Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite is the topic of the latest OMSI Science Pub, which takes place on Monday, April 4, 2011:
Do you wonder why people are so inconsistent? Why people often seem to contradict themselves? Why they believe things they know aren’t true? Why they say “don’t do X” and then do that very thing? This presentation, grounded in evolutionary psychology, explains why. The reason is that the human mind is “modular,” made up of a large number of parts with different functions. Sometimes these parts conflict with one another. The poet Walt Whitman once wrote, “I am large; I contain multitudes.” Robert Kurzban argues that Whitman was right. We all contain multitudes (of modules), which makes us all inconsistent. Or, at least, it makes everyone (else) inconsistent.
The presenter is Robert Kurzban, author of the book, Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite: Evolution and the Modular Mind, and an associate professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Pennsylvania.
This science pub takes place at the Bagdad Theater (3702 SE Hawthorne) from 7pm until 9pm, but arrive early (5pm doors open) to secure your beer, grub, and a seat! There’s a $3.00 suggested donation/cover charge. Minors with adults are welcome, otherwise this event is 21 and over.
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