Polymath

The USA has many differences: Republican and Democrat, rural and urban, religious and atheist, FOX News and CNN, tradition and modernity, poor and rich. And it seems as if a lot of these differences seem to correspond to the historic contrast between the U.S. North and South.And it's not a coincidence. These are two extremely different societies grafted together into one state. As we'll point out, the North resembles the Western world in its political values, socioeconomic characteristics, and history; whereas the South resembles Latin America much more closely in all these ways. That's how stark the difference is. But why? What's going on here?In this video, we get right to the root cause, and then build from there, giving you a complete and multi-layered analysis of the USA. We examine U.S. geography, U.S. history, U.S. economics, U.S. politics, and U.S. psychology. In future videos, we'll look at these in even MORE depth. I want to talk to you guys all about how the USA became the way it is today, the deeper analysis of why the Civil War happened, and about the USA's transition from golden age post-war boom to current crisis. I also want to talk more about the political psychology of what makes people left wing or right wing. But for now, enjoy! As always on this channel, I'm not just giving you my random opinions and 'hot takes'. I'm summarising the expert consensuses from various literatures (history, politics, psychology, etc), integrating them, and presenting you with the insights of real professionals in a scientific way. This channel will always be about scientific rigour and journalistic integrity, and I will always encourage you to be sceptical, question received wisdom, and do your own research with reliable sources. Bye for now!

CW: Both this video and this video's description contain graphic descriptions of violence, abuse, and non-consensual sex. This content is disturbing.This is a video investigating and explaining a genre of pornography called 'painal'. It is partially an amateur investigative journalism piece of the painal subreddit, an online community dedicating to sharing and viewing videos of this kind of porn with ~65k weekly visitors and ~400k subscribers. It is also partially a psychological and sociological analysis of why individuals enjoy this content, and how they come to get there. This video is not a sensationalised, clickbait piece for views: it is an (amateur) case study of a phenomenon (far more popular than one might think). I have done this to shed light on what painal porn is and its popularity, but the wider systemic issues in both the porn industry and societal sex ed that facilitate real life abuse of women.Painal is a portmanteau of 'pain' + 'anal' but it is NOT just painful anal sex. The role of pain in sex is well-established in the BDSM community and painal is NOT just sadomasochism. Healthy sadomasochism is done for the pleasure of both sadist and masochist, and both parties are concerned for each other's wellbeing and respect boundaries and consent. Painal is a genre of porn explicitly dedicated to the recipient (almost always a woman being penetrated by a man) NOT feeling any pleasure at all; instead feeling real, unfaked physical and psychological distress. The distress of the woman is the source of the (typically a) man's pleasure- and the more maximised the woman's pain and degradation is, the more arousing the painal porn is. It is essential to note that painal is NOT a 'kink' as it is intended to cause genuine suffering to one party. Painal relates more to concepts like abuse and sexual sadism disorder. Ultimately, painal is all about the power differential between penetrator and recipient, representing an extreme form of domination: the underlying desire for unchecked power and dominance over another individual is generally seen by experts as motivating rape and sexual sadism disorder as well.The essential narrative is: the porn industry both normalises harmful treatment of women and desensitises consumers to it, doing so because it makes them money. Societies do not provide adequate sex ed to young children experiencing puberty, so they can view the harmful treatment of women in mainstream porn as normal. Porn changes an individual's brain so that they need to seek out acceleratingly extreme and violent porn. The porn industry actively facilitates this and provides this more extreme porn because it makes them money. This porn dehumanises the women involved, allowing consumers to seek out even more violent porn which genuinely (and often lastingly) harms female sex work employees. They are often financially desperate, lied to, or 18/19 years old and groomed. Mainstream porn sites and studios produce this as it increases profits, and huge numbers of female pornstars are abused or raped whilst filming.Although this video investigates the r/painal subreddit specifically (as of today, 69k weekly visitors), painal content is also found in other parts of Reddit. For example, the r/anal subreddit advertises its 'extreme painal' videos in its description. This is an example of how painal content in general online is now escaping the boundaries of a demarcated niche and is spreading to general, mainstream pornography. As porn algorithms begin promoting painal content more and more, it will not only be shown to young teenagers just accessing porn more and more, but will gradually become increasingly normalised.Based on the systemic injustices and abuse of the porn industry, I would advise the reader of this description either to actively seek out 'ethical porn' (which you can just google to get loads of results), or to avoid viewing it altogether. Please watch this video with caution and discretion.

This video is a narration of an article I wrote about the statistical frequency of rape, as reported by scientific studies. You can find it on my Medium here https://medium.com/@danielaaronlevy05 This description box isn't large enough for me to paste all the references in, so please check out the source page or my YouTube channel @Daniel Aaron Levy. Content Warning: This video discusses rape, sexual coercion, and may potentially negatively affect your view of the society you live in. This is not meant to be a pleasant video. I wrote it because I wanted to draw attention to the fact that r@pe rates are much, much higher than you might expect. R@pe is not a rare event happening when some crazed stranger jumps on a woman in the street in the dark. Most women are r@ped by someone they know, and the proportion of men who admit to having r@ped someone in surveys is also much, much higher than you'd expect.This isn't at all to try and paint some misandrist, generalising narrative about all men being evil. It's not to accuse male listeners in any way. It's just to point out that this IS an issue which is affecting your female relatives and friends, and to encourage you to talk to them about these kinds of experiences. Most of all, it's to gain an understanding that both men and women experience in the world in very different ways. Fear plays a very different role. But online, I don't think the algorithm shows men any kind of information on what things are REALLY like, and I don't think that's fair for men or for women. By being aware of the magnitude of this problem, we can all start making it better.Yet very few people ARE aware of these rates. This is wildly under-discussed by mainstream newspapers and other outlets. The only newspaper I could find which even discussed one of these sources was The Guardian. I want to use this article to warn against another danger: politicising r@pe rates. This cannot be something which is discussed by only newspapers of a certain leaning: everybody, regardless of their political orientation, has a right to know. This is not 'gender ideology' or 'wokeness' or anything like that, it's about whether your family and friends are safe. Discussions of sexual violence are not a left vs right issue, they're an everybody vs violence issue.

