ABSTRACT
Artificial Gene Drive (GD) may offer a number of transformative impacts on society. Despite potential usage in the area of conservation, GD remains largely unfamiliar to the public and little is known about their views. In our study, participants from New Zealand were placed in groups based upon one of four worldviews. They had a brief free word association session before considering a concise, technical definition of GD and were asked to discuss their views. Overall, discussions made use of narrative devices that expressed caution and concern around large-scale technological intervention with the natural world. However, specific worldviews presented unique themes. While fears of human overstep causing uncontrollable feedback across wild species and environments were universally present, this differed according to the group's worldview. We conclude that conversations on such technologies, especially those relating to gene modification, provide insight into deep-rooted social, cultural and even metaphysical concerns that transcend the technology's stated purpose.
ABSTRACT
Prejudiced attitudes and political nationalism vary widely around the world, but there has been little research on what predicts this variation. Here we examine the ecological and cultural factors underlying the worldwide distribution of prejudice. We suggest that cultures grow more prejudiced when they tighten cultural norms in response to destabilizing ecological threats. A set of seven archival analyses, surveys, and experiments (∑N = 3,986,402) find that nations, American states, and pre-industrial societies with tighter cultural norms show the most prejudice based on skin color, religion, nationality, and sexuality, and that tightness predicts why prejudice is often highest in areas of the world with histories of ecological threat. People's support for cultural tightness also mediates the link between perceived ecological threat and intentions to vote for nationalist politicians. Results replicate when controlling for economic development, inequality, conservatism, residential mobility, and shared cultural heritage. These findings offer a cultural evolutionary perspective on prejudice, with implications for immigration, intercultural conflict, and radicalization.
