Evolutionary psychology radio series

• Welcome to the BOL Forum on Evolutionary Psychology by John Grohol, 3/19/97
  
  

I am currently in the process of putting together a proposal for a six part series on Evolutionary Psychology for an independent production company based in London.

I have been an 'amateur' evolutionary psychologist since I was 15, when I realised religion was a load of ****. I read 'The Selfish Gene', and have spent the past 12 years looking human nature and trying to come up with my own evolutionary psychological theories for human behaviour. I gained a lot of personal strength from understanding the way I was. I had not really thought much of it - it was a personal thing - until I read 'The Moral Animal' and realised other people were thinking that way too. I am now coming to the end of a PhD (molecular systematics/speciation) at the Natural History Museum in London, and I have to decide what to do next. Evolutionary psychology is the one thing that interests me above all others, because it deals with the things that are emotionally important to people, and in that sense (although I find the term a bit irritating) it is a spiritual, as well as scientific enterprise.

Anyway, so I have decided to spend a bit of time trying to do something in the field of evolutionary psychology, before I sell my soul and become a computer programmer. I have a friend who works for anindependent radio production company, producing programs for the BBC, and they have expressed an interest in doing a six part series. I have to put forward a proposal.

What I am really asking for is some advice, either specifics on what you think should go into the series (or whether you would be prepared to be interviewed!), and more generally on where I could go from here in my pursuit of a life doing something I am really fascinated by!

I have a sound background in molecular biology, computer analysis of DNA sequence data, mathematical modelling, evolutionary theory, programming (C, UNIX, Java, HTML), reading good books, and thinking about people.

-Peter Clarke

PS. I have a load of my own theories that I haven't heard elsewhere. I would love to discuss them with someone. Especially anyone who thinks that frequency dependent selection is underated! I don't think anyone has ever come up with a trait of human nature that I haven't come up with a decent (if not entirely scientifically testable!) evolutionary explanation for.

• Good Luck! by John Fentress, 8/23/98