Podcast Club ONLINE:

In anticipation of Valentine's Day, this week's podcast features Anna Machin, an evolutionary anthropologist who studies the neuroscience and psychology of love. The podcast is Conversations with Coleman, with host Coleman Hughes.

In this episode, Machin uses her science knowledge to explain what love is, how the love of friends and family differs biologically from romantic love, whether love at first sight exists, and whether humans have and use pheromones to attract mates. She talks about dating apps, why they may undermine, rather than facilitate, attraction and finding a long-term mate, and how such apps can be improved. Further, Machin discusses why we fall in love with someone at all and how that happens. She sheds light on topics including arranged marriages, attachment styles, polyamory, menstrual synchrony, love languages, what fathers generally contribute in raising children, the utility of "love languages," and much more. While we have listened to podcasts on love before, this one is an especially thoughtful and informative discussion.

Machin is a visiting academic with the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Oxford Brookes University where she lectures on human evolution and the evolution of human cognition and researches human love, fatherhood, the evolving human family and the impact of AI and social media on relationships. She spent over 12 years at the University of Oxford in the Social and Evolutionary Neuroscience Research Group, led by Robin Dunbar, focusing on fatherhood and the genetics and neurobiology of love. Machin is the author of two science books, numerous academic papers, and many articles including for the New York Times, The Guardian, and The Observer. Also a broadcaster, Machin was the host of the podcast How We're Wired.

PLEASE NOTE: We require that attendees listen to the podcast below before attending the meeting to optimize discussion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOlyLi3szuw

or

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/is-there-a-science-to-finding-love/id1716338488?i=1000743796393

(1 hr, 21 min.)

What's a podcast club?
It's like a book club for podcasts. Each week we discuss an interesting and currently-relevant episode from podcasters like Ezra Klein, Michael Shermer, or Russ Roberts. We start off as a large group and spend most of the time talking in small break-out groups, which we remix 3 times during the course of the evening. Our conversations are casual and open. We ask that everyone speak respectfully at all times, and we encourage free and concise discussion relevant to the week's podcast topic. To do this, we try to adhere to Grice's Maxims: https://bit.ly/2p4uSQm

Ultimately, the idea is to help each other think a little differently, learn a thing or two and have some fun.