UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa – The newest episode of The Symbiotic Podcast welcomes the husband-and-wife team of David Loye and Riane Eisler, experts in how and why societies evolve and devolve, for an examination of multiple global crises occurring simultaneously in 2020.
The Symbiotic Podcast is a production of Penn State's Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, and focuses on cross-disciplinary research projects that actively evolve the way science is done.
This brief teaser encapsulates the core ideas laid out in a two-part podcast conversation with veteran systems scientists Riane Eisler and David Loye. Their work uncovers long-ignored elements of Darwin's message to the world, and puts forth actionable, research-based suggestions to evolve global society away from domination systems towards more egalitarian, compassionate and life-affirming partnership systems. Find the full episode in audio, video and transcript form at www.thesymbioticpodcast.com
Eisler is a cultural historian, systems scientist, educator, attorney, speaker, and author. Born in Vienna, Austria in 1931, her family fled Nazi Germany for Cuba when she was a child. Her work on cultural transformation has inspired scholars and social activists worldwide. Eisler's research integrates history, literature, philosophy, art, economics, psychology, sociology, education, human rights, organizational development, political science, and healthcare.
Eisler is best known for "The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future," which first introduced her cultural transformation theory in 1987. She has also authored books about caring economics, equal rights for women, children’s issues, and nursing and healthcare, as well as human sexuality and relationships. Her latest book, with peace educator Doug Fry, is 2019’s "Nurturing Our Humanity: How Domination and Partnership Shape Our Brains, Lives, and Future."
Additionally, Eisler has spearheaded the creation of many social change efforts, as the founder of the Center for Partnership Studies, the Caring Economy Campaign, The Spiritual Alliance to Stop Intimate Violence. And as an academician, she is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies.
David Loye is an author, psychologist and evolutionary systems scientist, born in Palo Alto, California, in 1925. A World War II veteran, he was a writer in the Navy and is a co-founder of the General Evolution Research Group — an international confederation of concerned scientists who came together at the height of the Cold War to see if they could use science to address the threat of mutual annihilation.
In the 1970s at UCLA’s School of Medicine, Loye developed the groundwork for the study of television violence and the impact of mass entertainment on evolution and human survival. He published his first book in 1971 – the award-wining "Healing of a Nation" — addressing what he called “the sickness of racism in America.”
Loye’s greatest professional passion, he said, is to set the record straight on Charles Darwin, history’s most iconic authority on evolution. He has written five books on the pioneering explorer and scientist.
“In 'Descent of Man,' Darwin writes only twice about survival of the fittest – and one of those was to apologize for it.” Loye explained. “But he writes 95 times about love! He was the greatest moral theorist of his time.”
Eisler’s key contribution to systems science is her Biocultural Partnership-Domination Lens — a tool that can be employed to transform societies from authoritarian, regressive and violent structures to more holistic, caring and egalitarian forms.
“It’s not enough to just critique,” Eisler noted. “We really need a concrete vision, a roadmap — as Archbishop Desmond Tutu said of 'The Real Wealth of Nations' — one of my books — a roadmap to that better world we’ve been so earnestly seeking.”
"Evolving Through Our Meta-Crisis" (Part 1) is available in audio-only and video form on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast app. Audio, video, and transcripts can be accessed at the Symbiotic Podcast website.