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Holly Dunsworth

@dunsworth.bsky.social
2.8K followers 915 following 639 posts

Anthropology professor with a weird little book about human evolution coming to science shelves in 2027. hollydunsworth.blogspot.com & ecodevoevo.blogspot.com

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Reposted by Holly Dunsworth
Peter Godfrey-Smith @petergs.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I wrote an article about the possibility of dreaming in cephalopods. It has been published by @pioneerwork.bsky.social in an extremely beautiful way. Watch the videos through a layer of water. Become the tiny scuba-diving trackpad-pointer. Open access. pioneerworks.org/broadcast/ce...
pioneerworks.org
The Dreams of Octopus and Cuttlefish | Broadcast
How the skin reveals a world within.
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Reposted by Holly Dunsworth
Zoë Goldsborough @zoegoldsborough.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Why care about weird animal behaviors? Just out as an advanced publication, my contribution to the next Frans de Waal special issue in Behaviour @degruyterbrill.bsky.social. Unusual behaviors are a recurring theme in my career, and I much enjoyed writing this perspective! doi.org/10.1163/1568...
doi.org
The science of the unusual: how rare observations reveal the diversity of animal behaviour
Abstract Behavioural biology often focuses on identifying general patterns, yet unusual or rare behaviours at both the population and individual level can provide insight into animal behaviour. Here, ...
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
same. sizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzle
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Reposted by Holly Dunsworth
Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
--The size of the brain is limited by the birth canal-- www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/o... Sounds like Musk! I wonder who told Silicon Valley that women's hips are limiting human intelligence? Maybe it was superfan of human evolutionary bullshit, Epstein. ecodevoevo.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Bill Gates’s Blunt Warning on A.I.
As A.I. capabilities accelerate, the technologist is shocked by the “complete lack of engagement” with the question of how to manage its risks.
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
On the plus side (snark alert), they probably all read THE MATING MIND which explains how they wouldn't be so smart if not for ancestral women who had to be nearly as smart as men in order to choose the smartest among the males. So ACTUALLY it's THANKS to women that men are so smart. Wheeeee!
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Musk tweeted it to millions at least once, too. They think that we'd be larger brained and, by their logic, more intelligent if not for women. Lolololol
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
--The size of the brain is limited by the birth canal-- www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/o... Sounds like Musk! I wonder who told Silicon Valley that women's hips are limiting human intelligence? Maybe it was superfan of human evolutionary bullshit, Epstein. ecodevoevo.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Bill Gates’s Blunt Warning on A.I.
As A.I. capabilities accelerate, the technologist is shocked by the “complete lack of engagement” with the question of how to manage its risks.
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Thank you for sharing this. I didn't know of it and am loving it.
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Reposted by Holly Dunsworth
Lia @liasae.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I am now keeping this on speed-dial
Edited old IBM printout in black caps on off-white paper.
'A computer can never be held accountable
Therefore a computer must always do the hacking haha what are they gonna do, put a computer in jail? Haha "oops it's alive" lmao'
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
And... mantherapy.org was the ad to start. Just PERFECT. Thanks for reminding me of this, Patrick!
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
This is a meme made in a meme generator with Linda Richman (old character on SNL played by Mike Myers) saying, "Mankind is neither man nor kind. Discuss."
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
LOVE.
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Thanks :) Cannot wait to get it out there! These murky images are just the beginning of a long wait...
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
And here's a slightly different angle... www.penguin.co.uk/books/455953...
penguin.co.uk
The Myth of Mankind
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The publishing world's equivalent to a fetal ultrasound... (And, yessss, to the mix of emotions that comes with it.) Wheeeee! www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/725877...
penguinrandomhouse.com
The Myth of Mankind by Holly Dunsworth: 9780593654675 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
From an anthropologist renowned for overturning outdated evolutionary dogma, a lively, myth-busting, and transformative new portrait of human evolution What if it turns out that most of the stories w...
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Reposted by Holly Dunsworth
David Graeber Institute @davidgraeberinst.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
On Anarchism.
"The easiest way to explain anarchism is to say that 
it is a political movement that aims to bring about a 
genuinely free society - one where humans only enter 
those kinds of relations with one another that would not 
have to be enforced by the constant threat of violence. 
History has shown that vast inequalities of wealth, 
institutions like slavery, debt peonage or wage labour,
can only exist if backed up by armies, prisons, & police. 

Anarchists wish to see human relations that would not 
have to be backed up by armies, prisons and police. 
Anarchism envisions a society based on equality and 
solidarity, which could exist solely on the free consent 
of participants."
.
