Nicholas Christakis — How We’re Wired for Goodness
Elemental human capacities like friendship and love, teaching and learning, have tremendous, constant, practical force. We don’t think of these in terms of what has given our species the grit to endure through hard times and even evolve in the long run. They’re lived social intelligence, part of the everyday, and so can be hard to see as serious amidst the high tumult of our age. But these kinds of human qualities are what sociologist Nicholas Christakis studies from his Human Nature Lab at Yale and his life generously lived. He offers a wide lens, a broad perspective, that deepens and refreshes.
Episode 964 of the On Being with Krista Tippett podcast, hosted by On Being Studios, titled "Nicholas Christakis — How We’re Wired for Goodness" was published on June 10, 2021 and runs 50 minutes.
June 10, 2021 ·50m · On Being with Krista Tippett
Summary
Elemental human capacities like friendship and love, teaching and learning, have tremendous, constant, practical force. We don’t think of these in terms of what has given our species the grit to endure through hard times and even evolve in the long run. They’re lived social intelligence, part of the everyday, and so can be hard to see as serious amidst the high tumult of our age. But these kinds of human qualities are what sociologist Nicholas Christakis studies from his Human Nature Lab at Yale and his life generously lived. He offers a wide lens, a broad perspective, that deepens and refreshes.
Episode Description
Elemental human capacities like friendship and love, teaching and learning, have tremendous, constant, practical force. We don’t think of these in terms of what has given our species the grit to endure through hard times and even evolve in the long run. They’re lived social intelligence, part of the everyday, and so can be hard to see as serious amidst the high tumult of our age. But these kinds of human qualities are what sociologist Nicholas Christakis studies from his Human Nature Lab at Yale and his life generously lived. He offers a wide lens, a broad perspective, that deepens and refreshes.
Nicholas Christakis is the Sterling Professor of Social and Natural Science at Yale University, where he’s also the director of the Human Nature Lab and co-director of the Institute for Network Science. He’s the author of Connected: How Your Friends’ Friends’ Friends Affect Everything You Feel, Think, and Do and Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society. In October 2020, he published Apollo's Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live.
Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.
This show originally aired on March 5, 2020.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Similar Episodes
Sep 19, 2025 ·37m
Sep 13, 2025 ·27m
Sep 6, 2025 ·22m
Aug 30, 2025 ·32m
Oct 26, 2024 ·23m
Oct 19, 2024 ·19m