This is a narration of an article I wrote about the ideology of materialism for The Skeptic- but you can find it online at https://medium.com/@danielaaronlevy05/the-myth-of-materialism-745c2f95f37e ! I reference some sources throughout the article, which I've copy-pasted for the original article over here:References1. Oh GE. Social class, social self-esteem, and conspicuous consumption. Heliyon. February 2021;7.2. de Botton A. Status Anxiety. London: Penguin Books; 2004.3. Dittmar H, Bond R, Hurst M, Kasser T. The relationship between materialism and personal well-being: A meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. November 2014;107(5).4. Dittmar H, Isham A. Materialistic value orientation and wellbeing. Current Opinion in Psychology. March 2022;46.5. Bandura A, Walters RH. Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice hall; 1977.6. DiMaggio P. Culture and Cognition. Annual Review of Sociology. 1997;23:263–287.7. Lewis HM, Vinicius L, Strods J, Mace R. High mobility explains demand sharing and enforced cooperation in egalitarian hunter-gatherers. Nature Communications. December 2014;5(1).8. Woodburn J. Egalitarian Societies. Man. September 1982;17(3):431–451.9. Egilmez E, Naylor-Tincknell J. Altruism and Popularity. International Journal of Educational Methodology. 2017;3(2):65–74.10. Kafashan S, Sparks A, Griskevicius V, Barclay P. Prosocial Behavior and Social Status. The Psychology of Social Status: Springer; 2014.11. Wentzel KR. Prosocial Behavior and Peer Relations in Adolescence. Prosocial Development: A Multidimensional Approach: Oxford Academic; 2014.12. Haidt J. The happiness hypothesis. London: Arrow Books; 2006.13. Wong PT. Self-Transcendence: A paradoxical way to become your best. International Journal of Existential Psychology & Psychotherapy. 2016;6(1).14. Wong PT. Meaning-seeking, self-transcendence, and well-being. Logotherapy and Existential Analysis: Proceedings of the Viktor Frankl Institute Vienna. 2016;1:311–321.15. Becker JC, Hartwich L, Haslam SA. Neoliberalism can reduce well-being by promoting a sense of social disconnection, competition, and loneliness. British Journal of Social Psychology. 2021;60(3):947–965.16. Avena NM, Rada P, Hoebel BG. Evidence for sugar addiction: Behavioral and neurochemical effects of intermittent, excessive sugar intake. Neuroscience & Biochemical Reviews. 2008;32(1):20–39.17. Love T, Laier C, Brand M, Hatch L, Hajela R. Neuroscience of Internet Pornography Addiction: A Review and Update. Behavioral Sciences. September 2015;5(3):388–433.18. Hui BPH, Ng JCK, Berzaghi E, Cunningham-Amos LA, Kogan A. Rewards of kindness? A meta-analysis of the link between prosociality and well-being. Psychological Bulletin. December 2020;146(12):1084–1116.

This is a narration of an article I wrote for the University of Bristol, currently available online here https://medium.com/@danielaaronlevy05/how-to-get-yourself-to-exercise-69655d0d4ca9 ! You'll notice I've been mentioning numbers throughout this voice clip, which pertain to both sources and footnotes. They're all available on the Medium page, but I've also included them here:1. Pedersen BK, Saltin B. Exercise as medicine — evidence for prescribing exercise as therapy in 26 different chronic diseases. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports. November 2015;25(S3):1–72.2. Zero to Finals. Zero to Finals. 2025. Available at: https://zerotofinals.com/. Accessed November 5, 2025.3. Fox KR. The influence of physical activity on mental well-being. Public Health Nutrition. January 2007;2(3a):411–418.4. Hausenblas HA, Fallon EA. Exercise and body image: A meta-analysis. Psychology & Health. February 2007;21(1):33–47.5. Sani SHZ, Fathirezaie Z, Brand S, et al. Physical activity and self-esteem: Testing direct and indirect relationships associated with psychological and physical mechanisms. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment. October 2016;2016(12):2617–2625.6. Basso JC, Suzuki WA. The Effects of Acute Exercise on Mood, Cognition, Neurophysiology, and Neurochemical Pathways: A Review. Brain Plasticity. December 2016;2(2):127–152.7. Hackney AC, Constantini NW. Endocrinology of Physical Activity and Sport. 3rd ed. Cham: Springer Nature; 2020.8. Wilckens KA, Stillman CM, Waiwood AM, et al. Exercise interventions preserve hippocampal volume: A meta-analysis. Hippocampus. December 2020;31(3):335–347.9. You may have seen this book around. It’s all about ‘Dual Systems Theory’, which divides the human mind into two different systems of thought- perfectly mirroring the centuries-older Buddhist conception. These systems are ‘System 1’, which plays the same role as the Buddhist ‘elephant’; and ‘System 2’, matching the Buddhist ‘rider’. This theory, and the mountains of evidence behind it, has completely revolutionised how scientists/economists view human nature, and Kahneman won a Nobel Prize (partly) for it. Kahneman D. Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York City: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 2011.10. There’s a common myth that to Get Fit, you’ve gotta go from couch potato to a full-fledged gym routine. But how many people actually retain this New Years’ Resolution? It’s not really how people work.11. Or go for a big stroll- there’s a great free app called AllTrails which will show you all the nice walks available to you wherever you are, and then show you maps of them with GPS.12. Scientists used to think that endorphins caused a runner’s high. By the way, endorphins are a kind of opioid that your body produces. Stuff like laughter, music, and sunlight literally makes you feel high, so go and touch grass. Siebers M, Biedermann SV, Bindila L, Lutz B, Fuss J. ‘Exercise-induced euphoria and anxiolysis do not depend on endogenous opioids in humans’. Psychoneuroendocrinology. April 2021;126:105–173.

