#933

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RECORDED ON DECEMBER 4th 2023.
Dr. Samuel Veissière is a clinician-researcher at RAPS (réseaux Recherche et Action sur les Polarisations Sociales), formerly Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at McGill University. He is an anthropologist and psychosocial clinician working at the intersection of psychiatry, cognitive science and the social sciences. Dr. Veissière has held multiple research grants to study the impact of the Internet on cognition, wellbeing and social relations. Past research includes leading experimental studies on social, symbolic, and ritual dimensions of placebo effects, and making original contributions to theoretical models of the co-evolution of cognition and culture that draw on Bayesian brain, active inference, and ecological niche construction paradigms. His current works examines risk and protective factors against violent radicalization and extremism, with an emphasis on digital, narrative, and gendered dimensions of social polarization.
In this episode, we first talk about the psychological effects of the internet, and its impact on sociality. We also talk about smartphone addiction. We discuss the role that culture plays in mental health. We talk about placebos from an anthropological and clinical perspective, including super placebos and neuroplacebos. Finally, we discuss a Free Energy approach to human cognition and culture, how humans learn shared expectations and norms, and how social conformity develops.
Time Links:
00:00 Intro
00:58 The psychological effects of the internet, and its impact on sociality
21:03 Smartphone addiction
26:27 What role does culture play in mental health?
34:07 Placebos, from an anthropological and clinical perspective
48:43 A Free Energy approach to human cognition and culture
57:38 How do humans learn shared expectations and norms?
1:04:17 How does social conformity develop?
1:09:45 Follow Dr. Veissière’s work!
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Follow Dr. Veissière’s work:
Website: bit.ly/3YUQLo2
ResearchGate profile: bit.ly/3KWSzqM
Twitter handle: @samuelveissiere
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A HUGE THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS/SUPPORTERS: PER HELGE LARSEN, JERRY MULLER, HANS FREDRIK SUNDE, BERNARDO SEIXAS, OLAF ALEX, ADAM KESSEL, MATTHEW WHITINGBIRD, ARNAUD WOLFF, TIM HOLLOSY, HENRIK AHLENIUS, FILIP FORS CONNOLLY, DAN DEMETRIOU, ROBERT WINDHAGER, RUI INACIO, ZOOP, MARCO NEVES, COLIN HOLBROOK, PHIL KAVANAGH, SAMUEL ANDREEFF, FRANCIS FORDE, TIAGO NUNES, FERGAL CUSSEN, HAL HERZOG, NUNO MACHADO, JONATHAN LEIBRANT, JOÃO LINHARES, STANTON T, SAMUEL CORREA, ERIK HAINES, MARK SMITH, JOÃO EIRA, TOM HUMMEL, SARDUS FRANCE, DAVID SLOAN WILSON, YACILA DEZA-ARAUJO, ROMAIN ROCH, DIEGO LONDOÑO CORREA, YANICK PUNTER, CHARLOTTE BLEASE, NICOLE BARBARO, ADAM HUNT, PAWEL OSTASZEWSKI, NELLEKE BAK, GUY MADISON, GARY G HELLMANN, SAIMA AFZAL, ADRIAN JAEGGI, PAULO TOLENTINO, JOÃO BARBOSA, JULIAN PRICE, EDWARD HALL, HEDIN BRØNNER, DOUGLAS FRY, FRANCA BORTOLOTTI, GABRIEL PONS CORTÈS, URSULA LITZCKE, SCOTT, ZACHARY FISH, TIM DUFFY, SUNNY SMITH, JON WISMAN, WILLIAM BUCKNER, PAUL-GEORGE ARNAUD, LUKE GLOWACKI, GEORGIOS THEOPHANOUS, CHRIS WILLIAMSON, PETER WOLOSZYN, DAVID WILLIAMS, DIOGO COSTA, ANTON ERIKSSON, CHARLES MOREY, ALEX CHAU, AMAURI MARTÍNEZ, CORALIE CHEVALLIER, BANGALORE ATHEISTS, LARRY D. LEE JR., OLD HERRINGBONE, MICHAEL BAILEY, DAN SPERBER, ROBERT GRESSIS, IGOR N, JEFF MCMAHAN, JAKE ZUEHL, BARNABAS RADICS, MARK CAMPBELL, TOMAS DAUBNER, LUKE NISSEN, KIMBERLY JOHNSON, JESSICA NOWICKI, LINDA BRANDIN, NIKLAS CARLSSON, GEORGE CHORIATIS, VALENTIN STEINMANN, PER KRAULIS, KATE VON GOELER, ALEXANDER HUBBARD, BR, MASOUD ALIMOHAMMADI, JONAS HERTNER, URSULA GOODENOUGH, DAVID PINSOF, SEAN NELSON, MIKE LAVIGNE, JOS KNECHT, ERIK ENGMAN, LUCY, YHONATAN SHEMESH, MANVIR SINGH, AND PETRA WEIMANN!
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#TheDissenter #SamuelVeissiere #Anthropology

[@modvs1]

Thank you Riccardo.

[@MarmaladeINFP]

There is the effect of media technology in how it alters neurocognition. That is seen even with something as simple as literacy, the single most transformative media technology in human history. In his book on WEIRD bias, Joseph Henrich mentions that reading changes brain structure. This led to many moral panics, from Socrates railing against literary culture to the fear-mongering about kids reading romance novels right before the early modern revolutions.
But there is much that is different with present media technology. For one, the changes have come so quickly. Literacy often caused mass disruption that overturned society again and again. But the development of literacy happened over millennia. It allowed humans to slowly adapt to it. With modern media technology, as soon as we are barely getting used to one wave of developments, entirely new innovations are throwing everything up into the air again.
Another thing is all of the ways we are being affected. It's not only the use of the media technology that influences us. The very presence of it is impacting us in unseen and unforeseen ways. We are only barely beginning to grasp this. The greatest harms to modern health (physical, neurocognitive, mental, etc) might be from artificial light and non-native EMFs, combined with how the technological advances further disconnect us from natural light and native EMFs. Look into quantum biology.
Also, there might be an overlap or parallel with other areas of disease and unease. Consider how pathogen exposure and parasite load correlate to socio-political conservatism and right-wing authoritarianism, both of which are defined by low measures of the liberal personality trait 'openness to experience'. One theory even points to disease epidemics emerging every time a new electrical technology is introduced (Arthur Firstenberg, The Invisible Rainbow).
There is another interesting relationship between high inequality and social dominance orientation that further links to dark personality, particularly Machiavellianism. High inequality is associated with numerous areas of physical, mental, and social problems: metabolic disease, stress-related disease, mood disorders, psychosis, drug addiction, alcoholism, aggression, violent crime, fantasy-proneness, paranoia, distrust, etc (Keith Payne, Richard Wilkinson, & Kate Pickett). Not only is modern media technology unevenly distributed but exacerbates disparities.
This is along with the disconnections created through the abovementioned loss of connection to nature, but also the undermining of real world relationships to other humans, along with getting lost in echo chambers; which makes me think of Johann Hari's multiple books about addiction, loneliness, and such. It's a new kind of segregation dividing up the population. This might have similar affects as residential segregation, not diversity, that is the single strongest factor in the weakening of a culture of trust (Eric M. Uslaner, Segregation and Mistrust).

[@modvs1]

We even have neurofunk!