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Brandon Vaidyanathan

@brvnathan.bsky.social
108 followers 80 following 18 posts
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Brandon Vaidyanathan @brvnathan.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
My latest essay in @commonwealmagazine.org responds to a landmark TIME issue "Is God Dead?" by summarizing the state of research on #secularization in #America. www.commonwealmagazine.org/green-shoots You can read the other pieces in the symposium here: www.commonwealmagazine.org/symposium-is...
commonwealmagazine.org
Green Shoots?
Religious belief has migrated away from public institutional life and toward the interior, the personal, the chosen.
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Reposted by Brandon Vaidyanathan
Nicholas A. Christakis @nachristakis.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Fine essay on the "spiritual intelligence" of scientists, via @brvnathan.bsky.social Yes, indeed, science fosters enchantment and reverence, at least in my experience. :-)
templeton.org
The Spiritual Intelligence of Scientists
For most scientists, inquiry does not disenchant the world; rather, it deepens their sense of enchantment. While scientific intelligence helps us understand how things work, there is a different mode ...
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Brandon Vaidyanathan @brvnathan.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
We're neglecting a powerful source of wellbeing at work: beauty. In our US/UK population surveys of nearly 11,000 people, finding beauty at work was linked to more flourishing and less burnout. The strongest source of beauty wasn’t office design but accomplishment. substack.com/@brandonvaid...
substack.com
Brandon Vaidyanathan (@brandonvaidyanathan)
In my latest post, I discuss results of our US-UK survey findings on where people encounter beauty in their work, and how this matters for human flourishing
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Brandon Vaidyanathan @brvnathan.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Where do Britons find beauty? And how does it relate to wellbeing and spirituality/religion? Early highlights from our nationally representative UK survey (N>5700) with @gallup.com and sponsored by @templetonfdn.bsky.social - open.substack.com/pub/brandonv...
open.substack.com
Where do Britons really find beauty?
New highlights from a nationally representative survey of the UK population (N>5700)
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Brandon Vaidyanathan @brvnathan.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
The new #MastersOfTheUniverse movie prompted me to write down and share the story of how my obsession with #HeMan got me into a lot of trouble as a child. It's a story about how the quest for beauty can derail us when it curdles into a drive to possess. www.beautyatwork.net/p/i-have-the...
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Brandon Vaidyanathan @brvnathan.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
Young adults are the heaviest AI users and the most worried about it. Our new US survey fielded by @gallup.com in conversation with Pope Leo XIV's first #encyclical. substack.com/@brandonvaid...
substack.com
Even daily AI users are worried about AI
What a survey of 5,000 Americans says about Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical
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Brandon Vaidyanathan @brvnathan.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Where do #Americans really find #beauty? Initial findings from a brand new nationally representative population survey we fielded with @gallup.com, funded by @templetonfdn.bsky.social - substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com
Where do Americans really find beauty?
Eight initial highlights from the new Beauty and Belief survey
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Brandon Vaidyanathan @brvnathan.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
My latest piece for SSRC's The Immanent Frame on Religious and Spiritual Innovation: tif.ssrc.org/2026/04/09/r...
tif.ssrc.org
Religious and Spiritual Innovation: Defining an Emerging Field
It seems odd, at first glance, to talk about “innovation” in religion and spirituality. Religion is often imagined as a […]
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Reposted by Brandon Vaidyanathan
Comment @commentmagazine.bsky.social · 26/12/2025
“My colleagues and I have discovered four criteria—two internal and two external—that seem to mark the difference between thriving and failure.” @brvnathan.bsky.social explores why institutions flourish or fail.
