147. David Barash — On the Brink of Destruction

<p>In a conversation based on the book <em>Threats: Intimidation and its Discontents</em>, Shermer and Barash discuss:</p> <ul> <li>2020 as the most momentous year of the past half century,</li> <li>judging historical figures based on modern morals (e.g., race and slavery),</li> <li>whether humans are naturally gullible or skeptical,</li> <li>the evolutionary logic of deterrence,</li> <li>how animals deal with threats,</li> <li>how humans deal with threats,</li> <li>game theory of deterring threats,</li> <li>nuclear deterrence (Mutual Assured Destruction) as a threat strategy,</li> <li>the motives behind nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki,</li> <li>the U.S. arms race against the U.S.S.R.,</li> <li>the arms race within the U.S. between the Army, Navy, and Airforce,</li> <li>close calls with nuclear weapons and why this is not a sustainable strategy,</li> <li>how to deal with threats like Iran, China, Russia, and North Korea,</li> <li>Trump and what he did right with regard to North Korea.</li> </ul> <p>David P. Barash is an evolutionary biologist and Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Washington. He has written more than 280 peer-reviewed articles and 40 books. Barash has penned op-eds in the <em>Los Angeles Times</em>, <em>The New York Times</em>, and <em>The Chicago Tribune</em>, as well as numerous pieces in <em>The Chronicle of Higher Education</em>, <em>Nautilus</em>, and <em>Skeptic</em>.</p>