Reposted by Dor ShiltonFolk Emerging 🦣 stone age 4X (OUT NOW) @curiousdynamics.bsky.social · 30/05/2025interesting research on the history of music and religion 011
Reposted by Dor ShiltonCedric Boeckx @cedricboeckx.bsky.social · 27/05/2025Delighted to announce the publication of a collaborative effort, co-led by @limorraviv.bsky.social @mpi-nl.bsky.social, showcasing the ways in which researchers have made language evolution an empirical issue: A handbook of experimental approaches to the fascinating problem of language evolution 🧪 312748
Reposted by Dor ShiltonDiverse Intelligences Summer Institute #DISI @divintelligence.bsky.social · 27/05/2025New postdoc positions at the (DISI-affiliated) Center for Possible Minds at Indiana University. Looking for scholars interested in interdisciplinary research on the nature of biological, artificial, and collective intelligence. Please share widely! indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/29547indiana.peopleadmin.comCenter for Possible Minds Postdoctoral FellowThe Center for Possible Minds at Indiana University, Bloomington, invites applications for Postdoctoral Fellows to join its Program for Advanced Research in Diverse Intelligences. The fellowship provi... 01615
Reposted by Dor ShiltonKevin Lala @kevinlala.bsky.social · 27/05/2025Kostas Kampourakis' "Darwin Mythology" book is a very interesting read. A strong cast of authors deconstruct myths and misunderstandings about Darwin. I particularly appreciated historian Erik Peterson's analysis of why Darwin's dislike of slavery does not equate to a belief in racial equality. 1113
Dor Shilton @dorshilton.bsky.social · 27/05/2025Many think that music evolved to promote social cohesion - but group singing and dancing is extremely rare in some societies. Why is that the case, and what does it mean? Check out the new paper by me, Aniruddh Patel, Kim Hill, and @chrisvonrueden.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...sciencedirect.comWhy collective music-making is sometimes rare: A study of four indigenous societiesCurrent prominent music evolution theories suggest music evolved as a participatory group activity, whose adaptive functions were strengthening and/or… 193
Reposted by Dor Shiltonmanvir singh @manvir.bsky.social · 17/09/2024My book SHAMANISM: THE TIMELESS RELIGION will be out on May 20, 2025! Shamanism characterized the earliest religions, echoes in often unappreciated ways in the world around us, and will long outlive us. Pre-order it here: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730339... 912033
Reposted by Dor ShiltonPat Savage @patrickesavage.bsky.social · 26/05/2025Two new music papers by @dorshilton.bsky.social et al. (www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...) and by Steingo & Ghazanfar (doi.org/10.1177/2059...). Together with @manvir.bsky.social and Hill's recent paper (doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...), an interesting (partial) push back against musical universals...sciencedirect.comWhy collective music-making is sometimes rare: A study of four indigenous societiesCurrent prominent music evolution theories suggest music evolved as a participatory group activity, whose adaptive functions were strengthening and/or… 094
Reposted by Dor ShiltonKensy Cooperrider @kensycoop.bsky.social · 02/05/2025How are humans able to make sense of time? Not with special biology but with “time tools”—ideas, practices, and artifacts that render time more concrete. My new paper explores this vast, varied toolkit—one that makes use of knots, nuts, hands, flowers, mountains, shadows, and much more. (link 👇) 310039
Reposted by Dor Shiltonmanvir singh @manvir.bsky.social · 24/03/2025My baby daughter is happy & apparently developing normally, yet, according to pediatric growth curves, she has been “wasted,” indicating severe malnourishment. In my new @newyorker.com essay, I argue that universal health benchmarks need to better account for biological variation. 1123
Dor Shilton @dorshilton.bsky.social · 30/04/2025If you're interested in this study by Manvir and Kim be sure to check out our forthcoming comparative study of four cultures (inc. Ache) in which collective music-making is rare: osf.io/preprints/so... Full thread once it's published...osf.ioOSF 041
Reposted by Dor ShiltonWill @evolvingmoloch.bsky.social · 21/04/2025"Considering its common use across nomadic hunter-gatherer societies, and what it represents—as a tool to enable the carrying of more tools—the belt may be a bit of an unsung hero of human history." traditionsofconflict.substack.com/p/handy-mantraditionsofconflict.substack.comHandy manIn praise of the humble tool belt! 042
Reposted by Dor ShiltonKnight First Amendment Institute @knightcolumbia.org · 15/04/2025In a new essay from our "Artificial Intelligence and Democratic Freedoms" series, @randomwalker.bsky.social & @sayash.bsky.social make the case for thinking of #AI as normal technology, instead of superintelligence. Read here: knightcolumbia.org/content/ai-a...knightcolumbia.orgAI as Normal Technology 13717
Reposted by Dor ShiltonMany Minds podcast @manymindspod.bsky.social · 07/03/2025New episode!! 📣📣 A chat w/ @arikkershenbaum.bsky.social about vocal communication in animals. The tree of life is a noisy place, bursting with howls, grunts, whines, snorts, and songs. What does it all mean? Does any of this hubbub merit the label of "language"? Listen: disi.org/howl-grunt-s... 13310
