Why Men Are At The Top Of Society (and the bottom) - Roy Baumeister

Roy Baumeister is a psychologist, professor, and researcher. Are men inherently more expendable from an evolutionary standpoint—and if so, has that dynamic helped drive innovation? If risk-taking outliers are often responsible for progress, what does that say about the role men play in shaping civilisation? And does this tradeoff come at the cost of higher failure, instability, and sacrifice along the way? Expect to learn why cultures flourish when they exploit men and what that actually means, why men have ended up in higher positions in society and if civilisation runs on male competition, why men are so much more likely to take physical, financial, and social risks, if risk-taking men are necessary for progress, what people do not understand about self-destructive male behaviours and much more… - 0:00 Why Men Are Seen as More Expendable 7:27 The Hidden Power of Intrasexual Competition 13:25 How Female Choice Shapes Male Ambition 15:55 Why Are Men More Variable Than Women? 22:12 The Real Driver of Differences Between the Sexes 29:21 Why Men Take More Risks Than Women 33:14 What is the Imaginary Feminist? 35:56 What’s Broken in Modern Gender Discourse 45:36 Has Feminism Changed How We Protect Women? 51:55 What Happens When Male Sacrifice Isn’t Rewarded? 54:07 Why Ego Depletion is So Heavily Attacked 59:15 The Strongest Critiques of Willpower 01:05:47 How to Actually Improve Willpower and Self-Control 01:10:53 Porn is Damaging Sexual Novelty 01:21:11 How Sexual Novelty Affects Female Desire 01:29:00 Where to Find Roy - New pricing since recording: Function is now just $365, plus get $25 off at https://functionhealth.com/modernwisdom Get up to $350 off the Pod 5 at https://eightsleep.com/modernwisdom Get 35% off your first subscription on the best supplements from Momentous at https://livemomentous.com/modernwisdom Get a free bottle of D3K2, an AG1 Welcome Kit, and more when you first subscribe at https://ag1.info/modernwisdom - Get access to every episode 10 hours before YouTube by subscribing for free on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn or Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Get my free Reading List of 100 life-changing books here - https://chriswillx.com/books/ Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic here - https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/

Chris WilliamsonhostRoy Baumeisterguest

Mar 23, 20261h 29mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: March 23, 2026
Duration: 1h 29m
Channel: Modern Wisdom
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Roy Baumeister is a psychologist, professor, and researcher. Are men inherently more expendable from an evolutionary standpoint—and if so, has that dynamic helped drive innovation? If risk-taking outliers are often responsible for progress, what does that say about the role men play in shaping civilisation? And does this tradeoff come at the cost of higher failure, instability, and sacrifice along the way? Expect to learn why cultures flourish when they exploit men and what that actually means, why men have ended up in higher positions in society and if civilisation runs on male competition, why men are so much more likely to take physical, financial, and social risks, if risk-taking men are necessary for progress, what people do not understand about self-destructive male behaviours and much more… - 0:00 Why Men Are Seen as More Expendable 7:27 The Hidden Power of Intrasexual Competition 13:25 How Female Choice Shapes Male Ambition 15:55 Why Are Men More Variable Than Women? 22:12 The Real Driver of Differences Between the Sexes 29:21 Why Men Take More Risks Than Women 33:14 What is the Imaginary Feminist? 35:56 What’s Broken in Modern Gender Discourse 45:36 Has Feminism Changed How We Protect Women? 51:55 What Happens When Male Sacrifice Isn’t Rewarded? 54:07 Why Ego Depletion is So Heavily Attacked 59:15 The Strongest Critiques of Willpower 01:05:47 How to Actually Improve Willpower and Self-Control 01:10:53 Porn is Damaging Sexual Novelty 01:21:11 How Sexual Novelty Affects Female Desire 01:29:00 Where to Find Roy - New pricing since recording: Function is now just $365, plus get $25 off at https://functionhealth.com/modernwisdom Get up to $350 off the Pod 5 at https://eightsleep.com/modernwisdom Get 35% off your first subscription on the best supplements from Momentous at https://livemomentous.com/modernwisdom Get a free bottle of D3K2, an AG1 Welcome Kit, and more when you first subscribe at https://ag1.info/modernwisdom - Get access to every episode 10 hours before YouTube by subscribing for free on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn or Apple Podcasts - https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Get my free Reading List of 100 life-changing books here - https://chriswillx.com/books/ Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic here - https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact/

SPEAKERS

Chris Williamson
host
Podcaster and interviewer, host of the Chris Williamson/Modern Wisdom show.
Roy Baumeister
guest
Social psychologist and author known for research on self-control (ego depletion) and human motivation.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Modern Wisdom, featuring Chris Williamson and Roy Baumeister, Why Men Are At The Top Of Society (and the bottom) - Roy Baumeister explores why men cluster at society’s extremes: sacrifice, competition, and self-control Baumeister argues societies historically “flourish” by leveraging male expendability for risky labor, institution-building, and intergroup competition, while protecting the reproductive bottleneck of women.

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