millennia, and that is use gold in art. Beautiful gold in, for example, jewelry. If you've, been to the museums in Chicago, there are displays there of ancient gold jewelry.And to this day, people pay to have tickets, and they go and they stand in front of the display, and they marvel at the intricate, jewelry and the and the craftsmanship of that those beautiful pieces of art. They stand there, and they're like, wow. And the wife's like, you ought to get me one of those. And, you know, these you just kinda stand there, and you admire the craftsmanship. You admire the artistic ability.You you admire the the art and the worth of that. Wow. That is just so absolutely beautiful. And so gold has itself a kind of I'm sorry. Art has its own kind of praise as we admire the art itself.But there is this other kind of honor that art produces, and that is honor for the maker of the art. So that it's not just the Messiah, it is Handel's Messiah. And it's just not the Fifth, it is Beethoven's fifth. And with great pieces of art, the art is valued and treasured, but then the real honor is for the amazing ability of the person who crafted it in the first place. And so how does that apply to what God is doing in the midst of my pain and my sorrow?As I realize that everything that comes into my life is from the sovereign hand of God, as I appropriate that faith, the same faith that trusted in Jesus for my eternity, I now trust him for this trial that I'm experiencing. And I remain faithful to the Lord. I try with the the strength that God provides to obey or to be steadfast or whatever I need to do in that trial. As I do that, God is shaping and forming in me in the story of my life a kind of artistic beauty. And the people around you see that, and they admire it.And they're like, isn't it beautiful and wonderful what that family is doing in response to that trial in their life? Isn't it great and wonderful what that man is doing as he prepares to lose his job by faith in Jesus, believing God is sovereign over it? And a host of other things as we admire and see that we are we're like the gallery of God. Our lives are a kind of masterpiece, a kind of artistic expression of the amazing power of God, but for our own honor as well. We hang in the gallery of God and people and angels and God himself admiring the beauty of what our lives live by faith in times of trouble, what that is, so that we as the art and God is the maker of the art, both receive honor and praise.And one motivating factor when I am in a time of trouble is I don't want to lose that reward. I don't want to lose that commendation from God. “Well done, good and faithful servant.” I don't wanna lose the opportunity to bring honor to him. By the way, I live by faith even when life hurts.So that at the end then of all of our troubles and all of our pains, there is God and there is us. His artwork, his masterpieces, honored and honored. Little h honor to us, big h honor to God. Paintings and painters, symphonies and composers, sinners and savior may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Much more on suffering in First Peter.We're just getting going. I'm gonna ask you, just to join me for a word of prayer. Would you stand with me, please, as we conclude our service together?* This transcript was generated using AI transcription technology and reviewed for accuracy but may contain errors. Please refer to the original audio for precise wording.

On this, our 342nd Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss men, women, and feminism; and the love of our pets. Gloria Steinem died at 92 this week. She exposed working conditions at Playboy clubs in the 1960s by going undercover as a bunny; founded Ms. Magazine in the 1970s; took Ms. ad free in the 1990s, and became a feminist icon. We discuss her legacy, both good and bad. Then: cats, dogs, and the differences between them.*****Our sponsors:Caraway: Non-toxic, highly functional & beautiful cookware and bakeware. Save up to $230 on their 12 piece cookware set, and visit http://Carawayhome.com/DarkHorse for an additional 10% off your next purchase. Add their minis duo, and save up to $350.CrowdHealth: Pay for healthcare with crowdfunding instead of insurance. It's way better. Use code DarkHorse at http://JoinCrowdHealth.com to get 1st 3 months for $99/month.Helix: Excellent, sleep-enhancing, American-made mattresses. Go to http://www.HelixSleep.com/DarkHorse for 27% off sitewide.*****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.comHeather's newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.comOur book, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.orgMusic: "Marble Machine" by WintergatanThis track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.netFree License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergatan.net*****Mentioned in this episode:NYT obit of Steinem: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/03/us/politics/gloria-steinem-dead.htmlA Bunny's Tale: https://archive.org/details/a-bunnys-tale/page/n15/mode/2up Heying 2022: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10508-021-02278-0Support the show

MAPS Abs & Butt: ⁠https://mapsabsandbutt.com⁠   Abs and glutes. The two most requested body parts, the two most commonly undertrained. In this episode, Sal, Adam, and Justin break down the brand new MAPS Abs and Butt program and talk about WHY so many people fail to develop these areas, even when they're putting in the work. The answer isn't what most people think, and the guys are blunt about it.   If you've been frustrated by a flat butt or abs that won't show no matter how hard you train, this is the episode that explains exactly why, and what to do about it.   00:00 Intro 00:22 MAPS Abs and Butt program intro and launch offer 01:17 Sponsor: Crisp Power 02:26 Why the hosts built this program 03:22 Evolutionary roots of abs and glute appeal 07:36 Why abs and glutes are so hard to develop 08:41 Full body programming with targeted volume emphasis 09:16 Cross-education science: why training the whole body helps target areas 14:16 Mind-muscle connection and why phases run inverse 15:51 Real example: ab exercises becoming hip flexor exercises 17:49 Program structure: phases, sets, reps, and intensity 19:57 Mistake 3: Not eating in a calorie surplus 21:56 Bonus guides, launch offer details, and free programs   Sponsors: Crisp Power: ⁠https://crisppower.com/mindpump⁠ (code: mind pump)   Mentioned: Brett Contreras - Described as one of the best in the business regarding workout programming, referenced during the discussion about total body volume limits.