comment.org
How Institutions Flourish—or Fail
Sociologist Brandon Vaidyanathan explores why institutions today rise or decay, outlining four virtues—stewardship, coherence, generativity, and beneficence—that enable them to sustain trust, form…
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Brandon Vaidyanathan @brvnathan.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
My latest piece in @plough.bsky.social on scripted vs. revealed beauty
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Brandon Vaidyanathan @brvnathan.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
What is innovation and why is it one of the laws of life? @michael.muthukrishna.com explains in my latest podcast episode. Thanks to @templetonrelig.bsky.social for sponsoring this season on the beauty and burdens of innovation. www.beautyatwork.net/p/the-laws-o...
beautyatwork.net
The Laws of Life
S4E1: Dr. Michael Muthukrishna
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Reposted by Brandon Vaidyanathan
Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR) @sssreligion.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Read sociologist @brvnathan.bsky.social's latest piece on disenchantment/enchantment, modern science, and domination, extraction, and fragmentation (DEF). "Rather than depleting the sense of mystery and magic, science heightens it, deepens it," he says. www.beautyatwork.net/p/beyond-the...
beautyatwork.net
Beyond the DEF logic
What scientists can teach us about spiritual intelligence
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Brandon Vaidyanathan @brvnathan.bsky.social · 12/07/2025
In our latest article in @sociologica.bsky.social: We asked scientists how they imagine the public—and found 3 views: Indifferent, Dogmatic, Pragmatic. This matters for why science communication succeeds or fails. sociologica.unibo.it/article/view...
sociologica.unibo.it
View of Indifferent, Dogmatic or Pragmatic: A Multi-Country Analysis of How Scientists View the Public and Public Engagement | Sociologica
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Brandon Vaidyanathan @brvnathan.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
What can scientists teach us about spiritual intelligence? open.substack.com/pub/brandonv... #science #spirituality #technology
open.substack.com
Beyond the DEF logic
What scientists can teach us about spiritual intelligence
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Brandon Vaidyanathan @brvnathan.bsky.social · 06/07/2025
My latest piece in Wayfare Magazine on the summons of beauty: www.wayfaremagazine.org/p/summoned-b...
wayfaremagazine.org
Summoned by Beauty
A Researcher's Unexpected Encounters with Tangible Transcendence
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Brandon Vaidyanathan @brvnathan.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
How are we yearning for meaning in a disenchanted age? Here are highlights from our McGill symposium with Charles Taylor, Tara Isabella Burton, Galen Watts, Naomi Fisher, Rob Gilbert & Bill Barbieri -- sponsored by @templetonfdn.bsky.social. Watch the full video here: youtu.be/54i0LqWiJHE?...
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Brandon Vaidyanathan @brvnathan.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
In our latest @mdpiopenaccess.bsky.social article, Benedetta Nicoli, Stefano Sbalchiero and I examine how science awakens spiritual yearning among religious and non-religious scientists: www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16... Grateful to @templetonfdn.bsky.social for funding our research
mdpi.com
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Brandon Vaidyanathan @brvnathan.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
We’re more digitally connected than ever—yet loneliness is surging. What can we do about it? I recently spoke with Sherry Turkle and Robert Putnam about social isolation, artificial intimacy, the erosion of trust, and how we might reclaim real connection: www.beautyatwork.net/yearning-for...
beautyatwork.net
Yearning for Connection: Resisting Isolation in an Age of Artificial Intimacy
We're living in a paradox. At no point in history have we been more digitally connected than we are today—scrolling, liking, commenting, messaging. Yet, loneliness is at historic highs. The U.S. Surge...
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Brandon Vaidyanathan @brvnathan.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Happy #PiDay! We're offering a special discount today for our upcoming event on #science and #spirituality in #NYC, featuring Robert Lawrence Kuhn (Closer to Truth), Alan Lightman (MIT), Neil Thiese (NYU), Scarlet Soriano (Duke), and Katy Hinman (AAAS-DoSER): www.eventbrite.sg/e/a-bridge-b...
eventbrite.sg
A Bridge Between Worlds
An evening of deep dialogue and connection featuring a panel of 5 profound scientists exploring meaning in the age of science.
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