Today we discuss organ donation, and parenting in the animal world. Organ donation: how can we modify incentives so that people who need organs have a good chance of getting them, but people with healthy organs are never sent to an early death because their organs are valuable? Then: a natural history primer on parental care and feeding ecology of some local mammals and birds. What can be learned from observing the successful parenting of both barn swallows and red foxes?
Our sponsors:
Jolie: Beautiful showerheads that filter out the garbage without reducing water pressure. Go to http://jolieskinco.com/DarkHorse to get free shipping; free returns within 60 days.
Fresh Pressed Olive Oil Club: Scrumptious & freshly harvested. Go to http://www.GetFreshDarkHorse.com to get a bottle of the best olive oil you’ve ever had for $1 shipping.
ARMRA Colostrum is an ancient bioactive whole food that can strengthen your immune system. Go to http://www.tryarmra.com/DARKHORSE to get 15% off your first order.
Mentioned in this episode:
NYT 2025: Push for more organ transplants puts donors at risk: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/20/us/organ-transplants-donors-alive.html
NYT 2003: Bret letter to the editor on organ donation and incentives: https://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/18/opinion/he-gave-of-himself-so-that-i-could-live-3-letters.html
Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life on organ transplants: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp-pU8TFsg0
Cornell on barn swallows: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barn_Swallow/overview
Avian Architecture: https://amzn.to/4f4Hxh5 (commission earned)
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Holding Screen
00:05:22 Connecting Organ Donation and Wild Animals Raising Their Offspring
00:16:06 NY Times: A Push for More Organ Transplants is Putting Donors at Risk
00:31:22 Federal Pressure for Transplant Procurement
00:32:25 55 Medical Professionals Reported Witnessing At Least One Disturbing Case?
00:36:14 People are Fallible
00:39:35 Manner of Death Matters
00:42:07 A Solution: Bret's Letter to the Editor from 2003
00:50:53 Hard-Headed Liberals
00:53:46 Bret's Pitch: A Proper Feedback Mechanism
01:02:49 Monty Python: Slapstick to Reality
01:06:07 Barn Swallows
01:16:49 How Did Barn Swallows Learn to Build a Nest?
01:28:22 Parenting Wisdom from Wild Animals
We have "cartesian blinders being put on us so that we are trying to make sense out of scraps of information and hints." - @bretweinstein
WEINSTEIN: I mean, even if you have your villains who are engaged in the behavior that motivated this war in Iran, even if that's the story, presumably most of the people in the path of these ferocious bombings that he is describing are not deserving of going back to the Stone Age.
In fact, I distinctly remember him telling us that part of what we were up to was liberating the people of Iran from their tyrannical regime.
So if it's the tyrannical regime that justifies the ferocious bombing, then it's a tragedy that other people are going to be sent back to the Stone Ages with them. Right?
HEYING: It's it's not a narrative. It's an incoherent set of talking points.
WEINSTEIN: Yeah, it's a kind of cheerleading that is completely inappropriate from the perspective of the president.
Bret Weinstein discusses the Trump administrations "back to the stone age" recent remarks in the latest episode of The Evolutionary Lens, Episode 320 "Are we back in the stone age?" on DarkHorse.
Bret Weinstein explains, "If you stop businesses from starting here, and if you drive people so that they move elsewhere—even though it's difficult to do—then the point is the tax base dries up, which then forces you to become even more predatory for the people who stayed.
And that's really the thing, right? They're setting themselves up so that they have to go after more and more people, because the people who are starting new businesses are not going to do it here."
