On this, our 314th Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss love, coffee, and AI. For Valentine’s Day, Bret shares his thoughts on myths, love, and soulmates, and we discuss how relationships form—both in the abstract and in our case—and how relationships cannot be antagonistic or about short time horizons. Then: new research finds that drinking moderate amounts of coffee or tea—but not if decaffeinated—slows cognitive decline. And: is AI coming for us, and if so, how soon? How fast are LLM’s evolving, whose work will they disappear, and is concern or hope the more constructive response? We can see some of how AI will change our world; what can we not yet see? Finally: could menial, repetitive work (“drudgery”) have more to recommend it than we know?
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Mentioned in this episode:
Zhang et al 2026. Coffee and Tea Intake, Dementia Risk, and Cognitive Function. JAMA published online 2-9-26: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2844764
Something big is happening: https://x.com/mattshumer_/status/2021256989876109403
It was never about AI (we are not our tools): https://x.com/EricMarkowitz/status/2022005480240120229
AI isn’t coming for your future. Fear is: https://x.com/cboyack/status/2021647373571862952
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."
