EP 120: The Ten Types of Human: A New Understanding of Who We Are, and Who We Can Be with Dexter Dias

“How does one fashion a book of resistance, a book of truth in an empire of falsehood? Is it possible for freedom and independence to arise in new ways under new conditions?”    - Philip K. Dick

The argument of the book is that we’ve evolved a number of mental modules. They are associated with characteristic types of human behaviour.

This show introduces ten people. In a way, we already know them. Only we don’t – not really. In a sense, they are us. Only they’re not entirely. They inform and shape the most important decisions in our lives. But you’re almost certainly unaware of their intervention. They are the Ten Types of Human. Who are they? What are they for? How did they get into your head?

We want to believe that there are some things we would never do. We want to believe that there are others we always would. But how can we be sure? What are our limits? Do we have limits?

The answer lies in the Ten Types of Human: the people we become when we are faced with life's most difficult decisions. But who or what are these Types? Where do they come from? How did they get into our heads?

The Ten Types of Human is a pioneering examination of human nature. It looks at the best and worst that human beings are capable of and asks why. It explores the frontiers of the human experience, excavating the forces that shape our thoughts and actions in extreme situations. It explores people undaunted in the face of unimaginable conditions, people who have stolen, people who have killed, people who have spoken out at enormous personal risk, people who have performed feats of unimaginable heroism.

Mixing cutting-edge neuroscience, social psychology and human rights research, The Ten Types of Human is at once a provocation and a map to our hidden selves. It provides a new understanding of who we are – and who we can become.

Ultimately that is what The Ten Types of Human is about: finding fresh ways to be free.

We welcome Dexter Dias, human rights barrister who as Queen’s Counsel has been instructed in some of the biggest cases of recent years involving murder, terrorism, civil liberties, war crimes, human rights and genocide. He has been instrumental in changing the law to better protect young women and girls at risk of FGM and works pro bono internationally with survivors of modern day slavery, human trafficking and Violence Against Women and Girls.

Dexter gives us an in-depth account of the concept of the book and shares some of the stories which informed the book.

We get through a handful of the ten types and intend to follow up with a part 2 in 2019.

More about Dexter here: https://thetentypesofhuman.com/about-dexter-dias/