When states break down and societies fall in anarchy, or see military coups, or endure civil wars: people suffer. But why does this happen? And why does the region of Sub-Saharan Africa seem to see more of this than most? Attributing this to individuals or single-factor explanations is an inadequate and weak explanation: attributing it to simple racism is an odious one. But then what's going on?We critically examine below the surface of society to analyse its structures, and how these affect the strength/stability of a state. We will also explore the root causes of state strength, and compare the geographic and socioeconomic European/Sub-Saharan African state forming experiences.This episode draws on various scholars, but the outstanding credit has to go to Jeffrey Herbst's groundbreaking study 'States and Power in Africa', which seeks to remedy the unfortunate situation of international relations/institutional economics studies being inefficiently focused on the specifically European experience of how states form and consolidate themselves. Enjoy!NB: This video was recorded about 9 months before uploading

Traditional masculinity! One of the most discussed and divisive topics around right now. But I want to talk to you about this topic not with an agenda to push, or based off my own opinions. I want to give you some real social science, giving you a thorough breakdown on the topic based on academic scholarship. Enjoy!Brief note: This video was recorded around 9 months before uploading

How does electricity running through meat give rise to consciousness? Science excels at explaining the physical phenomena of our universe, but it seems to run into a philosophical boundary when it tries to explain how physical, neurological processes give rise to subjective phenomena. In this episode, we explore the different scientific and philosophical positions on just how consciousness works. This is an extremely exciting field at the forefront of human knowledge, pulling both science and philosophy together and attracting some of the sharpest intellects around. It's very fun getting to talk about it! Enjoy :)NB: This video was recorded about 9 months before upload

Eeeeeevery rando online has a take on this, and currently we're being bombarded by manosphere influencers all dressing up their opinions as fact. But what does the actual evidence say? There's a huge amount of evidence on what really gets us ahead in life. If you want to base your worldview on actual psychology, sociology, and anthropology, this video is made for you!NB: This video was recorded about 9 months before upload

Welcome back! This episodes focuses on State Formation Theory, a political-sociological theory developed by Charles Tilly and expanded by Jeffrey Herbst; these are the two main experts whose work I draw on for this video. Through the lens of this theory, we set out to answer the titular question via a structural analysis of what makes a state work. Enjoy!

Neoliberalism is a word which you may not have heard of- but its power probably affects every part of your life. Neoliberalism = liberal democracy (generally seen as good) + free market economics; but what does that really mean? What are the consequences of neoliberalism? How does it affect economies, societies, politics, and people? This is one of the single most important questions out there right now, because for voters to make a better world for themselves they need to know what ideologies they're voting for. Educating yourself on what neoliberalism is and what parties support it can make the difference between you living in a better world or a worse one.But of course, this is all very politically hot territory. Every person, paper, and influencer has an opinion on the economy, but without any evidence behind it it's just a random person's opinion. At Polymath, we do things a little differently. This video is a summary of the academic literature about neoliberalism- I'm presenting you with the facts, so you can make your own decisions. Enjoy!

Stress! We all feel it as a normal part of life, and you may be feeling it right now. But what actually IS it? Where in the brain does it come from? How does it link to the body? What are the effects of it? And how can we get rid of it?We'll be looking at all this stuff and more this episode, so tune in and enjoy

How many genders are there- probably one of the most hotly debated topics right now. Everywhere you look, people bombard you with their opinions and political biases- but you deserve something better. Because the question of how many genders there are is something we've actually known already for years; it's just tucked away in the academic literatures of biology and sociology where online influencers never bother to look. And it's actually shockingly simple- once you understand the real, scientific definitions of both sex and gender, the whole debate melts away. Today, we'll be exploring that literature- and showing you how to find it so you never have take some random influencer's word for it again.This is, of course, a very delicate topic. But in Polymath, I will never try to tell you what to think, or try to spoonfeed you- I want to just present to you the facts, and let you make that decision yourself. Enjoy!

Anarchism! It's one of the most famous and hotly debated words out there- but what actually is it? More specifically- what do anarchists want? Is it a world with no rules? Has anarchism ever been tried? How does the economy work? Is anarchism democratic? What, essentially, does anarchism REALLY stand for?There's so much misinformation on anarchism online, but you deserve a video that isn't just some guy ranting about his own political beliefs. My 'agenda' is always only to give you genuine information based on the academic literature- and let you form your own opinions. I actually made a massive anarchism video a while back, and if you want to check that out it's just Episode 19 on my channel- but this is a concise, accessible version which you can comfortably listen to in the background. Enjoy!

Is suffering built in? Is the universe a purposeless void? Or is negativity a product of human actions? Most importantly- how do we make life better for ourselves?Welcome back to Polymath! This episode explores all these deep questions; but as usual, it's not just a 'hot take' from some rando online. Rather, I want to delve into a fascinating scholarly debate on all this by two thinkers- Steven Pinker and Eckhart Tolle (yes, those are their real names!). Along the way, we'll be critically evaluating their positions with real evidence and scholarship from psychology. We'll be going through what the literature actually says about cosmic truths, human nature, and the improvement of the human condition- so you're getting all the accurate, comprehensive info you need. Enjoy!