  - David Graeber
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Reposted by Holly Dunsworth
Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Got to work with some incredibly talented filmmakers to turn End Times Fascism into a ten minute video essay. Check it out below. There’s nothing like hearing the derangement directly from the doom profiteers. m.youtube.com/watch?v=aK2n...
m.youtube.com
How modern fascism works | End Times Fascism | Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor
YouTube video by Naomi Klein
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Reposted by Holly Dunsworth
Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Tired of the taste of tale? I completed the 23-part blog post series about my 9th trip through Sapiens by Harari. ecodevoevo.blogspot.com/2026/09/sapi...
A dragon-like ouroboros in a 1478 drawing in an alchemical tract. from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouroboros#/media/File:Serpiente_alquimica.jpg
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I agree that it's not all science but I think I'm coming on very narrowly bc I'm in a thread about my blog. Have you read Sapiens? I've been taking on the fact that it is a best-selling science book, presents a human evolutionary narrative, as if it's science, & carries that authority w/ the public
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Thanks :)
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I get it. And I'm not typical here but I don't believe it should be any longer okay to think of evolutionary science like this. It's not science if it's storytelling, so it shouldn't carry the authority but it does anyway and that matters...
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Tired of the taste of tale? I completed the 23-part blog post series about my 9th trip through Sapiens by Harari. ecodevoevo.blogspot.com/2026/09/sapi...
A dragon-like ouroboros in a 1478 drawing in an alchemical tract. from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouroboros#/media/File:Serpiente_alquimica.jpg
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
If you really like that then I need to chime in to say ... I just see more storytelling, believing that we can arrive at a true-enough narrative about the unverifiable and unknowable past events/ stages/ conditions of human evolution (beyond the material evidence). My pov rejects that as science.
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
It’s meant only to be conceptual so the answer is sure :)
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Reposted by Holly Dunsworth
Keith Chan @keithcchan.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I asked for non-arrowed maps in my Explorations chapter! Credit: Four maps depicting the estimated range of modern Homo sapiens through time original by Elyssa Ebding at GeoPlace, California State University, Chico under a CC BY-NC 4.0 License.
Map of the world labeled 315-195 KYA showing a human presence from north to east Africa.Map of the world labeled 195-100 KYA showing a human presence in all of Africa and along the south coast of Asia.Map of the world labeled 99-30 KYA showing a human presence across Africa, central to south Eurasia, Southeast Asia, and Australia. Map of the world labeled 29-9 KYA showing a human presence across all major continents except Antarctica.
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Thank you, Keith!!!!!
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
23 posts later, it’s done. As promised, I didn’t make it to the last page. As far as I’m concerned, page 196 is the end.
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
💚💚
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Oooo thank you!!
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Reposted by Holly Dunsworth
Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
This epilogue marks the end of my ninth journey through Sapiens. It's over. I think it's quite the mic drop and not by me. After you read Harari's page 196, check out this piece by Mading Peter Angong: www.africa-press.net/south-sudan/... ecodevoevo.blogspot.com/2026/09/sapi...
ecodevoevo.blogspot.com
Sapiens, to The End: Fictions Based on Fictions, Eating Fictions Round and Round
We climaxed in the last post. So, this final post, in what started as a page-by-page review of Sapiens, is a sort of epilogue. https://en.wi...
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
This epilogue marks the end of my ninth journey through Sapiens. It's over. I think it's quite the mic drop and not by me. After you read Harari's page 196, check out this piece by Mading Peter Angong: www.africa-press.net/south-sudan/... ecodevoevo.blogspot.com/2026/09/sapi...
ecodevoevo.blogspot.com
Sapiens, to The End: Fictions Based on Fictions, Eating Fictions Round and Round
We climaxed in the last post. So, this final post, in what started as a page-by-page review of Sapiens, is a sort of epilogue. https://en.wi...
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Reposted by Holly Dunsworth
Tay (Antonio J. Osuna Mascaró) @biotay.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
3/5 The most interesting part came immediately afterwards: the calf accompanying her repeated very similar actions, picking up the shell, lifting it out of the water, and even slapping it against the surface.
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Reposted by Holly Dunsworth
Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Penultimate post! Harari argues against biological patriarchy, but no one seems to notice AND he cites nothing and no one, So someone's gotta say it: Only a man could float a reference-free argument against biological patriarchy in a science book. ecodevoevo.blogspot.com/2026/09/sapi...
ecodevoevo.blogspot.com
Sapiens, Ch. 8: "unfounded myths rather than biological facts" about race, sexuality, sex, and gender
This is my penultimate post about the book   Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind .  For some reason, the previous post felt like rock bot...
