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Bret Weinstein

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  • Comment: Notable topic. I've asked to have the redirect deleted so this can be moved to his name in article space Legacypac (talk) 14:34, 31 May 2018 (UTC)
Bret Weinstein
Born
Bret Samuel Weinstein

February 1969
Los Angeles, California
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Michigan (PhD)
University of California Santa Cruz
Occupation(s)Evolutionary Biologist, Public Speaker, College Professor

Bret Samuel Weinstein (born February 1969) is a biologist, evolutionary theorist, public intellectual, and podcast guest.

Academic Career

Weinstein spent the majority of his academic career as a professor of Biology at Evergreen State College in Washington State. In 2002 he published The Reserve-Capacity Hypothesis, which proposed that the telomeric differences between humans and laboratory mice have led scientists to underestimate the risks new drugs pose to humans in the form of heart disease, liver dysfunction and related organ failure.[1][2] Weinstein took a brief hiatus from Evergreen to earn his PhD in Biology from the University of Michigan with a dissertation on evolutionary trade-off mechanisms. [3].

Evergreen Scandal

In 2017, Weinstein resigned from his professorship at Evergreen State College after he became the subject of a campus-wide protest that resulted in a $500,000 out-of-court settlement from the college.[4] [5]. The protests were sparked, in part, by his objection to the College's plan to highlight the importance of racial minorities by asking white students and faculty to stay off-campus on the day traditionally designated as the College's Day of Absence[6]. Traditionally, students and faculty of color opted to stay home that day on an individual basis, rather than telling whites to stay home. Weinstein objected in a letter to Evergreen Faculty in March of 2017: "[o]n a college campus, one’s right to speak — or to be — must never be based on skin color."[7] and "[t]here is a huge difference between a group or coalition deciding to voluntarily absent themselves from a shared space to highlight their vital and under-appreciated roles [...] and a group or coalition encouraging another group to go away."[8] Weinstein had to resort to holding his class in a public park after campus police told him they could not protect him should he be on campus. [9][10] Evergreen's failure "protect its employees from repeated provocative and corrosive verbal and written hostility based on race, as well as threats of physical violence" led to the resignation of Weinstein and his wife Heather Heying, and a monetary settlement from the college to the couple. [11]

Professor in Exile

After his departure from Evergreen, Weinstein — along with his wife Heather Heying and brother Eric — joined the so-called Intellectual Dark Web, a counter-establishment group of "iconoclastic thinkers, academic renegades, and media personalities."[12] [13] [14] [15] His high-profile appearances on podcasts have covered topics ranging from evolutionary biology to campus free-speech, and have been viewed millions of times [16].

Weinstein appeared before the U.S. House Oversight Committee on May 22, 2018 to call attention to free-speech issues on college campuses.[17] [18]

Personal Life

Bret is married to Heather Heying, who is also an evolutionary biologist. His brother Eric Weinstein is an economist and the managing director of Thiel Capital. Weinstein describes himself as a political progressive and "left libertarian," and is of Jewish ancestry.[19]

Publications

  • Evolutionary Trade-Offs: Emergent Constraints and Their Adaptive Consequences (January 2009)[20]
  • The better angels of our nature: Group stability and the evolution of moral tension (January 2005)[21]
  • Weinstein, B. S. & Ciszek, D. The reserve capacity hypothesis: evolutionary origins and modern implications between tumor suppression and tissue repair. Exp. Gerontol. 37, 615-627 (2002)

References

  1. ^ B.S. Weinstein & D. Ciszek, The reserve-capacity hypothesis: evolutionary origins and modern implications of the trade-off between tumor-suppression and tissue-repair Exp. Gerontol 37(5):615-27 (May 2002) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11909679
  2. ^ Michael Zimmerman, Unseen Dangers in Laboratory Protocols, Huffington Post (March 19, 2012) https://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-zimmerman/of-mice-and-men-unseen-da_b_1352201.html
  3. ^ Bret S. Weinstein, Evolutionary Tradeoffs: Emergent Constraints and their Adaptive Consequences (2009) https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/27d8/135bdb982aa43e071cf23d3347349c695c34.pdf
  4. ^ Seattle Times, Evergreen professor at center of protests resigns (September 16. 2017)
  5. ^ Jakub Ferencik, The Controversy of Bret Weinstein Explained, Medium (January 8, 2018) https://medium.com/@jakubferencik/the-controversy-of-bret-weinstein-explained-the-evergreen-scandal-f3dfe07b1d70
  6. ^ "A Campus Argument Goes Viral. Now the College Is Under Siege". The New York Times. 2017-06-16. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  7. ^ Svrluga, Susan; Heim, Joe (June 1, 2017). "Threat shuts down college embroiled in racial dispute". Washington Post.
  8. ^ Volokh, Eugene (2017-05-26). "Opinion | 'Professor told he's not safe on campus after college protests' at Evergreen State College (Washington)". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
  9. ^ Weinstein, Bret (30 May 2017). "The Campus Mob Came for Me—and You, Professor, Could Be Next" – via www.wsj.com.
  10. ^ "Professor told he's not safe on campus after college protests".
  11. ^ "Evergreen settles with Weinstein, professor at the center of campus protests".
  12. ^ Bari Weiss, Meet the Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web, New York Times (May 8, 2018) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/opinion/intellectual-dark-web.html
  13. ^ Intellectual Dark Web: Bret Weinstein, http://intellectualdark.website/bret-weinstein/
  14. ^ Robert Verbruggen, Re: The Intellectual Dark Web, National Review, (May 9, 2018) https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/intellectual-dark-web-bari-weiss-phenomenon/
  15. ^ Spectator Life, Inside the intellectual dark web (February 21, 2018) https://life.spectator.co.uk/2018/02/the-intellectual-dark-web/
  16. ^ See Bari Weiss, Meet the Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web, New York Times (May 8, 2018) https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/opinion/intellectual-dark-web.html
  17. ^ Joey Vazquez, Congressional hearing explores freedom of speech crisis on college campuses, Washington Examiner (May 23, 2018) https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/red-alert-politics/congressional-hearing-explores-freedom-of-speech-crisis-on-college-campuses
  18. ^ United States House of Representatives Committee on Governmental Oversight, Challenges to the Freedom of Speech on College Campuses: Part II, (May 22, 2018) https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/challenges-to-the-freedom-of-speech-on-college-campuses-part-ii/
  19. ^ See, Joe Rogan Experience, Episode 970: Bret Weinstein (June 2, 2017) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq4Y87idawk
  20. ^ Bret Weinnstein, Evolutionary Trade-Offs: Emergent Constraints and Their Adaptive Consequences (January 2009)
  21. ^ Bret Weinstein, The better angels of our nature: Group stability and the evolution of moral tension (January 2005)
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