Mind & Matter
Whether food, drugs or ideas, what you consume influences who you become. Learn directly from the best scientists & thinkers alive today about how your mind-body reacts to what you feed it.
The weekly M&M podcast features conversations with the most interesting scientists, thinkers, and technology entrepreneurs alive today.
Not medical advice.
At M&M, we are interested in trying to figure out how things work, not affirming our existing beliefs. We prefer consulting primary rather than secondary sources and independent rather than institutional voices. If we encounter uncomfortable truths or the evidence suggests unfashionable ideas may be valid, so be it.
As the host, my aim is to help you better understand how the body & mind work by curating & synthesizing information in a way that yields science-based insights that you can choose to use or disregard in your own life. Taking ownership of your health starts with taking ownership of your information diet.
I am motivated to connect the dots and distill general principles from what I learn, preferring to ask questions and play devil’s advocate to debating or incessantly pushing my own viewpoint.
My beliefs:
- Taking ownership of your health starts with taking ownership of your information diet.
- All knowledge is provisional and we must work hard to prevent ourselves from becoming attached to our favorite ideas & preferred conclusions.
- Wisdom comes from an iterative, trial-and-error process of learning and unlearning. Letting go of pre-conceived notions can be painful, but pain is information.
Sometimes modern discoveries teach us we must unlearn received wisdom. Other times, modern information overload & historical chauvinism cause us to forget ancient wisdom which stills applies. The framework for learning that I embody is inspired by three Ancient Greek maxims inscribed in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi:
- “Γνῶθι σεαυτόν” (Know thyself)
- “Μηδὲν ἄγαν” (Nothing in excess)
- “Ἐγγύα πάρα δ Ἄτα” (Certainty brings insanity)
Mind & Matter
Ancient Diets, Human Carnivory, Mammoth Hunting, Clovis Culture & Origin of Native Americans | Ben Potter & Jim Chatters | 199
Podcast episodes are fully available to paid subscribers on the M&M Substack and on YouTube. Partial versions are available elsewhere.
About the guest: Ben Potter, PhD is an archaeologist & Professor of Anthropology at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. James Chatter, PhD is a retired archaeologist and paleontologist. They recently published a paper on the diet of the Clovis people of North America at the end of the last Ice Age.
Episode summary: Nick talks to Dr. Potter & Dr. Chatters about: the Clovis culture and initial human colonization of the Americas; human diet since the last Ice Age; ancient human diets; hunting of Mammoths and other large herbivores; Clovis technology & culture, including projectile weapons; and more.
Related episodes:
- M&M #160: Diet, Hunting, Culture and Evolution of Paleolithic Humans & Hunter Gatherers | Eugene Morin
- M&M #154: Evolution & Genetics of Human Diet, Metabolism, Disease Risk, Skin Color and Origins of Modern Europeans | Eske Willerslev
*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice
All episodes (audio & video), show notes, transcripts, and more at the M&M Substack
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