On this, our 341st Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss two lives well-lived, both of which ended on August 31, 2026: our beloved labrador Maddie, and Wendell Berry. Maddie was adventurous and loyal; she helped raise our children; and she gave unconditional love. Wendell Berry was a writer, an environmentalist, and a philosopher and defender of the land, and of traditional ways of being and doing. He died at 92 at his home in Kentucky, having lived a deep life farming, thinking, and writing.*****Our sponsors:Timeline: Accelerate the clearing of damaged mitochondria to improve strength and endurance: Go to www.timeline.com/darkhorse and use code darkhorse for 20% off your order.Cowboy Colostrum: Get 25% Off Cowboy Colostrum with code Darkhorse at https://cowboycolostrum.com/darkhorse.CrowdHealth: Pay for healthcare with crowdfunding instead of insurance. It's way better. Use code DarkHorse at http://JoinCrowdHealth.com to get 1st 3 months for $99/month.*****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.comHeather's newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.comOur book, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.orgMusic: "Marble Machine" by WintergatanThis track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.netFree License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergatan.net*****Mentioned in this episode:Wendell Berry in 2012 in Humanities: https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2012/mayjune/conversation/wendell-berry-landsmaBerry obit in NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/31/us/wendell-berry-dead.htmThe Peace of Wild Things: https://amzn.to/4zQkzE6  (commission earned)The Unsettling of America: Culture & Agriculture: https://amzn.to/4zTQV0S (commission earned)*****Timestamps:00:00:00 A Rough One Today00:02:07 Sponsor: Timeline00:06:01 Sponsor: Cowboy Colostrum00:09:09 Sponsor: CrowdHealth00:11:22 We Lost Maddie on Monday00:14:01 Why Does She Love Me Unconditionally?00:15:38 Dogs May Save the World00:18:03 The Longest-Standing Domesticate00:20:53 Cats See Mothers, Dogs See a Team00:23:43 Please Wait for Dad to Get Home00:30:50 Why We Buried Her Ourselves00:37:26 Sun Lakes and a Dog With a Job00:43:09 Photographs of Maddie00:45:57 Grief Is the Downside of Love00:48:07 What We Surrender to the Market00:55:58 Wendell Berry, 1934-202601:01:02 The Unsettling of America01:02:25 Monoculture of Crops and of Ideas01:07:23 The Cult of the Future01:13:53 Manifesto: The Mad Farmer01:16:46 A Meeting, and GoodbyeSupport the show

We've all heard it said - sleep training helps moms, right? Moms are tired and overworked and need those babies to sleep so even if there is some risk associated with it, isn't it for the greater good? This is something we hear all the time, but does the research actually support this? Joining me today is Dr. Kathy Kendall-Tackett. Dr. Kendall-Tackett is a health psychologist and International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant, and the Director of Praeclarus Press, a small press specializing in women's health. For the past 10 years, Dr. Kendall-Tackett has been Editor-in-Chief of Psychological Trauma. She is Fellow of the American Psychological Association in Health and Trauma Psychology and Past President of the APA Division of Trauma Psychology. Dr. Kendall-Tackett specializes in women's-health research including breastfeeding, depression, trauma, and health psychology, and has won many awards for her work including the 2019 President's Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Trauma Psychology from the American Psychological Association, and is a member of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society. Dr. Kendall-Tackett has authored more than 500 articles or chapters and is author or editor of 42 books, including the recent Breastfeeding Doesn't Need to Suck. Dispelling Cry-It-Out Sleep Training Myths and What To Do Instead: https://amzn.to/4y5mKTy Dr. Kathy Kendall-Tackett: https://kathleenkendall-tackett.com/ Dr. Kathy Kendall-Tackett at the Uppity Science Chick: http://www.uppitysciencechick.com/kktbio.html Breastfeeding Doesn't Have to Suck (Book): https://amzn.to/4vhBLPB Dr. Kathy Kendall-Tackett Books: https://amzn.to/3SN4gac Praecalus Press: https://www.praeclaruspress.com/

Evolutionary anthropologist David R Samson has travelled far and wide in his search of sleep secrets, napping in chimpanzee nests and summering with the hunter-gathering Hadza people of Tanzania. In his latest book, The Sleepless Ape, he outlines the curious story of human sleep and how it got us where we are - from the strange fact that we sleep less than other primates despite heavy cognitive loads, to the evolutionary boon of controlling our sleep environments. And if we are just waking up to how deeply sleep impacts us, the question becomes, should we be returning to the sleep habits of our ancestors?

On this, our 340th Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss the recent flash flood on the border of Nepal and Tibet, climate science, and the nature of evidence. What commonalities are there between a glacial dam breaking and flooding the valley below, taking out towns and villages; Dry Falls and the Columbia River Gorge in Washington state; the Boxing Day tsunami in the Indian Ocean; and the 2011 earthquake that resulted in the destruction of the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan? In some cases we have to infer what happened; in some cases we have direct observation; in all cases we have to construct a plausible story that fits all of the evidence. Meanwhile in climate science, a new paper reconstructs NOAA data from 1,200 weather stations from over 100 years, uses a different metric than NOAA does to describe the data, and concludes that the world—or at least the coterminous U.S.—is not heating up in the way we have been told. We discuss.*****Our sponsors:Ethos: Protect your family with life insurance from Ethos. Get up to $3 million in coverage in as little as 10 minutes at https://ethos.com/darkhorseCaraway: Non-toxic, highly functional & beautiful cookware and bakeware. Save up to $230 on their 12 piece cookware set, and visit http://Carawayhome.com/DarkHorse for an additional 10% off your next purchase. Add their minis duo, and save up to $350.Puori: Clean and safe supplements, lab tested and guaranteed. Go to http://Puori.com/DarkHorse for 32% off grass-fed whey protein with a subscription. DarkHorse code works on all products!*****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.comHeather's newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.comOur book, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.orgMusic: "Marble Machine" by WintergatanThis track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.netFree License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergatan.net*****Mentioned in this episode:New York Post on flood: https://nypost.com/2026/08/26/world-news/flood-hits-china-nepal-border-leaving-many-dead-and-missing/ Flood video: https://x.com/weaponizedwheat/status/2092652586935763289?s=46 More flood video: https://x.com/charlesarthur/status/2092613128387211617?s=20 Christy 2026. Declines in hot and cold daily temperature extremes in the conterminous US, 1899–2025. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 157(5): 309: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00704-026-06200-3 Epoch Times: https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/climatologist-says-a-century-of-weather-data-contradicts-claims-of-record-heat-6072358Support the show

