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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social In the book I am writing about the origin of stupidity, I have decided to include BS repositories.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social As editors of the Berghahn Books series EXPLANATIONS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES, we are looking for authors to write one of these short books on what the social sciences can say about the claim AI systems are becoming almost human. www.berghahnbooks.com/series/expla...

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social Pollan writes well. A good read. Also a disappointing one. Like much of scholarship, the focus is on the the famously difficult question 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨? As I argue in my book on stupidity currently under review at Berghahn, the real hard problem is 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚?

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Important new book by one of my co-suthors on the book about the origins of prejudice. fultonbooks.com/books/?book=...

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social Now available as a paperback. www.berghahnbooks.com/title/Terrel...

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social A limited time discount codes for this new book when placed directly via the Berghahn book webpage: www.berghahnbooks.com/title/Anders... 50% off the hardback with the code Ande4828 25% off the paperback with the code Ande1091. both valid until 31st October 2026.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social By emulating how people think about people, things, places, and events, AI models the flaws as well as the abilities of how we tackle the world. Here is an example from Chapter 3 of the manuscript now under revieww for the book on the origin of stupidity.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I didn't draw the connection at the time, but what Trump did on July 8th is a decided twist on the old ethical "trolley problem." Thomas the Tank Engine meet Donald the Runaway Trolley.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social Google responded to this statement on Facebook: "That sounds like an intriguing concept! 'The Origin of Stupidity' is not a standard text I have on file, but it sounds like you are testing how an AI handles conversational traps, circular logic, or hidden assumptions."

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social The manuscript has been sent off to Berghahn for review. But I am now going to focus on finding more stuff to bring to the attention of readers that they might like to know about. Wish me luck.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social I'm hoping to send off soon a full draft of my book on the origin of stupidity to Berghahn for review. I think I need to explain to my editor there when I do how the book has been written with a few notes about my strategy.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social May adapt a figure from our book on prejudice to use in my book on the origin of stupidity to discuss how to be wise rather than foolish (and why AI systems are unlikely ever to be as good or as bad as we can be as human beings). www.berghahnbooks.com/title/Anders...

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗪𝗢𝗨𝗟𝗗 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘 𝗜𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗘? Terrell's Truth Test definitely applies to the AI generated information on websites. I am an asthmatic. August means ragweed, which means asthma. Many websites claim to be telling you today what my local pollen count is. Depending on which one: "𝗻𝗼𝗻𝗲" to "𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵."

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social Final cover Coming in September to a bookstore near you. www.berghahnbooks.com/title/Anders...

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social Coming out in September: ISBN 978-1-80758-109-1 $16.95/£12.95 / Pb

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social Wonderful review of our Berghahn book! jhnr.net/articles/10....

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Mark's university has just made this open-access. Free to everyone. Get a copy! Here is the link: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social Slowly I think I am figuring out how to make it clear that AI is not about to take over the world. I keep reading what been claimed, and find it often astonishing. This is for the AI case study in the book I am writing on the origin of stupidity.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social I am finding it hard to cut away the hype and find out what AI actually can do. It is one of the 2 examples in the book I am writing on the origin of stupidity. Hoping a table like this once completed can help both me and readers of the book see what is really going on.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social Is AI really like human intelligence? What is needed is spelling out the actual similarities and differences . . . so readers of my book on the origin of stupidity can decide for themselves. I have obviouisly only just started seeing if I can do the spelling . . .

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social I am back working again on the case studies for the book on the origin of stupidity, and this came to mind . . .

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social I was inspired to use mouse traps in the book I'm writing on stupidity by my engagement with them living on farmland in Wisconsin. The picture is last night's catch. The difference between categorical thinking and relational thinking is a main argument in the book.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Found this on the web. It's Trump, but it is not gold he gets when he touches anything. Long ago, Jim VanStone at Field Museum called working with our Exhibits Department the Reverse Midas Touch (you get shit, not gold). That comes to mind these days when I think about Trump and Congress.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Some days I definitely feel like "that man behind the curtain" who is secretly conducting a national experiment on how stupid we all can be for the book I am writing on the origin of stupidity. Code name: "The 250th Experiment."

