On Humans

• 53 | What About India? Part II: Success and Stagnation In the World’s Largest Democracy ~ Bishnupriya Gupta

  India’s history isn’t just the story of one nation—it’s the story of one-sixth of humanity. It’s also a lens for understanding how colonialism, democracy, and globalization shaped the modern world. This mini-series offers a human-centred perspective on that remarkable story, focusing on how politics and trade impacted the lives of ordinary Indians. In Part 1, we explored the decline of the Mughals and the long stretch of British rule. In Part 2, we turn to India's independent journey as the world’s largest democracy. To guide us through this complex history, I’m joined again by Bishnupriya Gupta, a professor of economics and the author of the excellent Economic History of India. In this episode, we discuss:The legacy of British colonialism in independent India / Why India fell behind the economic miracle of East Asian countries like China / The successes and challenges of India’s democracy in shaping its economic future / What happened to inequality in India during independence?As always, we finish with my guest’s reflections on humanity.MENTIONS Past episodes: What About China (with Yasheng Huang, #44-46)Keywords: Independent India | British colonialism | British Raj | Indian nationalism | Indian industry | Economic inequality | Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru | Nehruvian period | National Congress | China miracle | Human capital formation | Literacy | Primary vs higher education | Poverty reduction | LINKSRead more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠OnHumans.Substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. You can also find On Humans on ⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠BlueSky⁠⁠⁠!Feeling generous? Join the wonderful group of my patrons at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/OnHumans⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠or get in touch for other ways to support!Email: ⁠⁠makela dot ilari at outlook dot com⁠⁠⁠

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• 52 | What About India? Part I: Mughals, British, and the Causes of Poverty ~ Bishnupriya Gupta

  Following the success of last year’s ⁠What About China ⁠-trilogy, I’m delighted to introduce a two-part series on the economic history of India. This series examines the origins of modern India by focusing on politics, poverty, and the experience of ordinary Indians from 1600 till today.The first episode covers the decline of the Mughals and the hugely controversial rule of the British East India Company and, later, the British Crown.One thing is clear: Most Indians lived in poverty when the British left. So, how much of Indian poverty was due to British policies? How much was shaped by deeper trends? And what should we make of those infamous railways?To tackle these questions, I’m joined by Bishnupriya Gupta, a professor of economics at the University of Warwick and one of the world’s leading historians of the Indian economy. Her new book, ⁠An Economic History of India⁠, provides a uniquely objective and data-driven exploration of India’s history, focusing on the well-being of ordinary people.In this episode, we discuss:Indian vs English living standards in 1600 / The impact of British colonialism on India’s economy / The Great Famines of Bengal / What both imperial apologists and Indian nationalists get wrong about the British rule. In the end, Gupta also explains why Mahatma Gandhi's education might be a clue as to why India lagged behind East Asia in the 20th Century. Enjoy — and stay tuned for Part II on the era of Independence!MENTIONSBooks: An Economic History of India by Bishnupriya Gupta; The Great Divergence by Kenneth Pomerantz; Other scholars: Stephen Broadberry | Prasannan Parthasarathy | Nico Voigtländer & Hans-Joachim Voth | Indrajit Ray | Oded Galor (see episodes #12 and #13) On Humans episode: What About China (with Yasheng Huang, #44-46); Birth of Modern Prosperity (with Daron Acemoglu; Oded Galor, Brad DeLong; Branko Milanovic, after #40) Keywords: Mughal India | British colonialism | British Rad | East India Company | Indian nationalism | Indian deindustrialisation | Cotton trade | Indian railways | Primary vs higher education | Great Bengali faminesLINKSRead more at ⁠⁠⁠OnHumans.Substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. You can also find On Humans on ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠BlueSky⁠⁠!Feeling generous? Join the wonderful group of my patrons at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/OnHumans⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠or get in touch for other ways to support!Email: ⁠⁠makela dot ilari at outlook dot com⁠⁠⁠

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• 51 | Why Patriarchy? Foragers, Farmers, and the Origins of Gender Inequality ~ Angarika Deb