You open your phone and start scrolling. What do you see? In music, media, and adverts what is it that people keep talking about? Foreign cars, designer brands, and cash; but why? Materialism is the belief that wealth and conspicuous consumption (i.e. buying things so other people can see them) will make people think better of you- and that it'll make you happy. The flipside is that people who don't do this aren't worth listening to and can be dismissed. Materialism, in short, is the advocation of making and spending money not to meet basic needs, but as an end in itself. It is the view that an individual's social status and sense of worth is contingent on material accumulation.Materialism is presented by people on your screen and in the music you listen to as beyond question. But we don't need to take randos' word for it: there's a massive body of scientific evidence on what ACTUALLY makes us happy and increases our social status. If we want to think freely and critically, we should turn to the scientific method rather than blindly absorbing what others preach.The overwhelming weight of genuine, quality-assessed, evidence-based scholarship tells us that in reality, materialism is one of the most self-defeating views out there. It is directly antagonistic to achieving happiness, and will not bring you friends or respect. In any case, when you see a luxury car driving past you, do you think 'wow, what a cool person?' or 'wow, what a cool car?'And this scientific consensus is validated by thousands of years of philosophy. Across continents and centuries, humanity's wisest repeatedly come to the conclusion that spending money for the sake of it will not improve your life. Real happiness comes from dropping out of the rat race and focusing on the meaningful things in life.In this video, I present both the scientific and philosophical consensuses on materialism. Rather than giving you an unfiltered opinion- which gives me no more credibility than materialist influencers- I draw together the combined findings of science and philosophy to relay to you what people significantly smarter than me have figured out. Enjoy!

What does it mean to be an Islamist and what do they want? What distinguishes Islamism from Islam? And is Islamism inherently violent? (no) And what are jihadism or fundamentalism?In this episode, we'll be answering all these questions and much more. Islamism is currently a politically charged topic, but as always on Polymath this video is free of opinions, biases, or political agendas. The only purpose of this video is to use real academic scholarship and political science to analyse this ideology in a neutral way.For more neutral explanations of political ideologies which draw on the social sciences rather than the arbitrary opinion of the presenter, feel free to check out my channel. Either way, however, enjoy!

What 'should' the role of religion in society be?The West and the Middle East have very different attitudes to religion and its place in society: the former generally removes it from politics, the latter doesn't. The West is more economically developed and has higher HDIs than the Middle East; despite the fact that until a few centuries ago, Western Europe was a backwater compared to the thriving and sophisticated civilisations of the Middle East.But are these two variables- secularism and development- related? What are the consequences of religion in politics? What happens when the basis of morality comes from a religious text? And if, as in more secular countries, the basis for politics and morality isn't religion- what is it? Why is the West generally secular anyway? What's different about it? And did that difference also enable the West's economic development?In this episode, we explore all these questions and more. Religion is a very sensitive topic. This video is not meant to attack anybody or facilitate prejudice: and this channel will never tolerate that in general. This video seeks to use sociology, political science, and history to academically examine different civilisations in more detail, based on honest analyses of different religious texts and social science methodology. There are no agendas or ulterior motives behind this video: it's just one person trying to understand the world around them using social science, and attempting to relay that understanding to you.With that disclaimer out the way, enjoy!

Even the biggest NPC you know can still feel happiness, sadness, pain, disgust, and love. But why? Why have we evolved to feel things, rather than just process information and compute responses? Why is it that no matter how much you could learn about neurobiology, you could never deduce what it feels like to see the colour blue? What is a mind anyway? What is it made of? How does it relate to the body? Is there more to the universe than just energy and matter? And who- or what- has consciousness anyway? Does consciousness pervade the entire universe?We explore all these questions and more from multiple perspectives. Here, we examine all the various philosophical and scientific perspectives on consciousness, giving you all the positions you need to know to help you understand the debate properly. This episode will explore philosophy, life, neurobiology, and the universe: all within the framework of real experts and scholars. As always in Polymath, we delve into this complex debate giving you just the facts and just the scholarship: nothing else. And it's all in just 20 minutes! More episodes on consciousness will potentially come out on this channel in the future, exploring some key concepts and neuroscience further. Until then, enjoy!

Mental illness: what is it, who has it, and is it even real? Let's find out!Everyone is talking about mental illness these days. The transcending of stigma is good, but it's led to a massive explosion of misinformation- and in some cases, plain lies- online. You switch on a screen and get bombarded with thousands of people all giving their takes, their opinions, their guesses, their ideas. But when it comes to something like mental illness, people's 'opinions' aren't good enough: we need facts. And that's where this video comes in.In this video, we look at psychology, neuroanatomy, neurobiology, sociology, history and more. None of that information is filtered through the lens of my opinions or agenda: it's just expert consensuses from lots of different fields, all integrated together to give you legitimate answers. Enjoy!PS: In this video I say that a certain individual has committed multiple rapes and human trafficking; these are in fact allegations and I withdraw my comments because I was presenting these allegations as facts. I also say in this video that the same individual has been teaching other individuals how to commit human trafficking online. I withdraw this comment too, as although a BBC investigation that people were being taught how traffic women on this individual's group chat, it's not proven that he specifically was teaching people how to do it.

Why are you the way that you are?No, I'm not quoting your parents, I'm asking a profound scientific question. What makes you psychologically distinct from other people? Are there meaningful personality differences caused by age, gender, nationality, politics, health, and religiosity? What are they? Let's explore!And as always with Polymath, this is not a video where I shower you with opinions or guesses. We will examining reliable, scientific info from personality psychology, and always basing what we say on evidence and empirical data: so you can be sure that you're getting proper answers. Enjoy!