Reposted by Dor ShiltonEmma Humphries (she/her) @emhumps.bsky.social · 05/02/2025Introducing my new project… Your Wrong (yourwrong.co.uk). It’s all about the language rules and judgements that appear in different forms of popular culture. Films, series, podcasts, music, books, even graffiti! I’d love your help to find examples!yourwrong.co.ukYour Wrong 25335
Reposted by Dor ShiltonLéo Fitouchi @lfitouchi.bsky.social · 11/02/2025Where do moralizing religions come from? Useless cognitive by-products?Cultural group selection for complex societies? Our Psych Review paper argues: neither. Let’s rethink their cognitive & evolutionary origins🧵 w/ @manvir.bsky.social @nbaumard @jbaptistandre.bsky.social doi.org/10.1037/rev0... 68340
Reposted by Dor ShiltonAlex Mesoudi @alexmesoudi.com · 12/02/2025For those who missed the @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social conference in Durham last September, the recorded talks are now freely available to watch here: underline.io/events/456/l...underline.ioWatch lectures from the best researchers.On-demand video platform giving you access to lectures from conferences worldwide. 34535
Reposted by Dor ShiltonDelphine De Moor @delphinedemoor.bsky.social · 12/02/2025So exciting to see MacaqueNet out into the world! 🤩 Learn about our global community & database centralizing standardized affiliative & agonistic data from 61 populations across 14 macaque species: doi/10.1111/1365... Explore >600 networks & request data: macaquenet.github.io/database/besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.comMacaqueNet: Advancing comparative behavioural research through large‐scale collaborationWe present MacaqueNet, a global community of macaque researchers who developed the first publicly searchable, standardised database on affiliative and agonistic behaviour. This cross-species database... 113172
Reposted by Dor ShiltonPeter Gray @peterbgray.bsky.social · 11/02/2025Time for fatherhood, courtesy of James Rilling and his new book. #fatherhood #testosterone #oxytocin #dad apple.news/ALmCPtGhtTb2...apple.newsMen Are More Prepared for Fatherhood Than We Think — Scientific AmericanIn many cultures, men are not involved with hands-on childcare. But biology tells us we are perfectly capable of doing so Biology I like to tell my undergraduates that hormones predispose organisms, i... 095
Reposted by Dor ShiltonDiverse Intelligences Summer Institute #DISI @divintelligence.bsky.social · 24/01/2025📣📣📣 Applications for the 2025 Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) are now open!! Are you interested in intelligence, mind, and cognition in all its forms? Early-career scholars from any discipline—and storytellers in any medium—are encouraged to apply! More info: disi.org 15039
Reposted by Dor ShiltonKensy Cooperrider @kensycoop.bsky.social · 15/01/2025Enjoyed this one! In which we discuss: - the curse of knowledge & illusion of explanatory depth - why chain-of-thought prompting works (or doesn't) - "Explain Like I'm Five" - the Tower of Pisa thought experiment - representational re-description - learning by writing, talking, & presenting - etc.! 082
Reposted by Dor Shiltonanthrofuentes.bsky.social @anthrofuentes.bsky.social · 14/01/2025Terrific review by Eva Jablonka of @kevinlala.bsky.social and colleagues new book Evolution Evolving!!! 0187
Reposted by Dor ShiltonNetScience @netscience.bsky.social · 16/01/2025Has Bluesky replaced X for scientists? Take Nature’s poll www.nature.com/articles/d41...nature.comHas Bluesky replaced X for scientists? Take Nature’s pollThe research community has flocked to the social-media platform Bluesky. Tell us about your experience. 01712
Reposted by Dor ShiltonFelix Riede @felixthehauskat.bsky.social · 03/01/2025Major JOB ALERT! I and close colleagues have 4 (!) positions open. So if you're looking for a postdoc or PhD, do read on: 13645
Reposted by Dor ShiltonCarl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 17/03/2024I'm shaken by the news of Frans de Waal's passing. It feels so untimely that he is gone.news.emory.eduEmory primatologist Frans de Waal remembered for bringing apes ‘a little closer to humans’Beginning with his groundbreaking 1982 book “Chimpanzee Politics,” Frans de Waal pioneered studies of primate cognition and shattered long-held ideas about what it means to be an animal — and a human. 1622961
Reposted by Dor ShiltonSanta Fe Institute @sfiscience.bsky.social · 13/03/2024🎙️In this week’s episode of Complexity, dive into the science behind collectives. From the patterns that emerge from ant behavior to the dynamic collaboration of immune systems, we’ll delve into the importance of collective structures + their roles. 🐜 💫 www.santafe.edu/culture/podc... 0105
Reposted by Dor ShiltonRebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 14/03/2024Ever wondered what whale demography can tell us about the evolution of menopause? Wonder no more 👇 Whales make waves in the quest to discover why menopause evolved www.nature.com/articles/d41...nature.comWhales make waves in the quest to discover why menopause evolvedWhy do several species of whale experience menopause, and why does the phenomenon occur at all? Analysing whale data might help to answer these questions and shed light on why menopause evolved in hum... 1115
