logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2025
22m 45s

The link between evolution and language ...

TED
About this episode
tail spinning
Up next
Today
How to google your symptoms without freaking out | John Whyte
Why does searching your symptoms online always leave you more frightened than before? As former chief medical officer of WebMD, physician John Whyte spent years believing more information meant better health — until he saw how too much of it was making people spiral. In a world o ... Show More
15m 6s
Yesterday
Sunday Pick: Min Jin Lee | from Design Matters
The author of the award-winning novels “Pachinko” and “Free Food for Millionaires,” Min Jin Lee, discusses her remarkable career and the long journey and intention behind her Korean diaspora novels.Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/po ... Show More
1h 12m
Apr 25
What you discover when you really listen | Hrishikesh Hirway (re-release and interview)
“Every conversation has the potential to open up and reveal all the layers and layers within it, all those rooms within rooms," says musician and host of the beloved podcast Song Exploder, Hrishikesh Hirway. In this profoundly moving talk from 2022, he offers a guide to deep conv ... Show More
50m 20s
Recommended Episodes
Sep 2025
The link between evolution and language | Richard Dawkins
Languages drift, adapt and evolve much like living species. In this wide-ranging conversation, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and linguist John McWhorter trace the parallels between biology and speech, from random mutations to cultural selection. They show how both genes ... Show More
22m 45s
Nov 2024
296 | Brandon Ogbunu on Fitness Seascapes and the Course of Evolution
Biological evolution via natural selection is a simple idea that becomes enormously complicated in its realization. Populations of organisms are driven toward increased "fitness," a measure of how successfully we reproduce our genetic information. But fitness is a subtle concept, ... Show More
1h 15m
Mar 2025
Exploring AI, Evolution & the Universe ft. Taryn Southern
Richard Dawkins and Taryn Southern are back for another thought-provoking Q&A session, tackling a wide range of fascinating topics. From Richard’s personal epiphany moments to his thoughts on AI, alien life, and the origins of the universe, this episode delves deep into the myste ... Show More
32m 20s
Sep 2024
#382 — The Eye of Nature
<p>Sam Harris speaks with Richard Dawkins about his new book <em><a href="https://amzn.to/3X7oYQE">The Genetic Book of the Dead</a></em>, the genome as a palimpsest, what scientists of the future may do with genetic information, genotypes and phenotypes, embryology and epigenetic ... Show More
39m 30s
Jun 2025
Episode 144, Steven Pinker x Richard Dawkins: Live in London (Part I - The Future of Humanity)
Welcome to Episode 144 (Part I of II), where Richard Dawkins interviews Steven Pinker on the past and future of humanity. This is a live recording from our recent show – The Future of Humanity – held on 3 June 2025 at London's Royal Institution Theatre. The event was a conversati ... Show More
1h 4m
Jun 2025
Special Episode: Professor Steven Mithen & The Language Puzzle
From the earliest grunts and gestures to the complex sentences we use today to convey a multitude of concepts, language has evolved to become one of humanity’s most powerful tools. It allows us to connect, create, conspire, control, console, catch up, and so much more. How did we ... Show More
49m 29s
Feb 2025
What Evolution Really Tells Us About Life | A Conversation with Steven Pinker
In this episode of The Poetry of Reality, Richard Dawkins engages in an insightful conversation with Steven Pinker about evolution, his motivation for writing The Blind Watchmaker, and a breakdown of his latest book, The Genetic Book of the Dead Steven Pinker is a Canadian-Americ ... Show More
1h 29m
Feb 2024
266 | Christoph Adami on How Information Makes Sense of Biology
Evolution is sometimes described -- not precisely, but with some justification -- as being about the "survival of the fittest." But that idea doesn't work unless there is some way for one generation to pass down information about how best to survive. We now know that such informa ... Show More
1h 20m
May 2025
I Sympathize with Trans People, but... | Richard Dawkins in Conversation with Colin Wright
In this episode of The Poetry of Reality, Richard Dawkins joins Colin Wright for an insightful conversation touching on evolution, gender, science, and culture - They explore Richard's latest book, The Genetic Book of the Dead along with a wide array of topics including the natur ... Show More
1h 35m
Dec 2024
299 | Michael Wong on Information, Function, and the Origin of Life
Living organisms seem exquisitely organized and complex, with features clearly adapted to serving certain functions needed to survive and procreate. Natural selection provides a compelling explanation for why that is so. But is there a bigger picture, a more general framework tha ... Show More
1h 13m