  Why are history books so full of men? Why have so many societies treated women as property? In short, why is patriarchy so pervasive? A casual thinker might find an easy answer from biology. Men tend to be bigger and stronger. Hence, they get to run the show. “Just look at chimpanzees!” But this explanation has obvious problems. Indeed, female chimpanzees don’t have much power in their groups. But female bonobos do. And looking at humans, not all human societies are patriarchal — not nearly to the same extent. We don’t need to look at modern Scandinavia to get inspiration for women’s empowerment. Quite the contrary, equality between the sexes might have been the norm throughout most of the human story. This might sound surprising given the rates of patriarchy across time and space. However, it is supported by a simple finding: gender equality is relatively common in existing hunter-gatherers. This stands in stark contrast to their agricultural neighbours. This old finding became part of the scholarly conversation again in late 2024 when a new paper reported high levels of equality between husbands and wives amongst married hunter-gatherers. The levels of equality surprised the scholars themselves. But all this raises an interesting question: why is this? Why would hunting and gathering incline societies towards equality? Or vice versa, why would agriculture nudge societies towards male power? And what should we make of the many outliers from this pattern, like the matriarchal farmers of northeastern India? To discuss these topics, I invited the lead author of the recent paper to the show. Angarika Deb is a cognitive anthropologist, soon to earn her PhD from the Central European University. Despite her young career, she has produced tons of interesting articles on gender inequality around the world. A wide-ranging conversation was guaranteed. LINKS For links to academic articles and a summary of the conversation, head here (uploaded with a short delay after the episode). Read more at ⁠⁠OnHumans.Substack.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. You can also find On Humans on ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠BlueSky⁠! Feeling generous? Join the wonderful group of my patrons at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/OnHumans⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠or get in touch for other ways to support! Email: ⁠⁠makela dot ilari at outlook dot com⁠⁠⁠ MENTIONS Technical terms Patrilocality | Matrilocality | Virilocatily | Y-chromosome bottleneck Ethnic groups Agta | BaYaka | !Kung | Mongols | Garo and Khasi | Inuit Keywords Patriarchy | Agriculture | Neolithic | Social evolution | Social complexity | Hunter-gatherers | Sexual division of labor | Human evolution | Anthropology | Archaeology | Evolutionary psychology | Sociology | Social science | Human science

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• Bonus | Evolution Beyond the Selfish Gene (with Eva Jablonka)

  “We are survival machines – robot vehicles blindly programmed to preserve the selfish molecules known as genes.” - Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene In 1976, Richard Dawkins published one of the most iconic science books of all time. It has inspired a generation of science enthusiasts. But unsurprisingly, many readers disliked the idea of being but a “robot vehicle” or a “survival machine” for some tiny molecules — especially if these molecules are best served by repeated pregnancies or donations to a sperm bank. Yet Dawkins was right on one thing: “however much we may deplore something, it does not stop being true.” So what is true? I have previously written about one claim in the Selfish Gene which is certainly not true. This is the claim that, if we accept the book's biological theories, then we humans must be “born selfish”. Even Dawkins has accepted that this was a "rogue" claim that readers should "mentally delete". You can hear more by heading to episode 20 of On Humans. But what about the underlying science? Are selfish genes still the right way to think about the facts of evolution? Not so, according to Eva Jablonka. You might remember Jablonka from episode 36 on the evolution of consciousness. But before her work on consciousness, Jablonka was famous for her research on epigenetic inheritance -- literally, "inheritance beyond the gene". So what is epigenetic inheritance? What do we know about it scientifically? And does it matter philosophically? I hope you enjoy this conversation. LINKS Get more links and references from my accompanying essay at OnHumans.Substack.com. Support my work at Patreon.com/OnHumans

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• Bonus | The Real Lessons From The World Happiness Report (with Lara Aknin)

  Each year, the World Happiness Report ranks countries based on their citizen's life satisfaction. My home country, Finland, tends to come at the top. Sure. But lessons can we draw from all this? Beyond patting Finns on the back, can we distil some more insights from the report?I got to discuss this with Lara Aknin, co-editor of the World Happiness Report. In this previously unpublished clip, Aknin explains the major findings from the World Happiness Report and reveals the “single best predictor of happiness” across countries. If you want to hear more about Aknin’s work, see episode 47.Support the show⁠Patreon.com/OnHumans⁠KeywordsHappiness | Life satisfaction | Economics | Social Science | World Happiness Report | Finland | Latin America | Nordic countries | Scandinavia | Welfare state | Well-being | Freedom | Equality | Generosity | Altruism

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