Reposted by Dor ShiltonThom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 19/02/2024New essay on my Substack: 'On nature, science & culture: Part I' This is the first of a three-part essay on the prospects of a natural science of culture. Parts II and III will go out later this week. thomscottphillips.substack.com/p/on-nature-...thomscottphillips.substack.comOn nature, science & culture: Part ICulture is interpretation all the way down. 012
Reposted by Dor ShiltonThom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 21/02/2024Part II of my Substack essay, 'On nature, science & culture' is now out. The third and final part goes out later this week. thomscottphillips.substack.com/p/on-nature-...thomscottphillips.substack.comOn nature, science & culture: Part IICultural interpretation is data collection. 022
Reposted by Dor ShiltonRebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 29/02/2024Geography is not destiny: quantitative test of Diamond's axis of orientation hypothesis | "societies that share similar ecologies are more likely to share cultural traits, but Eurasian continent is not smore ecologically homogeneous than other continents" www.cambridge.org/core/journal...cambridge.orgGeography is not destiny: A quantitative test of Diamond's axis of orientation hypothesis | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge CoreGeography is not destiny: A quantitative test of Diamond's axis of orientation hypothesis - Volume 6 035
Reposted by Dor ShiltonEd Hagen @edhagen.net · 29/02/2024The human evolutionary niche in one plot.🧪 Data from these two Davison and @mgurven.bsky.social papers (2021, 2022): * Human uniqueness? Life history diversity... journals.plos.org/plosone/arti... * The importance of elders: Extending Hamilton’s force of selection... www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.... 1167
Reposted by Dor ShiltonPat Savage @patrickesavage.bsky.social · 28/02/2024New commentary led by @dorshilton.bsky.social: 'Conflicting predictions in the cross-cultural study of music and sociality: Comment on “Musical engagement as a duet of tight synchrony and loose Interpretability” by Tal-Chen Rabinowitch' doi.org/10.1016/j.pl... 012
Reposted by Dor ShiltonRaymond Hames @rayhames.bsky.social · 29/02/2024Our critique of "The Myth of Man the Hunter" is now up on a preprint server. It has been submitted to PLOS One www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...biorxiv.orgWoman the Hunter? Female foragers sometimes hunt, yet gendered divisions of labor are realbioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution 392
Reposted by Dor ShiltonHelen De Cruz @helendecruz.net · 10/12/2023Kudos to this very able and fresh transcription of Bach's Fugue BWV998 to a German baroque 13-course lute. Bach did not write for the lute (contrary to what many think, his works "for the lute" are for the lautenwerk or lute-harpsichord. It's actually tricky to play Bach on the lute.youtube.comJ. S. Bach lute music - Fugue BWV 998 played on the German baroque lute#lutemusic #bachlute #bachbwv998 #bachfugue #baroqueluteJ. S. Bach's Prelude, Fugue and Allegro BWV 998 is a masterpiece and certainly one of, it not the bes... 1112
Reposted by Dor ShiltonAnna Alexandrova @annaalexandrova.bsky.social · 06/12/2023Strictly speaking explanation isn’t justification but, our concepts being value-laden n metaphorical, it’s not surprising that social science often functions as apologia. Here’s a special issue by Federico Brandmayr on this phenomenon. Featuring work by @unsocialtheory.bsky.social #philsky #philscijournals.sagepub.com 1246
Reposted by Dor ShiltonGreg Priest @gregpriest.bsky.social · 06/12/2023David Depew in Biological Theory on Lewontin and Dobzhansky. 🌱🐋 #histscilink.springer.comRichard Lewontin and Theodosius Dobzhansky: Genetics, Race, and the Anxiety of Influence 0185
Reposted by Dor ShiltonLynda Albertson @sauterne.bsky.social · 06/12/2023Despite frequent remonstrations, Persephone never accepted that she could not photocopy a whole book in one go. 131091294
Reposted by Dor ShiltonSam Passmore @sampassmore.bsky.social · 28/09/2023I gave a talk at the #grambank workshop at the MPI for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig a couple of weeks ago. You can see my and all other talks on youtube: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... 011
Reposted by Dor ShiltonAdam Van Arsdale @apv2600.bsky.social · 27/09/2023The cultural basis of cultural evolution: Longitudinal evidence that infant imitation develops by being imitated www.cell.com/current-biol... 175
Dor Shilton @dorshilton.bsky.social · 11/09/2023The feed on twitter is 90% poison at this point. But this one so far is pretty decent! I'm actually coming across interesting things and the vibe is scholarly-whimsical👌 040
Dor Shilton @dorshilton.bsky.social · 09/09/2023New paper with @sampassmore.bsky.social and @patrickesavage.bsky.social Looking at the prevalence of group singing in a combined sample of over 8600 audio recordings and ethnographic texts, we find that it is predominant in most societies and best predicted by social context doi.org/10.1098/rsos... 0135
Reposted by Dor ShiltonSam Passmore @sampassmore.bsky.social · 21/08/2023New article with Patrick Savage looking at the most unusual songs in the Global Jukebox. journalofcognition.org/articles/10.… 044