Did we evolve to be selfish ? episode artwork

EPISODE · Jun 16, 2026 · 45 MIN

Did we evolve to be selfish ?

from Think from KERA · host KERA

The common evolutionary question centers around nature vs. nurture, but maybe we should be asking if we are designed to cooperate or compete? Jonathan R. Goodman is a social scientist based at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge and is the author of “Invisible Rivals: How We Evolved to Compete in a Cooperative World.” He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss Darwinian survival vs. species interdependence, what makes us either selfless or selfish and how humans respond in real-world situations that test these theories. His article in Aeon is “How selfish are we?” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jun 16, 2026

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Did we evolve to be selfish ?

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