One of the most critical things we as parents aim to do for our kids is to help them develop a secure attachment. We want them to feel safe in the world - or as safe as we can make them feel. You might hear people say that sleep training has no effect on attachment. Or that sleep training inherently ruins attachment. Neither are true, but there is a relationship and here to discuss the complex one that exists between attachment and sleep is my dear friend, Dr. Levita D'Souza. Levita is a registered Counselling Psychologist and Lecturer within the Faculty of Education at Monash University. She has worked in public and private settings before commencing a career in academia. Her research interests are in the area of perinatal psychology, early childhood experiences and its impact on attachment and neurobiology, adverse childhood experiences (ACE), transgenerational trauma and attachment patterns and its subsequent effect on parenting styles. Her recent research projects are looking at psychological factors affecting first-time fathers as they transition to fatherhood. Dispelling Cry-It-Out Sleep Training Myths and What To Do Instead - https://amzn.to/4vP77hw Dr. Levita D'Souza at Monash University - https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/levita-dsouza/ Dr. Levita D'Souza at the Centre for Perinatal Psychology - https://www.centreforperinatalpsychology.com.au/psychologists/levita-dsouza/

On this, our 339th Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss the rise of fanaticism in the context of Jason Arday—the former Cambridge professor who was under fire for plagiarism and fabulism, and was recently found dead. Arday benefitted from the progressive stack, and played up both his blackness and autism; he was also an actual marathoner and a human being. There can be no nuance on either side—either he is beloved and his name is chanted at a gathering at Trafalgar Square, or he is denounced by the anti-woke (including race realists). Other examples of cases where fanaticism is met by fanaticism on the other side, when there should be some people who hold an intermediate position, include: Covid vaxxers vs anti-vaxxers; traditionalists vs libertarians; and climate science deniers vs enthusiasts.*****Our sponsors:Sundries Farm: Extraordinary hand grown and harvested garlic from a family farm on the volcanic soils of Idaho. Go to http://www.sundriesfarm.com & enter code DarkHorse for 10% off.Dose for your Liver: Tasty drink with milk thistle, ginger, dandelion & turmeric to support liver health. Save 35% of your first month at http://dosedaily.co/DarkHorseXlear: Xylitol nasal spray that acts as prophylaxis against respiratory illnesses by reducing the stickiness of bacteria and viruses. Find Xlear online, or at your local pharmacy, grocery store, or natural products store.*****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.comHeather's newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.comOur book, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.orgMusic: "Marble Machine" by WintergatanThis track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.netFree License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergatan.netThumbnail: Alishia Abodunde / Getty Images News*****Mentioned in this episode:Sarah Ditum, the Times of London, 8-17: https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/was-it-wrong-to-write-so-much-about-jason-arday-nzjrn9gbfTrafalgar Square: https://x.com/nickdixon/status/2089472484085211226?s=46The Times on Arday, 7-31: https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/jason-arday-university-cambridge-plagiarism-kwfk6sm6cNathan Cofnas: https://ncofnas.com/p/dei-fraud-and-cover-up-at-cambridge“Rebuttal”: https://bylinetimes.com/2026/08/18/the-peter-thiel-linked-race-science-network-that-penetrated-cambridge-university-and-targeted-jason-arday/Support the show

Today is episode three of the special series covering our new book, "Dispelling Cry-It-Out Sleep Training Myths and What To Do Instead", published by Routledge and out in stores now. So we all now understand more about what normal infant sleep is like, but what about the context in which that takes place? We know it's not just sleep that defines childhood or how our children develop, but the entirety of the culture and context around them. And what shouldn't be surprising to many is that our current Western culture is very, very far away from where we started and we may just be getting to the beginning of understanding this impact. Joining me today to discuss this very important topic are Drs. Darcia Narvaez and Mary Tarsha. Dispelling Cry-It-Out Sleep Training Myths and What To Do Instead - https://amzn.to/4vP77hw Dr. Darcia Narvaez at University of Notre Dame - https://psychology.nd.edu/people/darcia-narvaez/7%5C Dr. Darcia Narvaez - https://darcianarvaez.com/ Dr. Mary Tarsha at University of Notre Dame - https://iris.nd.edu/about-us/people/ The Evolved Nest Initiative - https://evolvednest.org/ Dr. Darcia Narvaez's Books - https://amzn.to/4p39D0Q Kindred Media (Videos, Books, Resources) - https://kindredmedia.org/ Dr. Darcia Narvaez at Psychology Today - https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/contributors/darcia-f-narvaez-phd

On this, our 338th Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss the WNBA, and the surveillance state. At the WNBA, only women can play, but they don't define what a woman is; as such, two former NBA players have declared their eligibility for next year's WNBA draft. In humans, as in all mammals, sex is binary and immutable. This is simple and fundamental, and denying it is delusional. Then: Toka is an Israeli company that advertises “frictionless surveillance.” Toka's technology can locate cameras not their own, remotely access them, and change footage, both previous and live; and they can disappear evidence that any changes have been made. What could go right?*****Our sponsors:Masa Chips: Delicious chips made with corn, salt, and beef tallow—nothing else—in loads of great flavors. Ready to give MASA a try? Get 25% off your first order by going to https://www.masachips.com/DARKHORSE and using code DARKHORSEXlear: Xylitol nasal spray that acts as prophylaxis against respiratory illnesses by reducing the stickiness of bacteria and viruses. Find Xlear online, or at your local pharmacy, grocery store, or natural products store.CrowdHealth: Pay for healthcare with crowdfunding instead of insurance. It's way better. Use code DarkHorse at http://JoinCrowdHealth.com to get 1st 3 months for $99/month.*****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.comHeather's newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.comOur book, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.orgMusic: "Marble Machine" by WintergatanThis track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.netFree License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergatan.net*****Mentioned in this episode:WNBA press conference: https://www.usnews.com/news/sports/articles/2026-08-08/wnba-commissioner-says-league-will-continue-discussing-issue-of-transgender-participationRoyce White: https://x.com/Highway_30/status/2085869040132555203Enes Kanter Freedom: https://x.com/EnesFreedom/status/2085772139869696032Josh Walkos thread on Toka: https://x.com/JoshWalkos/status/2085785810754785715?s=20Support the show