We've all heard of it- what is it?What do fascists want? What do they believe? What makes fascism different from other ideologies? And what makes fascism so violent?We'll be answering all these questions and more- and we'll be doing it properly. None of this episode is my opinion, or a 'hot take', or guesses. All of this is reliable, academic information from political science, political philosophy, political psychology, and modern history, all integrated together to give you the best answers possible.And it's all in 20 minutes! So sit back, relax, and enjoy a pleasant, soothing discussion about fascism and violence. Enjoy!

Why do female, educated US university staff rate female job applicants as less competent and less likely to get hired? It's probably not that they're misogynist: let's go a little deeper.This is a 20 minute compression of a colossal psychological and sociological journey spanning 3 hours: Episode 25 of Polymath. In this 20 minute video, we strip away our society to its core and scientifically analyse its norms, structures, and beliefs. What does it mean to be a man? To be a woman? To be a human being? What makes a woman 'good'? Why, in fact, do people act the way they do? Why do different groups and demographics come into conflict?This video is not designed to push an agenda or make you think a certain way: we don't do that here. If you don't believe that systemic sexism exists, that's fine- you don't have to. Just watch the video and if you disagree with it, you have the freedom to do so: just don't close yourself off to other views. And remember- for the mountain of evidence which I don't have to time to address in this video, check out Episode 25 here https://open.spotify.com/episode/7tKa3m6PHbboR8qJolsDIl?si=42ac9591750b42fd. Enjoy!

Why did every society from the dawn of civilisation until the 1800s feel comfortable with slavery? In fact, what's the purpose of civilisation in the first place? What makes a good society? What is 'good' itself?'Liberalism' shouldn't be conflated with being a 'liberal': this sociopolitical philosophy is in fact the foundation of Western politics/morality, and has been called the dominant ideology in world history. It is in fact arguably one of the most important things ever to happen to humanity, and has had an unimaginable impact on the human condition. So what is it?Today, in just 20 minutes, we answer that question objectively, thoroughly, and from an interdisciplinary perspective. There are no opinions or 'hot takes' here: it's all just expert consensuses.On Polymath, I've been producing a series called 'An Objective Guide to Political Ideologies'. I'm going to be remaking these episodes in the format of 20 minute 'Polymath Bites' summary episodes, so stay tuned for more 20 minute content about capitalism, socialism, communism, and more. Enjoy!

If God is real, would He be able to tell with 100% accuracy what you will do in exactly ten years' time? Is your future behaviour already all mapped out by the unconscious machinations of your brain? And where in the brain might free will come from? You can choose to do what you want; but you can't choose what you want. Can a robot truly choose what they want? Can a cat? What about a worm?On today's episode, we'll be exploring the vast scientific and philosophical debate about whether humans have free will. The free will debate is not just confined to philosophy: it's at the forefront of psychology as well. In this episode, we'll be integrating philosophy, psychology, neurobiology, and neuroanatomy to give you all the insight and perspective you need to decide your stance.Sit back, prepare for an existential crisis, and enjoy!

They're terms we've all heard, but what actually are they? What do the left/the right want? What is leftism and what is rightism? Are you left, right, or in the middle?We'll be answering all these questions and more today, giving you objective information from lots of different disciplines for a well-rounded answer that fits snugly into 20 minutes.Introducing the first episode of Polymath Bites, a new format I'm introducing on this channel. These will still address an interesting topic from a multidisciplinary, academic perspective, but will be limited to around 20mins. This is to make the videos more accessible and less daunting, communicating useful information and expert consensuses without warding anybody off. Polymath Bites episodes will either be a remake of a pre-existing 1-2h episode (this episode, for example, is a remake of Episode 08) or introduce a new topic to the channel. Enjoy!

Systemic discrimination 😍✨ what's that all about? And is it even real?The idea of systemic discrimination is a politically charged subject, and the Internet is full of people throwing their opinions at you about this. How about some objectivity? This episode is a colossal, three hour journey through the science of Social Identity Theory, which then applies the insights from this to looking at marginalised groups.This video isnota 'hot take': it is a massive integration of psychology and sociology, with its insights continually backed by real-world, empirical evidence. I am not here to push an agenda on you or tell you how to think: I just want to take all the knowledge experts have on how human beings work, integrate all these facts together, and relay to you a scientific consensus.Social Identity Theory is not just a random idea cooked up by researchers: it's an evidence-backed model of looking at the world, one so powerful and far-reaching that it can change your whole worldview. It asks- and answers- Why do we need other people so much? What happens to us when we're around other people? Do other people define who 'we' are? How do humans think- and hate? Why do stereotypes, bias, prejudice, and discrimination exist? And can we stop it?When we look at systemic discrimination, we'll be doing so through the lens of SIT. Systemic discrimination is an incredibly complex subject, and SIT is just one lens through which we can examine it. But we'll be examining it extremely carefully, looking at the very roots of this phenomenon and always analysing it scientifically and with evidence.Along the way, we'll be exploring a host of other, essential questions. What is the patriarchy? What does modern feminism want? What's the point of representing women and minorities in media? How do the norms of past generations affect us? How can we overcome them? How does the society we live in shape us?This episode is massive. It took so long to film you can actually see the day-night cycle affecting the room's lighting as the video goes on. So please check out my YouTube, @danielaaronlevy, for clips of this episode, breaking it down into more manageable chunks. Whether you choose to watch this video in the form of clips or just raw dog the whole episode, I promise that at no point in the video- or on this channel- will I ever try and stuff an ideology down your throat. Enjoy!