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social A report on scientific discoveries in today's Guardian illustrates the claim that Graham Hancock is selling his fans a fake wrestling match between myths-are-true and science. If his pseudoarchaeology fans believe him, there is a Berghahn book they need to buy and read.

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Reposted by John Terrell

John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social Now that the complete full draft for the book on the anatomy of belief is off to Berghahn for final review, I can get back to the book I am writing in the same series that is due at the end of this year.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Nowadays Hollywood ought to be called "The Junk Food Dream Factory." It used to be something wonderful called the "Dream Machine." Give this a twist, and you get a great name for today's Data Centers and Chatbot GPT AI, etc. "Belief Factories" where seeming credible Truths are made.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social GOOD NEWS! The full manuscript has just been sent off to Berghahn for final review there.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social The case studies in our book on the anatomy of belief illustrate how "facts matter" and so, too, do good ideas. We are not hitting the reader over the head about there being something called "science," but yes, Dorothy, science matters. This box may be at the very end.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social Before working with John Hoopes on a book about the anatomy of belief I had no idea how derivative the beliefs advanced by the pseudoarchaeology author Graham Hancock have been. Map of the Atlantean Empire, Ignatius Donnelly, 𝘼𝙩𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙨: 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙡𝙪𝙫𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙, 1882.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social I've now drafted a caption for this figure that I am thinking of putting in the final chapter of the book I am writing on the origin of stupidity.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social Don't know how difficult it is to use an AP photo on a book cover, but folks on my Facebook page think this would be a great one for the book on the anatomy of belief I am writing with John Hoopes and Stephen Acabado. Helps make the topic far from just "stuffy academic."

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social One of the challenges of writing for the Berghahn series EXPLANATIONS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES is how to end these short books in a way that doesn't come across as closing the door to discussion and investigation. Does this work OK? What is your solution to this mystery?

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social Publishers have final call on book covers, but they don't discourage suggestions from authors. I am thinking we should go with these three quite different types of suggestions for our book on the anatomy of belief.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social I am thinking it would be misrepresenting our book on the anatomy of belief to have a cover with fantasy beliefs like space invaders and impossible beings. This is one of those very expense Getty image, but this would be a cover more in keeping with this Berghahn series.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social Our draft book manuscript on the anatomy of belief is due this month for formal review at Berghahn Books. I am delighted to say it's nearly ready to go. The 2 case studies in Chapter 3 are on the Great Austronesian Migration and Graham Hancock's Ancient Lost Civilization.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

When you ask a search engine like Google’s Gemini to tell you something, what you get back parrots recorded “data” and compiled “information” (statistically likely combinations of this digitally available “data”) likely to come across to you as plausible when it fits your preconceptions and beliefs.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social Now that the manuscript for the book on the anatomy of belief is almost ready for submissin for review at Berghahn Books, I am back working again on the book on the origin of stupidity.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social It is easy to mistake similarity for identity. Putting everyone speaking a language called “Austronesian” in a racial migration story is an example of the belittlement of history and the denial of human creativity. If calling it racism upsets you, call it "populationism."

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social Given feedback received, here are 2 popular cover ideas to suggest for the book John Hoopes, Stephen Acabado, and I are writing on 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗔𝗧𝗢𝗠𝗬 𝗢𝗙 𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗙. The one on the left seems to have younger appeal; the one on right is much, much closer to what our book is all about.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social I think I have finally found possible cover art to propose for the book Stephen Acabado, John Hoopes, and I are writing on the anatomy of belief. If so, this is what we will send off along with our final manuscript for review with fingers crossed on both counts.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social Trying to come up with cover art suggestions for the book on 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝘼𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙢𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝘽𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙛: 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 when we send the manuscript to Berghahn for final review. It's hard to decide what would be an appealing cover, but not one limiting the appeal to a specific audience.

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social When I posted this 6 days ago, I never expected it to be of interest to more than a few people. The point raise is seemingly way too academic. Boy was I wrong. Now Stephen, John, and I really DO need to finish our manuscript & send it to Berghahn Books for final review!

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John Terrell @jteddyt.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

@berghahnbooks.bsky.social I've added a 4th fallacy to the discussion about the anatomy of belief! We should be sending off our manuscript for review at Berghahn in the next few weeks. Keep your fingers crossed.

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