Monotheism has swept the world in just a few thousand years, making it one of the most important cultural innovations in human history.
In this week's New Yorker, I offer an explanation for what makes it so powerful. (It's not about belief in one god.)
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Just came across this map from the CDC, which contains possibly the most confusing color scheme I have ever seen in a figure.
Source: www.cdc.gov/sleep/data-r...
I had a wonderful time speaking to Tanay and Jay from the Cognitations podcast about why Pleistocene human societies were much more diverse—including being larger, more sedentary, and more hierarchical—than is often assumed. Check it out!!
What can shamanism teach us about religion -- and the human mind?
What a pleasure to share this excellent conversation to the listeners of On Humans! The hard work was done by @manymindspod.bsky.social and @manvir.bsky.social 🙏
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/4nhm3fG...
Apple 👇
How experience shapes extraordinary beliefs
Review by Eli Stark-Elster (@eselster.bsky.social) & Manvir Singh (@manvir.bsky.social)
tinyurl.com/y9dbwaa5
My favourite chapter so far in @manvir.bsky.social ‘s compelling new book is the one on the oracles of finance. Highly recommended.
In a new article for @us.theconversation.com, I explain our new perspective on how experience shapes extraordinary beliefs -- a good piece to read if you want the quick and dirty deets!
theconversation.com/flat-earth-s...
Why do people endorse seemingly extraordinary beliefs such as in pseudoscience & supernatural entities?
Leading approaches stress cognitive biases (like agency detection) & social dynamics (like signaling). Eli Stark-Elster & I argue that experience matters too & put fwd a framework explaining how.
Shamans have always been with us. This week, we explore how shamanism works with @manvir.bsky.social and why forms of it pop up in some surprising places, from modern medicine and CEO culture to charismatic Christianity. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
Last month, the Cultural Analytics Lecture series, a collab b/w @ucbids.bsky.social and the I School, kicked off w/ a lecture from @manvir.bsky.social, where he shared his findings on global patterns in music and storytelling.
Read about the event:
👇
tinyurl.com/3de3khzd
For this week’s New Yorker (and in celebration of Halloween!), I wrote about how fictional monsters have gone from mean and horrendous to humanized and misunderstood.
Oh, fascinating! I hadn't seen this paper. Will check it out.
Thank you!
Patterns recur through various mythologies: floods, tricksters, battles with monsters, creation and apocalypse. Some scholars believe there is a common source—and hope to find it.
My newest for The New Yorker! I wrote about the project, centuries-old and surprisingly successful at times, of recovering lost mythologies that still resonate in modern storytelling.
Hugely honored to be the inaugural guest on the Minds Over Matters Podcast! We talked about my book and the timeless and ubiquitous echoes of shamanism. Watch our conversation, in glorious 1080p, here:
Excited to speak with Prof. Charles Stang tomorrow (Wednesday, October 15th) about my new book, "Shamanism: The Timeless Religion"!
The conversation is sponsored by Harvard's Center for the Study of World Religions and will take place at 10 AM Pacific/1 PM Eastern. Join live here: shorturl.at/Holy8
New commentary out w/ @manvir.bsky.social
in Religion, Brain, and Behavior! We argue that social learning fails to explain three patterns in religious belief and practice: SBNR beliefs, strategic endorsement of beliefs, and religious experience. Check it out:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Honored to have been interviewed for this week's issue of @currentbiology.bsky.social!
From burying beetles to shamans, follow Manvir Singh @manvir.bsky.social in his sweeping Q&A from our latest issue.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Join us for the first lecture in our Cultural Analytics Talk Series, co-sponsored w/ @ucbids.bsky.social!
@manvir.bsky.social will discuss projects investigating global patterns in music & storytelling.
📅 Oct. 3, 12:15 - 1:30 pm
📍 210 South Hall, Online
www.ischool.berkeley.edu/events/2025/...
A reminder that the deadline for commentary proposals for my new BBS paper is tomorrow!
An honor of publishing with BBS is having thoughtful colleagues engage with one's work, and I can't wait to see y'all what think.
I'm giving a free book talk next Wednesday at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Come by if you're in the Boston area!
‘One veteran shaman, returning from his first experience performing at a top-dollar eco-lodge, asked the ayahuasca researcher Stephan Beyer why these people had come halfway round the world to see him when they weren’t sick.’
@mikejay.bsky.social on shamanism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Thrilled to see this mammoth review of "Shamanism" in
@lrb.co.uk from master drug historian @mikejay.bsky.social!
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
I've called this process "subjective selection" and argue that it drives much of cultural evolution, including the predictable development of these complex near-universal practices & beliefs.
Download: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Call for commentaries: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
The crux: For >100 yrs, functional explanations of culture have prioritized objective benefits (e.g., ritual X persists b/c it promotes cohesion). But this focus is misplaced. Traditions evolve foremost as people craft & retain traditions that appear to best satisfy their goals.
Why do societies reliably develop strikingly similar traditions like dance songs, hero stories, shamanism & justice institutions?
In a new BBS target article, I propose a theory for such "super-attractors" + cultural evolution more broadly. Now open for commentary: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
