Least Religious Generation, American Heritage, Microfarming

Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels (1:05) Guest:  Ian Morris, Willard Professor of Classics and a fellow of the Stanford Archaeology Center at Stanford University. Author of “Foragers, Farmers and Fossil Fuels: How Human Values Evolve.”  Human values have changed over millennia: our tolerance for violence, our willingness to be divided into social classes by gender or wealth, our respect for authority, our definition of justice.  The fundamental question for Stanford classics and archaeology professor Ian Morris is, “What causes our values to evolve over time?” Are we squeamish about the death penalty because we’re more enlightened than our hunter-gatherer forbearers?  Morris, in a series of provocative lectures delivered at Princeton University, says no. Our values are not driven by evolutionary superiority. Rather, they’re driven by how we fuel our lives. Do we hunt, farm or burn oil, gas and coal? Morris has captured his Tanner Lectures in a new book called, “Foragers, Farmers and Fossil Fuels: How Human Values Evolve.”   Least Religious Generation (37:12) Guest: Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of the book Generation Me.  Many of today’s youth have lost their religion. “Millennials” constitute the least religious generation in the past 60 years according to analysis out of San Diego State University.   She writes about it extensively in her recent book Generation Me.  Big Government (52:30) Guest: Grant Madsen, Professor of History at BYU  Our weekly segment called “Our American Heritage.” BYU history professor Grant Madsen shares insights from his introductory American History course with us. We get a college history lesson—and we don’t even have to go to class! This week my colleague Marcus Smith talks with Madsen about the origins of big government.  Microfarming (1:18:06) Guest: Dave Dewitt, an accomplished chile pepper farmer and author of over fifty books including “Microfarming for Profit.”  I find myself, at the moment, with a glut of salad greens. Not being much of a gardener, a friend suggested I start with something easy. It’s gone much better than I expected and now I’m burdened with way more kale, spinach, arugula and red leaf lettuce than I can possibly consume. After giving bags of it away, I’ve found myself wondering, could I wander down to the farmer’s market and make a little money with my harvest?  People do. But it’s not easy to turn a profit. For those with the fortitude and free time, Dave DeWitt has written a how-to-guide.