'I don't want to f*ck Social Identity Theory...but it is beautiful.'(Wo)man is a social animal: we spend a lot of our time with- or thinking about- other people. But in fact the dynamics of what happens when individuals get together in groups is so vastly important that it shapes the entire world: it shapes our societies, our politics, our cultures, our friend groups, our day to day lives, and- in a hundred different ways- our very selves. No single theory can capture everything about how the world and our minds work, that's undeniable, but SIT tells us so, so much that I can reasonably be shamefully clickbait-y anyway.This episode is a journey through human evolution, cultural norms, stereotypes, human cognition, bias, hierarchies, prejudice, discrimination, identities, self-esteem, and what makes youyou. Why do we need other people so much? What happens to us when we're around other people? Do other people define who 'we' are? How do humans think- and hate? Why do stereotypes, bias, prejudice, and discrimination exist? And can we stop it?This is one of those videos that could potentially change your whole worldview. So tune in, relax, and enjoy me performing the same overly-caffeinated hand gestures for 99 minutes. Enjoy!

Hello everybody, this isn't in fact a normal Polymath episode but is a talk I did being interviewed by the @livglobalrelief podcast! It's a fascinating and important podcast about social-humanitarian issues going on around the world right now, and the Spotify link is https://open.spotify.com/show/3fiZdPwaJcIhwxcygBa8bX?si=dfe66237c40a4088 Thanks a lot Erin for having me on!This talk is all about the status of women in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, stretching from Morocco to Iran. It's a massive examination of their lack of basic rights; lack of any legal protection from violence and abuse; lack of basic freedoms and dignity; and lack of an ability to live a full, decent life. But it's also more than that: we delve into the beliefs of these societies themselves, sociologically analysing the thoughts and moral values of the people living in them. We then integrate this analysis with statistics to properly show you guys what life for women in the MENA region is really like. We don't just give the facts about rates of sexual harassment, abuse, forced marriage, child marriage, etc but we talk about the norms and beliefs of the societies themselves and how the violence and subjugation of women is normalised. For example, we go through what real people on the ground think about when (not 'if') it's acceptable to beat women and about how women shouldn't leave the house without male permission.Finally, we talk about how Islam itself is not the problem, but rather the application of Islam- or any of the Abrahamic religions- into politics inevitably leads to sexist legislation and normalisation of female abuse. We back up these arguments using historical and sociological evidence.I'm going to talk about all this on a Polymath episode at some point, getting a bit more into the psychology of all this and the specific case study of Afghanistan. For now though, please enjoy the episode, and go check out the @livglobalrelief podcast! The podcast itself is just one wing of the @livglobalrelief society, a really impressive activist society which raises awareness and funds for dire humanitarian causes around the world. Enjoy!

‘maybe… 1200 to 1500 [civilians] a month, easy. If I am only 10% right, and believe me it’s lots more, then I am trying to tell you about 120-150 murders, or a My Lay [sic] every month'-Anonymous Sergeant to General Westmoreland, 1970, referring to 'Operation Speedy Express'. Nothing was done.This is not an episode of Polymath.CONTENT WARNING: This video contains very graphic descriptions of physical and sexual violence, as well as descriptions of gross brutality and injustice.This video is meant to address the misconception that U.S. war crimes in Vietnam (such as the My Lai massacre) were isolated incidents, condemned by both fellow servicemen and officers. In reality, grievous war crimes were described by veterans as ‘standard operating procedure’. Their accounts (and subsequent research) depict acts such as unprovoked murder of civilians, mutilation, destruction, rape, and torture as both widespread and normalised. At all levels of the command hierarchy, war crimes were tolerated, facilitated, and actively encouraged. There was a top-down impetus of hatred, dehumanisation, and pressure which was absorbed by soldiers in the field, and a bottom-up ubiquity of atrocities which went unpunished (nor even discouraged) by the armed forces and its officers.The My Lai Massacre was a U.S. mass-murder/-rape of unarmed Vietnamese civilians on 16/03/68. The American soldiers found women, children, and the elderly getting ready for a market day and cooking breakfast over fires. The killing continued even after people realised no guerrillas were present. Houses were also burnt down and people tortured. U.S. soldiers raped girls as young as 10. There were zero US casualties from the Vietnamese and none were attacked.Ernest Medina, the Captain of the 'attacking' Charlie Company, was quoted as saying, "They're all VC [enemy combatants], now go and get them". He clarified that this applied to "Anybody that was running from us, hiding from us, or appeared to be the enemy. If a man was running, shoot him, sometimes even if a woman with a rifle was running, shoot her." Nobody in the village was even a male of fighting age.At Lt William Calley's trial (Calley led ~100 men and personally commanded some to fire on unarmed women and children), a defence witness testified that he remembered Medina instructing his men to destroy everything in the village that was "walking, crawling or growling". Varnado Simpson said ‘we did what we were told.’The first killer at My Lai was a man from 1st Platoon who stabbed someone, before blowing someone up with a grenade. Then, he saw 15-20 women, children, and elderly on their knees praying and crying around a temple. They were all killed by shots to the head.Private First Class (PFC) Dennis Konti said, "A lot of women had thrown themselves on top of the children to protect them, and the children were alive at first. Then, the children who were old enough to walk got up and Calley began to shoot the children". When Hugh Thompson tried to stop Calley, he was told ‘This is my business’. Thompson replied, ‘But, these are human beings, unarmed civilians, sir.’ Calley replied: ‘Look Thompson, this is my show. I’m in charge here. It ain’t your concern.’Calley was under house arrest for 3.5 years and 79% of polled Americans believed the conviction should be overturned. People thought it was unfair to convict him for following orders and that he was a scapegoat for the unit as a whole (no other soldier, including Captain Medina, was charged). Politicians (including Jimmy Carter) and musicians (many of whom country music/Southern musicians) rallied to his defence. A song praising an defending him reached #37 on the Billboard Top 100. Eyewitness accounts stated as he walked around Army facilities where he was held, servicemen bought him beers. Hugh Thompson, who stopped the massacred, was ostracised by other army officers and threatened.