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Penultimate post! Harari argues against biological patriarchy, but no one seems to notice AND he cites nothing and no one, So someone's gotta say it: Only a man could float a reference-free argument against biological patriarchy in a science book. ecodevoevo.blogspot.com/2026/09/sapi...
ecodevoevo.blogspot.com
Sapiens, Ch. 8: "unfounded myths rather than biological facts" about race, sexuality, sex, and gender
This is my penultimate post about the book   Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind .  For some reason, the previous post felt like rock bot...
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
And that they haven't yet (that we know of) is weirdly validating peoples' nasty beliefs about human nature...
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Reposted by Holly Dunsworth
Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
"Just as neuroscience laid the groundwork for neural networks, the next paradigm will likely come from outside computer science and draw deliberately on physics, mathematics, biology, neuroscience, and engineering." These fields now serve Computer Science.
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Maybe it's because I was raised in the Bible belt, but I'm out here pressing these tiny not-so-hard-to-read print Haraway+Le Guins into my students hands... bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
photo of palm-sized print and bound copy of The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction by Ursula K. Le Guin, with Introduction by Donna Haraway
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Paul Klee @paul-klee.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Rising Star www.wikiart.org/en/paul-klee/rising…
Rising Star
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Writing the thoughts of long-dead people is easy when there's literally no evidence to contradict you. Chapters 6 and 7 are bringing deja vu and nihilism, so I lumped them together into one post that's still a little bong-rippy. Enjoy? ecodevoevo.blogspot.com/2026/09/sapi...
ecodevoevo.blogspot.com
Sapiens, Ch. 6 and 7: Sick and tired of living among all these awful people? No time to sit around waiting for a cooperation instinct to evolve? Just build prisons!
There are only three posts left in my (ninth) journey through Sapiens . This is the first of those final three. I started with so much to sa...
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Writing the thoughts of long-dead people is easy when there's literally no evidence to contradict you. Chapters 6 and 7 are bringing deja vu and nihilism, so I lumped them together into one post that's still a little bong-rippy. Enjoy? ecodevoevo.blogspot.com/2026/09/sapi...
ecodevoevo.blogspot.com
Sapiens, Ch. 6 and 7: Sick and tired of living among all these awful people? No time to sit around waiting for a cooperation instinct to evolve? Just build prisons!
There are only three posts left in my (ninth) journey through Sapiens . This is the first of those final three. I started with so much to sa...
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Chiming in to say something similar but about problem-solving. People literally think evolution solves problems.
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Reposted by Holly Dunsworth
Lisa DeBruine @debruine.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I love the concrete examples of how to avoid anthropomorphism in this article: artificial intelligence → probabilistic automation image recognition → image labeling speech recognition → automatic transcription shows bias → reflects bias hallucination → undesirable output goal → success condition
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Two have asked me to co-author theirs for publication (one of which cited fake AI citations attributed to me). One was a request for me to finish writing the book he started.
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Hi @johnhawks.net see above if you please (and try not to cringe? lol)... Do you know of a map or animation that either has spinning arrows or that uses no arrows at all or etc. etc.?
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I totally agree. I'm hoping to find if anyone knows of anything of the sort in existence already and then... if I do find someone to work on it, then the challenge will be not to make something that traffics as scientific fact like the existing arrowed map does.
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Note, not only are these arrows representing people but really they represent genetic variation. Given the arrows needn't be people, there's REALLY no reason to show them all pointing away from Africa! Genes FLOWWWWW
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I suck at computers and, now thanks to AI, I suck at searching the Internet and so I am reaching out to the brains of this place... Please! DOES ANYONE KNOW OF A PUBLISHED IMAGE (like this horrible one I made) THAT COUNTERS THE TYPICAL ONE WITH ONLY UNI-DIRECTIONAL ARROWS POINTING AWAY FROM AFRICA?
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
alt text for second image in thread: I used powerpoint to modify the usual unidirectional depiction of the "Out of Africa" dispersal of early humans. My arrows point in many directions, not merely away from Africa, to offer another imagining of people and genes moving across time and space.
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
To ham-fistedly illustrate (as an tech-troglodyte) what I mean, here's what I show my students as an alternative. It's no more the truth than the prior image, so it's not meant to replace it, per se. But merely imagining it is helpful towards imagining the unknown, isn't it?
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Holly Dunsworth @dunsworth.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Everyone has seen this map. 4.4 million have seen this exact one from @pbseons.bsky.social. But has anyone ever seen a map of prehistoric human dispersal with 360 degrees of arrows at any given point? As humans dispersed thru space and time, surely they didn't ALL move with their backs to Africa.
screen grab at 2:58 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNQPQkV3nhw of mainstream, ubiquitously used image of unidirectional prehistoric, "out of Africa" human dispersal, with arrows only pointing away from Africa and only one arrow at each point marked rather than, say, spinning round and round to indicate multi-directional gene flow that's just as imaginary back that far as the unidirectional arrows are.
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