Why can't you lose weight, and why do modern diets fail? Today, Harvard professor Daniel Lieberman explains how evolution shapes hunger, body fat, food cravings, and modern food mistakes. You will learn why eating well can feel so hard in today's food world. Using themes from Daniel's new book, Fed Up: What Evolution Reveals about Food, Diet and Eating Well, we explore how our modern food environment explains weight gain, failed diets, and confusion about what to eat. We discuss calorie counting, ultra-processed food, hunger, and why there may be no single “best” diet for everyone. By the end of the episode, you'll have some simple ways to make better food choices and will know how to make healthy choices easier. If your body evolved for a world where food was scarce, what does that mean for how you eat today?

On this, our 337th Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss how Western society is treating its children. First, the good news: the Department of Justice, working with AGs in Texas and Ohio, have effectively shuttered two major “gender care” clinics, and extracted promises to create clinics to support people in detransitioning. It's about time. But: why is there a Trump banner on the DoJ? This is not typically how Americans do things, for good reason. Add the Trump branded passport, and $1 coin, and there's a definite Dear Leader vibe going on. Politics has taken over analytical thought—today, all you have to do is know who stands for a thing, and you know whether you do or do not agree. (See the protein panic currently taking blue-media outlets by storm.) Then: a Yale law professor says the insane part out loud. Finally, a guy caught taking out Flock cameras suddenly has a lot of friends, at least on-line.*****Our sponsors:Timeline: Accelerate the clearing of damaged mitochondria to improve strength and endurance: Go to http://www.timeline.com/darkhorse and use code darkhorse for 20% off your first order.ARMRA Colostrum is an ancient bioactive whole food that can strengthen your immune system. Go to http://www.tryarmra.com/DARKHORSE to get 30% off your first subscription order.Caraway: Non-toxic, highly functional & beautiful cookware and bakeware. Save up to $230 on their 12 piece cookware set, and visit http://Carawayhome.com/DarkHorse for an additional 10% off your next purchase. Add their minis duo, and save up to $350.*****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.comHeather's newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.comOur book, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.orgMusic: "Marble Machine" by WintergatanThis track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.netFree License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergatan.net*****Mentioned in this episode:Press release from Texas AG: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-paxton-makes-history-securing-landmark-healthcare-fraud-settlement-creates-nationsThe Epoch Times on detransitioning: https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/clinics-to-begin-offering-restorative-care-for-detransitioners-6065754Trump $1 coin: https://www.usmint.gov/campaigns/donald-trump-coinTrump passport: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116818397307589675The Malones on the protein panic: https://www.malone.news/p/the-protein-panic-how-a-review-paperJillian Michaels on children's programming: https://x.com/jillianmichaels/status/2084783188715676079Yale law professor Samuel Moyn: https://x.com/aaronkheriatymd/status/2084832267713851654?s=46Wesley Jackson and the Flock cameras: https://x.com/mattvanswol/status/2085002106046492858Support the show

The cosmic curriculum just changed! In this episode of Soul Sessions, Amanda Rieger Green breaks down the pivotal astrological shift as the North Node moves into Aquarius and the South Node enters Leo. This 18-month planetary shift (lasting through March 2028) marks a massive evolutionary leap for both the collective and our personal lives. As technology and artificial intelligence accelerate exponentially, the core question becomes: How do we evolve our humanity alongside rapidly advancing intelligence? In this episode, Amanda covers: The Cosmic Shift: What the North Node in Aquarius & South Node in Leo mean for your personal growth over the next year and a half. Pluto & Jupiter at Play: How Pluto in Aquarius and Jupiter in Leo are catalyzing deep personal transformation and expanding perspective. The August Catalyst: Navigating the Leo New Moon Solar Eclipse, the Lion’s Gate Portal (8/8), and the energetic shifts of late summer. Authenticity vs. The Attention Economy: Shifting from seeking external validation/metrics to embodying internal authority and genuine human connection. Evolving Beyond Perfectionism: Building on the previous Pisces/Virgo node lessons to release proving energy and step into authentic heart-led expression. Additional Resources: August 2026 Energy Forecast: Protect, Direct, & Free Your Energy Energetic Discernment: Clear Your Field, Return Old Energy & Reclaim Your Power Why Self-Care Isn’t Enough Anymore: The Shift from Healing to Evolving Lion’s Gate Portal 8/8: What to Know, What to Remember, and How to Align Host: Amanda Rieger Green Subscribe to Amanda's YouTube HERE! Follow Amanda on Instagram: @soulpathology Check out Amanda's Website: SoulPathology.com Send Amanda an Email: Podcast@soulsessions.meFollow Amanda on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soulpathology/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today is episode two of the special series covering our new book, "Dispelling Cry-It-Out Sleep Training Myths and What To Do Instead". When talking about sleep training, we can't get very far without talking about what is it parents can and should expect of their babies. That is, what is normal when we think about infant sleep? Joining me today to discuss this in more depth is Dr. Elaine Barry, who holds the honour of being one of the two co-authors I have not had on this podcast before, but who is becoming a leading voice in the world of normal infant sleep. Dispelling Cry-It-Out Sleep Training Myths and What To Do Instead - https://amzn.to/4vP77hw Dr. Elaine Barry at Penn State Fayette - https://fayette.psu.edu/person/elaine-barry Dr. Elaine Barry at PsychWire - https://psychwire.com/profiles/9xq69n/elaine-barry

