This will be our first discussion board over our first topic. To make sure contributions are meaningful and organized, please make sure to read the essay, watch the lecture, look into the further readings and videos. If you have any questions about what you read in this lesson, I will be excited to answer them below. In the meantime, here are some questions to get you thinking about these materials and how they relate to your personal life: 1. What kinds of cultural knowledge do you think humans must inherit (not reinvent) in order to function well in modern society? Which pieces of that knowledge do you feel you never received? 2. In your opinion, what are the most important “shared stories” or norms a society needs in order to stay stable? Do you think we still have those today? 3. Henrich argues that groups with better norms and cooperation out-compete others. What cultural traits do you think give a group an advantage today—and which traits put people at a disadvantage? 4. Harari says humans depend on shared fictions to cooperate. What shared fiction (nation, religion, money, science, identity) do you personally rely on the most? Which ones have lost their power? 5. Imagine you’re designing a “starter pack” of cultural information to give a child born today. What 5–10 pieces of wisdom, norms, or skills would you include—and why?

Here is an example of 8 questions that can help you start to see how having the information found in Lesson 2 can help you view yourself, others and events in your life with a new perspective. If there is anything else from this lesson that you would like to discuss, or if you have any questions about anything, I would love to discuss that as well. Brandon 1. Predictive Brains: How does understanding that the brain is a “prediction machine” change the way you think about your own beliefs or emotional reactions? 2. Constructed Emotion: Barrett argues that emotions are constructed from concepts we learn. Which emotion do you think was most shaped by your own upbringing or culture? 3. Cultural Learning: Henrich shows that humans copy the successful and prestigious. Who would you say has shaped you more — your family, your peers, or people you admire from a distance? 4. Stress & Belief Rigidity: Sapolsky shows that stress narrows thinking and makes beliefs more rigid. Can you think of a time when stress made you double down on a belief — or question one? 5. Dopamine & Meaning: Lembke explains how overstimulation can distort motivation and meaning. Which modern source of stimulation (phones, food, entertainment, etc.) do you think most affects people’s clarity today? 6. Collective Brain: Human intelligence is largely shared intelligence. In your own life, what kinds of knowledge or skills do you have only because others passed them to you? 7. Identity & Prediction: If our brains are always predicting based on past experience, how much control do you think we actually have over our worldview? 8. Culture as Code: If humans are biologically shaped to absorb cultural “code,” what cultural code do you feel you’re running — and where do you think it came from?