How did we go from picking berries on the savannah to the world we live in now? What was it like to be a hunter-gatherer? Why did they start forming states? What did that journey look like? And was it a good - or bad - decision?Welcome back to Polymath, where we examine all these questions with facts and statistics- rather than 'hot takes'. This is a massive journey through how the world we take for granted was born. We'll be exploring this topic by combining anthropology, sociology, political economy, ecology, and history, unravelling thousands of years of humanity's evolution. Not only do we synthesise al these perspectives and insights from various expert thinkers, we critically evaluate whether all this change was GOOD. Was the transition to agriculture and statehood the worst mistake we ever made? Should we be glad we're alive in the 21st century or hauling ass back to the rainforest? Let's find out!This is the second ever episode on this channel recorded in video, so you now see both me and the NPC room in the background. Also, if you're viewing this on Spotify, find my YouTube at @danielaaronlevy for shorter, more manageable clips and snippets of the video. Enjoy!

This is Polymath's first ever video episode, meaning that you can now both hear and see me yap! Join me as we go on a journey exploring human physiology, evolution, anthropology, and hairless chimpanzees. Spotify isn't letting me use my own custom thumbnail, so please enjoy this image of me looking silly with my undecorated NPC room in the background. Enjoy!

Is the world getting worse? Were you born in the wrong generation? Have we left the good old days? Let's find out!CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains graphic descriptions of physical, emotional, and sexual violence; cruelty; and brutality 👁👄👁 (wee lil hint that the past wasn't great)We'll be looking at the past- but not just a few generations back. We will examine the entire span of human civilisation to uncover what people's daily, lived experience was like back then. What was the human condition like for all of your ancestors? THIS video will tell you!This is a massive tour de force combining psychology, sociology, history, statistics, and political science to give you genuine insight. To find out what life in the past was like, we don't just list some figures and call it a day: we will explore the human condition itself and the worlds that we've made for ourselves.In this beastly 2-hr episode we go on a massive journey through how human beings think, the belief systems of societies, and the fundamental values that drive how societies- and the people in them- behave. We will investigate both the broad sweep of history and how societies have evolved, and we will zoom all the way in to a myriad examples of how people throughout history have acted. If you want to REALLY understand what civilised human existence was like since its very beginning, you've found the answer. The ghost of Yap-mas past has entered my vocal chords and compelled me to pour out words for over two hours, all because I want to give you guys the best understanding possible. Enjoy!

Anarchism! What's it all about?More specifically: what even is it? What do anarchists want? How do they think? Is anarchism just chaos? How do rules get enforced? How does the economy work? Are anarchists terrorists? Are they Marxists? Communists? Has anarchism ever happened?We'll be answering all these questions, and we'll be doing it properly. This colossal episode sweeps away all the emotion, the confusion, the bullshit and the bias, and presents you- as always- with only the genuine truth. Welcome to Polymath!And we're not just listing definitions: this episode is a massive tour de force of real, unbiased political science, political philosophy, sociology, economics, history, and psychology. We combine all these different approaches; we integrate insights about communism, socialism, and capitalism; we unite all the different factual, expert consensuses we need- for me to give you the most accurate, comprehensive understanding that I can.This is the sixth and biggest episode of my channel's 'Objective Guide to Political Ideologies' series. But don't worry, you don't need to listen to any previous episodes to understand this one. All Polymath episodes are designed to make complete sense individually and with no background knowledge. Enjoy!

Your national hero probably had some very questionable views. But are they morally culpable for them? Let's take a look!I gotta say, I almost feel bad for you- you're probably sodden with different influencers, politicians, and newspapers all sharting out their own opinions at you, all demanding your allegiance in the culture wars. But on Polymath, we examine questions with real, meaningful academic disciplines: today, we'll be using political science, psychology, sociology, and history.We don't just talk about Edward Colston and call it a day. This episode is a massive journey through nature VS nurture, the meaning of politics, personality metrics, societal bell curves, the Enlightenment and liberalism (shoutout), moral relativism, and political psychology. We even start entering philosophy territory- but just the tip.Of the iceberg, of course. Enjoy!

The obvious answer to a 90-minute video on this is to go and touch grass, but really: if the Harry Potter world genuinely existed, what would it look like? If there’s a wizarding world… is there wizarding communism? A wizarding Karl Marx? Was there a wizarding civil rights movement? Is there wizarding nationalism? Is Wizarding Russia currently attacking Wizarding Ukraine?The Harry Potter universe is a fictional world written for children that is not meant to be taken seriously. What does it look like if we do? In true Polymath fashion, we conduct a massive synthesis of politics, economics, sociology, demography, psychology, history, and global political economy to answer a question that nobody asked. Along the way, we'll be covering a good deal of info about all of these and learning new insights into how Western society works.I've also (☝️🤓) made another Harry Potter episode about the world's macroeconomics (Episode 3), and will soon be lovingly birthing another episode about my own personal rewrite of the series according to (social) scientific rules and phenomena. Despite appearances, I don't actually really care about Harry Potter (honest), but I do care about giving you guys entertaining yappery to kick back to that you can also learn some real, useful information from. With that said, enjoy!