In this episode, Sergiy Nesterenko (CEO @ Quilter) joins the pod to share how he turned a personal technical challenge into his own company, even before the market caught up. He shares his unique journey from SpaceX to Quilter and addresses common eng leader / founder challenges, including taking critical feedback to solve tough technical problems, knowing when your most important role is educating the market / customers, and choosing the right customers. Sergiy and Jerry also dissect insights into principles around building circuit boards, and common misconceptions around hiring top-tier talent, finding investors, and procuring customers as an early-stage company.   ABOUTSERGIY NESTERENKO Sergiy Nesterenko is the Founder and CEO of Quilter, the first physics-driven AI platform that fully automates PCB layout design. Under his leadership, Quilter has pioneered autonomous board design – creating the missing automation layer for hardware and compressing weeks-long layout cycles into hours. Backed by Index, Benchmark, Coatue, and Tony Fadell, Quilter is redefining what's possible in hardware development. Previously, Sergiy spent five years at SpaceX as a Senior Radiation Effects Engineer, building electronics for the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.   SHOW NOTES: Introducing Sergiy Nesterenko & the inspiration behind Quilter (1:43) Why now is the right time to tackle this technical challenge (3:37) The technology landscape during Quilter's early days (6:05) Sergiy's fundraising journey & key takeaways (8:26) The importance of adopting an evolutionary mindset (10:52) Early problems that Quilter aimed to solve (13:08) Navigating the balance between technical problems & consumer readiness (15:59) How negative feedback can lead to solving a key problem (18:34) Knowing which feedback to incorporate into product iterations (20:08) Lessons learned from choosing the wrong customers (27:33) First principles approach to circuit board building (29:31) Signals that it's the right time to tackle a hard technical challenge (34:04) Advantages to solving really hard problems & tackling entrepreneurship (36:32) Common misconceptions surrounding early phase companies (38:17) Sergiy's experience working with Eric @ Benchmark (39:46) Why investors like founders who spend time in the “idea maze” (42:19) Strategies for convincing high-profile talent to join your org early on (43:22) Rapid fire questions (45:10)   This episode wouldn't have been possible without the help of our incredible production team: Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host Jerry Li - Co-Host Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/ Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan's also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/ Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Why does modern life leave so many of us feeling disconnected? We explore the surprising evolutionary forces behind loneliness, autonomy, and technology, and share practical ways to build stronger relationships without giving up the conveniences of modern life. Topics [0:00] Introduction and Speed Round with Bill von Hippel [11:09] Were hunter-gatherers actually happier? [15:40] Why evolution favors connection over autonomy [22:43] How cities created innovation (and loneliness) [31:16] The cost of choosing autonomy [37:57] Social media, AI, and the future of human connection [47:56] Practical ways to create more community [56:17] Evolutionary mismatches and modern fears [1:02:23] Desert Island Music [1:09:32] Grooving Session: Choose connection ©2026 Behavioral Grooves Links About Bill The Social Paradox by Bill von Hippel Join us on Substack! Join the Behavioral Grooves community Subscribe to Behavioral Grooves on YouTube Support Behavioral Grooves Music Links Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run Credence Clearwater Revival - Have You Ever Seen the Rain  

How did life get started? We all know that the Bible tells us that life got started when God created it. But we have also learned, perhaps in school, or reading the news, that evolutionists believe that life could have started in the distant past all by itself if the conditions were right. Perhaps you have read that scientists can form amino acids in the laboratory.Besides the fact that amino acids are a long way from life, the amino acids made in the laboratory are the wrong kind for life. The idea that life can form spontaneously under the right conditions places modern evolutionary scientists in a very precarious position.One assumption of evolutionary scientists is that the early earth had no oxygen. Oxygen destroys amino acids. Yet geologists tell us that oxidation even in the oldest rocks proves that the earth has always had an oxygen atmosphere. Besides, if the earth didn't have an oxygen atmosphere when the first amino acids formed, that means there was no ozone, a form of oxygen, to protect those amino acids. Amino acids are quickly destroyed by ultraviolet light from the sun. So, you see, with or without oxygen, amino acids can't begin to form. The truth is that the Bible offers the only sensible explanation for the origin of life. As the great scientist Louis Pasteur said, "Life can only come from life." And the Bible tells us that eternal life can only come from the eternal life-giver, Jesus Christ.Psalm 14:1"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.”Prayer: Father, in Your wisdom, You have put to shame those who would deny You. Thank You for salvation in Jesus. Amen.Ref: David Rosevear, “The Myth of Chemical Evolution,” ICR, Impact #313. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1232/29?v=20251111

On this, our 336th Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss the Covid Era in light of the Senate Hearing on the testimony of Anthony Fauci. First: excerpts from several Covid Era Stories, reminding us of the atrocities, tragedies, and ludicrosities (yes) of that time. Then: is Fauci's refusal to answer any questions put to him by members of the committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs evidence that he is, in effect, a made man? We the people deserve answers, and the government should work for us—but it does not appear to do so. The polarization is as stark as possible: democrats think Fauci is science, republicans see Fauci as a great harm to science.*****Our sponsors:Xlear: Xylitol nasal spray that acts as prophylaxis against respiratory illnesses by reducing the stickiness of bacteria and viruses. Find Xlear online, or at your local pharmacy, grocery store, or natural products store.Puori: Amazingly clean and safe supplements and protein powders, lab tested and guaranteed. Go to http://Puori.com/DarkHorse for 32% off grass-fed whey protein with a subscription. DarkHorse code works on all products!Mars Men: Natural testosterone booster supplement. For a limited time, our listeners get 50% off for life, free shipping, and 3 free gifts from Mars Men at http://Mengotomars.com.*****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.comHeather's newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.comOur book, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.orgMusic: "Marble Machine" by WintergatanThis track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.netFree License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergatan.netThumbnail: Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images News*****Mentioned in this episode:Senate hearing: https://www.hsgac.senate.govCovid Era Stories (#17, 23, 8, 9, 24, and 3 excerpted on show): https://naturalselections.substack.com/s/covid-era-storiesSupport the show

