Liam Gleason

I am a U.S. Air Force veteran and current graduate student in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University. I am interested in understanding human ultrasociality, gene-culture coevolution, and large-scale cooperation. I am also interested in the evolution of moral sentiments and how this relates to PTSD and PTSD treatment.

 

My research aims to understand how cooperation evolves and scales up in societies without formal institutions. I use ethnographic fieldwork and mathematical models to understand cooperation mainly within the scope of warfare. Although many people may see war as an inherently uncooperative act, each "side" includes substantial amounts of cooperation that can involve risking one's life for their team and can be seen as a collective action problem. 

 

I hope by understanding cooperation at a fundamental level that I can apply my research to solving contemporary collective action problems such as climate change, resource preservation, and social inequality.