“I firmly believe there is no person, no group, no behavior, no thing that is objectively evil. Perhaps evil only really exists in our fears.” -- Julia Shaw

Today it’s great to have Dr. Julia Shaw on the podcast. Dr. Shaw is a psychological scientist at UCL. She is best known for her work in the areas of memory and criminal psychology. In 2017 Dr. Shaw co-founded the memory science and artificial intelligence start-up Spot. Spot helps employees report workplace harassment and discrimination, and empowers organizations to build a more inclusive and respectful work environment. In 2016 she published her bestselling debut book "The Memory Illusion", which has appeared in 20 languages and in 2019 she published her second international bestseller "Evil: The Science Behind Humanity's Dark Side".

Note: This episode goes down a lot of taboo alleys. The dark side of human nature is a fascinating topic, but there may be some issues that you'd rather not hear about. Please review the list of topics before listening to this episode.

In this episode we discuss:

How Julia got into criminal psychology
How we all do “reality crafting”
The depths of human hypocrisy
Why we don’t always act in accord with our own morality
Julia Shaw’s criticism of the label “evil”
The neuroscience of “evil” and Hitler’s brain
Your brain on porn
How kink is stigmatized in our society
Can you be a feminist and engage in BDSM?
The “deviant sexual interests” scale
The prevalence of rape fantasies
Pedophiles vs. ephebophiles
Why “curiosity shaming” limits discussion and understanding
The science of beastiality and what makes one animal sexier than another animal
Why we shame vegans
Rape culture and how systems fail and lead to harm
What we can do to reduce sexual violence in society
The bright side of your dark side
How we can use the dark side to be a hero (the heroic imagination)

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Julia Shaw || Humanizing Evil