'Oof... messed up a little there'In 1933, Hitler got 43.9% of the vote- and it wasn't even close. What happened there? The good news is we can use some clever psychology to get right to the heart of the issue: what was actually happening in people's heads. The less fun news is that because human nature hasn't changed since- it CAN happen here. Let's find out why!This episode is a journey through that very human nature, values, politics, and how they all interact. We'll be answering how would-be dictators get people to vote for them; what their classic techniques for getting into power are; why it keeps happening; and whether it's happening to you right now. If you want to keep your rights, you've got to understand how societies lose them. But don't worry- we'll be making this episode on losing rights as witty, entertaining, and cheerfully breezy as possible, because I don't want you to get depressed. Tune in, kick back, and enjoy!also the statistic at the start should be 44% oop

Have you been watching the news recently and been thinking 'what the hell is happening here?' This episode is for you! We're exploring how intelligence has changed in people over time- and why. What kinds of intelligence is this change mostly happening in? How does cognition and intelligence work, anyway? Where in the brain does it come from? What's the difference between intelligence and wisdom? Is social media making us less wise?We're back, and now with a brand new microphone! In Polymath, we don't take questions like these and answer them based on 'hot takes': we use statistics and science. This episode is a massive journey through how the human mind works, what human nature is, what makes it wiser, and what humanity has been doing wrong- or right!To break down this chonky episode into some more manageable segments, remember that all episodes and different parts of episodes can be found on my youtube channel under 'Daniel Aaron Levy' 🤓Enjoy!

Has 'real' socialism ever been tried? What do socialists want? Who owns the 'means of production' and what are they? How does the economy work in socialism? Who's in charge? What's the difference between socialism in theory and socialism as has been practised?Today, we'll be answering all these questions and more as we use political science (+ some economics, history, and political philosophy) to cut through all the bias, partisanship, and confusion to identify what socialism REALLY is. There's so much conflicting and biased information on socialism out there that it's incredibly difficult to gather up all the scattered strands of real information and put them all together. Luckily, that's exactly what we've done here!This episode is part of a multipart special on this channel about different political ideologies, providing an objective guide to all of them. You'll get the most out of it by watching the preceding episodes in the series, but every episode on Polymath is designed to be 100% understandable and enjoyable by itself. Tune in, kick back, and enjoy!

What actually is capitalism anyway? What distinguishes the different kinds? What was the Golden Age of Capitalism and what caused it? What's laissez-faire capitalism, neoliberalism, the Nordic model, social capitalism, a mixed economy, state capitalism, the East Asian model, or economic planning?There's so many different models and variants of capitalism that it's easy to get lost, and difficult to pick out which ones really work. Today, we break down some important economics terms and explore what all these types of capitalism are in a concise but informative way.This is the third episode in a multi-part series on political ideologies, starting from Episode 09- but don't worry, you don't need to watch any other episodes to enjoy this one! All you need to do is tune in, kick back, and enjoy.

What does 'capitalism' really mean? What does it try and achieve? What actually are the means of production and what is a market? Does capitalism mean freedom and democracy? Is it left or right wing?In today's episode, we'll be answering all these questions and more. Today's episode is in fact the second part of a multi-episode special on this channel on political ideologies- but don't worry, you don't need to watch any other episodes to enjoy this one! All episodes in this series are designed to be completely understandable on their own.Tune in and enjoy!

What actually is a political ideology and where do they come from? What's the current left-right polarisation all about? What is a liberal and what is liberalism? Where do modern democracy, politics, and morality come from? Why were historical societies so brutal and unfair? What is the purpose of civilisation?Welcome to the first episode in the first ever special on this show! This episode begins a multiple part series- but each episode can be enjoyed by itself- about different political ideologies and political ideology in general.As always on Polymath, we'll be using lots of different academic disciplines to be breaking down some complex questions. To answer this episode's question, we'll be using political science and philosophy, history, and economics.But this episode goes a bit deeper than just definitions. We'll be exploring some of the foundational pillars of human civilisation throughout history, and in doing so throw some light on our own.Enjoy!

They're terms we've all heard, but what actually are they? Where do they come from, how should we use them, what do they stand for, and how can we break them down and understand them?In today's episode, we'll be answering all these questions and more using political science, history, economics, and political philosophy. Although the intro for this episode says that we'll also be exploring whether historical figures can be judged by the standards of today, we did in fact run out of time. But that just means that we can give that question the time and attention it deserves in its own episode later! For now, tune in and enjoy!

Hello everybody, today we're gonna be exploring the underlying causes behind the Industrial Revolution and why the West did it first- and came to rule the globe.We'll be answering questions like what actually was the Industrial Revolution, how did Western history lead up to it, why Britain in particular started it, and why didn't it happen/rapidly spread elsewhere outside the West?As always on Polymath, we'll be using lots of different fields to answer these big questions, including history, political philosophy and psychology, and economics. Enjoy!

Excuse the brief lapse in sound quality at the start!In today's episode, we use evolutionary psychology (and some other important disciplines) to explore attractiveness: what determines what we find attractive, and why is attractiveness even a thing?We're gonna be exploring some key questions, like how do men and women differ in what they find attractive and why, what have humans evolved to find attractive, why are beauty standards what they are, and even why has love itself evolved.Tune in and enjoy!

Exploring the nature and roots of morality using evolutionary psychology, anthropology, and a little bit of neuroscience. Enjoy!

My favourite episode yet, tune in for an episode on what causes countries to develop, why makes them stagnate, why the West rules (or at least ruled) the world, and why the Industrial Revolution occurred in Britain.Here we look at politics, economics, history, and of course development studies. Enjoy!

Tune in for an extremely useful and practical episode analysing the macroeconomics, political economics, and societal development of the world of Harry Potter.The world of Harry Potter as viewed through a non-12 year old lens, shockingly, does not make much sense. Enjoy!

The very first episode of Polymath, broadcasted live on Burst radio at 17/02/24!Human bodies tend to build fat, and it's difficult for them to burn it off again or build muscle. But why?In this episode, we use evolutionary biology and anthropology to explore this. Along the way, we touch on some nutritional advice, psychology, and sportscience.