Talks
I give talks on evolution, culture, religion and creativity. I have worked as a university lecturer and an upper secondary school teacher, and I adapt each talk to its audience. The grouping below is only a suggestion. Every talk can be given to companies, associations and schools alike. I speak in Swedish and English.
Book me through Talarforum, MySpeaker, TalarPoolen or Författarcentrum (all in Swedish), or directly by e-mail. More recorded talks are available under Video & audio.
Companies and organisations
- Creative with Darwin
Evolution is the most thoroughly tested method in the world for producing new solutions. I show how its basic principles can be used as tools for innovation, from product development to an organisation's own processes, and why tolerating failure is necessary. The talk can be combined with a workshop.
More about the book and the talk (in Swedish) »
- Cooperation
Humans cooperate on a scale unmatched in nature. The talk is about how cooperation has built everything from our cells to our societies, what makes it work and what threatens it. It is based on my books Samarbete and For Whose Benefit?
Watch an earlier talk (in Swedish) »
Libraries, adult education and associations
- The Cultural Animal
How did humans become the species that builds cities, writes books and develops technology? I describe how brain and culture have evolved together, how other animals think and what actually sets us apart from them.
Watch an earlier talk (in Swedish) »
- Disgust
Disgust protects us from infection, but the emotion also shapes morality, politics and whom we trust. I show how disgust has formed religions and social norms and why some issues become so charged. The talk gives tools for recognising when gut feeling matters more than facts.
Watch an earlier talk (in Swedish) »
- Writing non-fiction
How does an idea become a non-fiction book that people want to read? I talk about choosing a topic, structuring a book, writing clearly without oversimplifying and finding a publisher. I have written seven books, sit on the August Prize jury for non-fiction and edit the magazine Humanisten.
Schools
- Evolution, biological and cultural
How does evolution work, and why do the same principles apply to both genes and ideas? For lower and upper secondary school.
Watch an earlier talk (in Swedish) »
- How science works and how to judge sources
How do we know what we know? About how science works, why it is sometimes wrong and how to tell reliable sources from unreliable ones.
- Why does religion exist?
Every known society has had some form of religion. I go through the main evolutionary explanations, from religion as a by-product of how our brains work to religion as something that holds groups together.
- Secular humanism and atheism
What do people who don't believe in gods believe, and how can morality be grounded without religion? I wrote Sekulär humanism with Christer Sturmark and I am the editor of the magazine Humanisten.