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The Evolution Institute has participated and led multiple initiatives exploring Norway’s quality of life from an evolutionary perspective.
From the start of EI, we’ve explored the Nordic model with the goal of learning positive lessons on how they succeed in creating an equitable society.
To date, we have held four workshops to understand more deeply the mechanisms behind Norway’s success.
- November 4–7, 2011. University of Memphis, This workshop focused on understanding the Quality of Life in Norway at all scales, from urban neighborhoods to nations. Evolution Institute Co-founder Jerry Lieberman, who is a political scientist by training and was project leader for the Quality of Life workshop, had a longstanding interest in Norway as a nation with an exceptionally high quality of life. We therefore decided to initiate a project on Norway from a cultural evolutionary perspective. brought leading scholars and policymakers who are already studying QOL together with leading evolutionists to explore what an explicitly evolutionary approach to QOL can add to the excellent work that is already being done. The workshop resulted in a new agenda for basic scientific research, policy formulation, and policy implementation that can begin immediately. The fact that organizations such as the International Society for Quality of Life Research (ISOQOL) and United Nations were represented at the workshop means that the results will be quickly disseminated throughout the existing QOL community. In addition, the workshop was held in Memphis to interface with the University of Memphis’s Graduate Program in City and Regional Planning headed by Prof. Ken Reardon.
- Norway 2012 led to ongoing collaborations with leading Norwegian intellectuals such as Nina Witoszek and Dag Hessen, Norwegian think tanks such as Manifest Analyze and Agenda, and Norwegian trade unions, policy experts, and politicians.
- September – October 2015 EI President David Sloan Wilson was offered the prestigious Arne Naess Chair in Global Justice and the Environment at the University of Oslo, which he occupied during September and October 2015. Wilson traveled and spoke widely during this period, helped to run an advanced PhD course, and helped to organize the 2015 Arne Naess Symposium titled “The Cultural Welfare of Nations”, which was videotaped and broadcast to a national audience.
- EI Founder Jerry Lieberman is working with Norwegian union leaders to understand how to help U.S. trade leaders maximize their strengths.
Norway Links
Blueprint for the Global Village David Sloan Wilson and Dag Hessen
Life Quality and Evolution Lars Gule for the Evolution Institute, October 2013.
Norway history, and threats to the Norwegian model
How an evolutionary perspective can help the world, Bjørn Grinde
A Bird’s-Eye View of Norway’s History, Lars Gule
Scandinavian Equality Evolving, Kalle Moene
Cultural Origins of the Norwegian Regime of Goodness: the role of “Memes”, Nina Witoszek
What do Norwegians think? Values and attitudes in a wealthy social democracy, Ingrid Storm
After Living in Norway, America Feels Backward. Here’s Why.
Video Recordings of Presentations
Jerry Lieberman’s opening remarks (transcript) for the workshop
Video recording of the presentation by Dag Hessen
Video recording of the presentation by Lars Gule
