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Start with a paradox: we can split atoms, train machines, and wire the planet, yet we can’t stop tearing at each other. We dig into E.O. Wilson’s piercing frame—Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, godlike technology—and show how that mismatch fuels polarization, fragile systems, and escalating risk. Our conversation maps the two ancient ethoses that still govern behavior: red claw competition between groups and cooperative sharing within them. We explore how markets arose as cultural tools to tame internal conflict and why, inside large hierarchies, rewards follow a third logic—the power ethos—where pay tracks status jumps more than the slow curve of skill.
From there, we confront the wisdom gap. Technical intelligence compounds; it optimizes means at exponential speed. Wisdom, the faculty that chooses worthy ends and guards against harm, moves slowly or stalls. Cybersecurity exposes the asymmetry: zero-day markets monetize vulnerabilities, attribution is murky, and a lone actor can disrupt pipelines, hospitals, or grids. We argue that “move fast and break things” collapses when software becomes critical infrastructure, and that smart regulation and security engineering are conditions for progress, not barriers.
To close the gap, we call for concilience—linking sciences and humanities—so experts don’t become learned ignoramuses, brilliant in narrow domains yet blind to ethics and history. We offer human security as a unifying goal that centers people rather than state prestige or GDP, and we press for valuing natural capital alongside financial capital. Wilson’s Half-Earth proposal becomes a hard-nosed response to extinction math, while demographic data shows how women’s rights quietly shift the future by choice. We end at the edge of synthetic biology, asking whether we should edit away the very emotions that seed conflict and also kindle empathy, art, and love. If you’re ready to rethink power, progress, and what it means to be human, join us, subscribe, and share your thoughts—what’s the first reform you would tackle?

Join Allen and Ida as they dive deep into the world of tech, unpacking the latest trends, innovations, and disruptions in an engaging, thought-provoking conversation

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