What do you get when you put 7 academic women together who all want see an end to the sleep training era? A book, of course. I am thrilled to announce a mini-series for the Evolutionary Parenting podcast featuring interviews with all authors of the chapters in a new book out called 'Dispelling Cry-It-Out Sleep Training Myths and What to Do Instead', published by Routleged and out now where you buy your favourite books. I was honoured to be involved in this book and have loved my conversations with all my co-authors. Over the next five episodes, I'll be sharing my conversations with each of the authors in this book about their chapters in the book, and really their areas of expertise in this. To kick things off, I am honoured to share my conversation with Dr. Jennie Rosier, a long-time collaborator of mine, former guest on this podcast, and the brainchild of this book, Dr. Jennie Rosier. Dispelling Cry-It-Out Sleep Training Myths and What To Do Instead Dr. Jennie Rosier at James Madison University Relationships, Love, Happiness Project Love Matters Podcast

We are all familiar with the evolutionary tree of life. It is supposed to depict how life began as a single-celled organism and over immense periods of time mutated into all the various forms of life we see today. We have offered several Creation Moments programs recently that explained how new genetic studies simply don't support this evolutionary tree.Those of us who accept young earth creationism are not the only ones who are beginning to notice this problem. Creatures that are completely unrelated, according to the evolutionary tree, have very similar genes. More often than not, DNA information disagrees with a creature's supposed lineage as it is presented on the evolutionary tree of life. Very different creatures, unrelated according to the evolutionary tree, develop from very similar genes. Our genetic knowledge of creatures is most complete with the simpler organisms. Even evolutionists have admitted that microorganisms without a nucleus do not fit into any kind of evolutionary tree. The facts are killing the evolutionary tree of life. Some evolutionists are admitting that the history of life cannot be represented as a tree. Some even ask whether the history of life can ever be known with any certainty.In short, the new genetic information we are rapidly accumulating supports the Bible's teaching that each kind of creature was separately created. New genetic information shows that there is not one trunk to the tree of life. The only real source of life is our victorious, risen Savior, Jesus Christ.John 11:25"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live…"Prayer: Lord, thank You for giving me life, especially eternal life. Amen.Ref: Creation Matters (ICR), "The DNA Disaster." Image: Electron Microscopic Image of Pyrolobus fumarii (microorganisms without a nucleus), Manfred Rohde, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1232/29?v=20251111

On this, our 335th Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss the time-traveling money printer in its newest instantiation: Trump's monetization of Truth Social, wherein you pay to get a microsecond advantage in the market. Like so many before him, he's becoming wealthy without generating wealth. But a president should be working to generate wealth for his country, and its citizens. Then: discussion of risk, exploration and frontiers in the context of Pa Ingalls and the Little House on the Prairie series, the fearful response to such things by many women, and the motorcycle accident that our son Toby was just in. (He will be okay.)*****Our sponsors:Masa Chips: Delicious chips made with corn, salt, and beef tallow—nothing else—in loads of great flavors. Ready to give MASA a try? Get 25% off your first order by going to https://www.masachips.com/DARKHORSE and using code DARKHORSEAmerican Financing: NMLS #182334 nmlsconsumeraccess.org. APR for rates in the 5s start at 6.327% for well qualified borrowers. Call 866-886-5350 for details about credit, costs and terms. Visit http://AmericanFinancing.net/DarkHorse. Average savings based on borrowers who save over $199.99.SaunaSpace: deep radiant heat from red and infrared incandescence—detox and decrease pain, reverse screen fatigue and improve your mood. http://Sauna.Space/DarkHorse for 10% off sitewide.  *****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.comHeather's newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.comOur book, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.orgMusic: "Marble Machine" by WintergatanThis track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.netFree License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergatan.net*****Mentioned in this episode:Truth Social announcement: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/07/16/3328489/0/en/Trump-Media-and-Technology-Group-Launches-Truth-API-a-New-Licensed-Data-Service-for-Financial-Services-Partners-That-Provides-the-Fastest-Access-to-Truth-Social-s-Most-Influential-.htmlTai Pan: https://amzn.to/44JG4bu (comission earned)Pa Ingalls and risk at Natural Selections: https://naturalselections.substack.com/p/scared-rabbitsSupport the show

Evolutionary psychologist Steve Stewart-Williams joins me this episode for a wide-ranging discussion on what makes humans tick — biological sex differences, the mechanics of attraction, how relationships and personality take shape, and the contested science that tries to explain all of it. Steve teaches psychology at the University of Nottingham Malaysia and has written Darwin, God and the Meaning of Life, The Ape That Understood the Universe, and most recently A Billion Years of Sex Differences. Together we get into why his field draws so much political heat and misreading from every direction. Steve breaks down how traditionalists and progressives each manage to distort what the research actually shows, why acknowledging biology's role isn't a backdoor argument for old-fashioned gender roles, and why explaining how human nature works says nothing about how a society ought to be organized. 00:00 Intro 07:55 Are Sex Differences Biological or Cultural? 14:23 How Steve Discovered Evolutionary Psychology 17:48 Why Male and Female Mating Strategies Differ 21:18 Mate-Choice Copying and the Wedding Ring Effect 29:35 The Gender-Equality Paradox 36:11 Male and Female Personality Differences 38:15 Parenthood, Depression and Modern Life 45:06 Male Suicide, Therapy and Mental Health 50:05 Psychology's Replication Crisis 56:29 Will Sex Differences Ever Disappear? 1:01:54 The Largest Psychological Sex Differences 1:06:14 Patriarchy and Social-Media Narratives About Men 1:16:25 Prenatal Testosterone and Twin Studies 1:25:27 Sexual Orientation, Crime and Gender Differences 1:27:52 Casual Sex and Sexual Overperception 1:36:22 Rival Derogation and Mate Selection 1:41:06 Dating Apps, Hypergamy and Attraction 1:46:06 Why Humor, Charisma and Competence Are Attractive 1:52:25 Evolutionary Theories That Were Proven Wrong 1:53:49 Wokeness and Conformity in Academia 2:03:01 The Argument Against Innate Sex Differences 2:05:32 A Billion Years of Sex Differences 2:06:46 Using AI for Research and Debate Preparation 2:14:14 Final Dating Insights and Closing Thoughts ————————————————————

