#89: Survival Revival

(10/05/2026) All social change is ultimately biological change. We present a framework, called an alliance of phenotypes, for thinking concretely about societies in this way. It involves a ten-item trait inventory called RAMBO-BAMBI, which is intended to bring relevant variables out of the hazy periphery of consciousness and into explicit focus. In other words, it is a way of telling more complex stories about the world than we frequently do. We use two events, which occurred on successive nights, to illustrate the diversity of initiatives that emerge from this way of thinking. One event featured the Survival Ecology presentation from last episode; the other is best described as punk rock revival preaching. The Survival Ecology research will be used in communications appealing to one population's psychological needs for security and stability. The preaching was intended to bring out a different group of people's best, and wildest, selves. We use this as a minimal illustration of fluidly transitioning between modes of being, to best engage different political personalities in different ways.

Just this once I'm cheating and saying the bibliography for this episode is Fight Like An Animal: Revolutionary Biology in Defense of Life coming May 1 2026 from Severed Branches Press. Incidentally, First Blood (i.e. the first Rambo movie) is an amazing film, the widespread misunderstanding of which is a tragic commentary on how we came to be so unable to fight back.