On this, our 334th Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss data centers, surveillance cameras, and the Cartesian Crisis. Do Americans dislike data centers because they're bad for us, or because foreign agents want us to dislike them? The NYT and Alethea say that foreign agents are creating content made to look home-grown that is not, but the support for the arguments is weak. Meanwhile, the high-voltage lines going up near people's homes could have the aesthetic and—more important—health costs mitigated if those lines were put underground, due to the potential to insulate the magnetic fields. Also: Flock cameras are going up all over America. The stated goal is to track license plates, but our privacy and civil liberties are at stake. The Flock CEO compares those who are taking out Flock cameras to antifa, and Bret introduces a new idea: They Don't Actually Give a Shit About Us.*****Our sponsors:American Financing: NMLS #182334 nmlsconsumeraccess.org. APR for rates in the 5s start at 6.327% for well qualified borrowers. Call 866-886-5350 for details about credit, costs and terms. Visit http://AmericanFinancing.net/DarkHorse. Average savings based on borrowers who save over $199.99.Caraway: Non-toxic, highly functional & beautiful cookware and bakeware. Save up to $230 on their 12 piece cookware set, and visit http://Carawayhome.com/DarkHorse for an additional 10% off your next purchase. Add their minis duo, and save up to $350.Dose for your Liver: Tasty drink with milk thistle, ginger, dandelion & turmeric to support liver health. Save 35% of your first month at http://dosedaily.co/DarkHorse*****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.comHeather's newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.comOur book, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.orgMusic: "Marble Machine" by WintergatanThis track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.netFree License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergatan.net*****Mentioned in this episode:NYT on data centers: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/09/business/china-russia-ai-data-centers.htmlAlethea: https://alethea.com/insights/how-state-actors-and-ai-slop-are-amplifying-data-center-revoltTaggard on Brockovich's Substack: https://www.thebrockovichreport.com/p/high-voltage-high-stakesCowan on data centers and magnetic fields: https://peteranthonycowan.substack.com/p/erin-brockovich-power-lines-and-theFlock: https://www.flocksafety.comDeflock: https://deflock.orgFlock CEO: https://x.com/MorePerfectUS/status/2075624572540338269Support the show

The Dodo: From Evolutionary Isolation to the Icon of Extinction Guest: Stephen Moss Book Title: Ten Birds That Changed the World The dodo serves as the primary icon of extinction, a concept that was incomprehensible to the 17th-century religious mind. Evolving on the predator-free island of Mauritius, the flightless dodo was defenseless when Dutch sailors introduced dogs, rats, and monkeys, leading to its disappearance within 80 years. Moss notes that most museum "dodos" are actually models made of chicken feathers and wire, as contemporaries never thought to preserve a species they believed could never vanish. However, the dodo's tragic fate inspired modern successes, such as Carl Jones'work in the 1970s. By using "double clutching" — taking eggs to force a second laying — Jones saved the Mauritiuskestrel from a population of just a dozen birds. This legacy continues today through efforts to make islands predator-free to protect vulnerable seabirds, proving that the dodo's extinction eventually taught humanity the value of active conservation. (4)1869 WOOD PIGEON

On this, our 333rd Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss how to avoid mosquitoes without DEET, whether Gen Z is really doing better than the generations before it (as some research and headlines proclaim), and what the hell happened to Wikipedia. First: catnip is as effective as DEET in dissuading mosquitoes (but you might end up attracting cats). Next: New research suggests that GenZ is doing great, financially, but dig just a little, and find the research deeply flawed. Finally: Larry Sanger named and led Wikipedia in 2001, and he has now been permanently blocked from the site. It has become an ideological racket rather than an encyclopedia, but we need an encyclopedia. How do we get it back?*****Our sponsors:American Financing: NMLS #182334 nmlsconsumeraccess.org. APR for rates in the 5s start at 6.327% for well qualified borrowers. Call 866-886-5350 for details about credit, costs and terms. Visit http://AmericanFinancing.net/DarkHorse. Average savings based on borrowers who save over $199.99. Masa Chips: Delicious chips made with corn, salt, and beef tallow—nothing else—in loads of great flavors. Ready to give MASA a try? Get 25% off your first order by going to https://www.masachips.com/DARKHORSE and using code DARKHORSECrowdHealth: Pay for healthcare with crowdfunding instead of insurance. It's way better. Use code DarkHorse at http://JoinCrowdHealth.com to get 1st 3 months for $99/month.*****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.comHeather's newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.comOur book, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.orgMusic: "Marble Machine" by WintergatanThis track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.netFree License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergatan.net*****Mentioned in this episode: Catnip as bug repellent: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jul/07/catnip-lotion-as-effective-as-deet-at-repelling-mosquitoes-study-findsIs GenZ earning more than millennials?:  https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/jun/22/gen-z-earning-more-millennials-same-age-resolution-foundationPhil Harper responds: https://thedigger.co/p/gen-z-is-out-earning-millennialsThe Guardian publishes a lot from the Resolution Foundation: https://www.theguardian.com/business/resolution-foundationLarry Sanger: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/op-eds/4638304/larry-sanger-wikipedia-co-founder-banned-anonymous-mob/Support the show

On this, our 332nd Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss America's 250th birthday. In 1776, both Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence provided self-evident truths that prompted the formation of a new nation. Built on optimism and an entrepreneurial spirit, the United States of America is fracturing along political lines, each side incapable of seeing the humanity of people who believe different things from themselves. In those 250 year old documents we see implicit recognition of trade-offs, game theory and emergence—all of which are just as fundamental now as they were then. As part of this discussion we cover patriotism, antifa, dual vs hierarchical loyalties, Trump, the World Cup, and taking advantage of breaks.*****Our sponsors:Timeline: Accelerate the clearing of damaged mitochondria to improve strength and endurance: Go to http://www.timeline.com/darkhorse and use code darkhorse for 20% off your first order.ARMRA Colostrum is an ancient bioactive whole food that can strengthen your immune system. Go to http://www.tryarmra.com/DARKHORSE to get 30% off your first subscription order.Helix: Excellent, sleep-enhancing, American-made mattresses. Go to http://www.HelixSleep.com/DarkHorse for % off sitewide, 25% of Luxe mattresses, and 30% off elite mattresses*****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.comHeather's newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.comOur book, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.orgMusic: "Marble Machine" by WintergatanThis track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.netFree License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergatan.net*****Mentioned in this episode:Common Sense: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/147/147-h/147-h.htmDeclaration of Independence: https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcriptHarper's: https://harpers.org/archive/2026/07/happy-fucking-birthday-christopher-hooks-semiquincentennial/Musings with Chloé Simone: https://substack.com/@chloesimmone/p-203727669Support the show

On this, our 331st Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss sunscreen and vegans. It's Summer, and the sun is out! Should you slather yourself in sunscreen, stay indoors, or seek moderate exposure to the sun that grows in intensity that more your skin becomes acclimated to the season? The last, of course. Research has found that sunscreen use may be positively correlated with skin cancer, but a) “sunscreen” is not just one thing, and most but not all sunscreen is positively toxic, and b) all cause mortality is lower in people who get regular (non-sunscreened) sun exposure, so even if sunscreen does lower your risk of skin cancer—the sun is protecting your health in other ways. Also consider ditching the sunglasses, and donning a hat. Then: even the New York Times can't figure out whose team they're on, as a vegan in Portland tries to get Oregonians to outlaw hunting, fishing, animal research, conventional livestock production, and “lethal pest control.”*****Our sponsors:Mud/WTR: Start your new morning ritual & get up to 43% off your @MUDWTR with code DarkHorse at http://mudwtr.com/DarkHorse #mudwtrpodCaraway: save up to $230 on the 12 piece cookware set vs buying the products individually; include minis duo & save up to $350. Visit http://Carawayhome.com/DarkHorse to take an additional 10% off using code DarkHorse on your next purchase.Puori: Clean and safe supplements, lab tested and guaranteed. Go to http://Puori.com/DarkHorse for 32% off grass-fed whey protein with a subscription. DarkHorse code works on all products!*****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.comHeather's newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.comOur book, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.orgMusic: "Marble Machine" by WintergatanThis track can be downloaded for free at www.wintergatan.netFree License to use this track in your video can be downloaded at www.wintergatan.net*****Mentioned in this episode:Hulscher's substack: https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/study-finds-sunscreen-use-linkedJeremian et al 2023. Gene–Environment analyses in a UK biobank skin Cancer cohort identifies important SNPs in DNA repair genes that may help prognosticate disease risk. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 32(11): 1599-1607: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10840669/pdf/nihms-1929398.pdfNicholson & Exley, C 2007. Aluminum: a potential pro-oxidant in sunscreens/sunblocks? Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 43(8): 1216-1217: https://www.ovid.com/journals/frbm/abstract/10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2007.07.010~aluminum-a-potential-pro-oxidant-in-sunscreenssunblocksHunter-Gatherer's Guide: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)NYT in Oregon: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/21/us/politics/animal-rights-cruelty-oregon.htmlSupport the show

On this, our 330th Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss pride and fascism. In California, companies get preferential consideration for utilities contracts if they can demonstrate that they belong to June's most popular “oppressed” class—LGBTQ. Proof will be required, however. Evidence can take the form of “attempted parenting” with a same-sex partner, a therapist's letter confirming transgender status, or a TikTok account, among other things. Meanwhile among the GenZ's, 31% of young women identify as LGBTQ—and mostly it's B. Young women claiming they're bisexual is yet another social contagion—it's safer than cutting or taking cross-sex hormones, and it puts you in good standing to get money from the state of California! Then: what is fascism? Umberto Eco proposed 14 features found in fascism; we review.*****Our sponsors:Dose for your Liver: Tasty drink with milk thistle, ginger, dandelion & turmeric to support liver health. Save 35% of your first month at http://dosedaily.co/DarkHorseSundries Farm: Extraordinary hand grown and harvested garlic from a family farm on the volcanic soils of Idaho. Go to http://www.sundriesfarm.com & enter code DarkHorse for 10% off. Xlear: Xylitol nasal spray that acts as prophylaxis against respiratory illnesses by reducing the stickiness of bacteria and viruses. Find Xlear online, or at your local pharmacy, grocery store, or natural products store.*****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.comHeather's newsletter, Natural Selections (subscribe to get free weekly essays in your inbox): https://naturalselections.substack.comOur book, A Hunter-Gatherer's Guide to the 21st Century, is available everywhere books are sold, including from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)Check out our store! Epic tabby, digital book burning, saddle up the dire wolves, and more: https://darkhorsestore.org*****Mentioned in this episode:Rufo and Hufford in City Journal: https://www.city-journal.org/article/california-gay-business-contracts-utilitiesLGBTQ Status Qualifiers for Business Owners: https://nglcc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/LGBTQ-Status-Qualifiers-for-Business-Owners-1.pdfRandal Olson on genZ's embrace of LGBTQ: https://www.randalolson.com/2026/06/09/lgbtq-identification-by-generationUmberto Eco on ur-fascism: https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascismSupport the show