Applications now open for the UNIL Summer School on Modelling for Evolutionary Biology (31 Aug–5 Sep 2026, Lausanne)!
For PhD & postdocs interested in formal approaches to evolutionary ecology (incl. social evo, life-history, species interactions).
Scholarships available, Pls RP! shorturl.at/fo1GA
If only there was some *extremely recent* event where we saw what happens when you put a bunch of people on a boat with a communicable disease.
But alas, nothing even remotely like that happened in the last, say, six years so we just don't know...
Looks like Harvard is making more bad decisions on behalf of the ruling class. www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...
What makes adaptive decision-making possible?
New preprint connecting cognitive, social, biological, and computational views! w/ Dorst, FeldmanHall, @smfleming.bsky.social, @catehartley.bsky.social, Gottlieb, Lejarraga, Müller-Trede, @angelaradulescu.bsky.social, and Rosati
osf.io/preprints/ps...
In France, if you want to build a home above a certain size, you’re legally required to use a licensed architect.
Can you guess what that size is
My one-hour special “Rick Steves Iran: Yesterday and Today,” which helps humanize 90 million Iranian people, is streaming free and ad-free at www.ricksteves.com/watch-iran.
Title page for working paper: "The Varieties of Cultural Selection"
I've been thinking a lot about the foundations of cultural evolutionary theory. While there's been a lot of work on transmission mechanisms, there has been far less work on cultural *selection*. Here's a new working paper presenting a taxonomy of cultural selection processes.
osf.io/preprints/so...
You know what? I'll admit it. The credible threat by a madman to wipe out a nation of 90 million people for basically no reason (presumably using nuclear weapons) successfully distracted me. I am now distracted.
The NSF 2027 budget has noted that they will close out the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Science Program (SBE). This is not a good thing. nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/FY-202...
Hats off also to the article’s author, who walked the long tightrope between reporting and satire the whole way through
I think this paper illustrates how hard this problem is. It’s so, so hard to do well. www.jstor.org/content/oa_c...
I flagged it to "read later" when it came out but didn't get to it. Just skimmed - very cool! It's always seemed to me that SLS's aren't like ev psych "modules", but descriptions of behaviors arising from more general learning mechanisms. Super cool how you developed and formalized that. Will cite.
"In temperate climates all over the world, most people wear pants. Some wear shorts, some wear skirts, and some wear only purple undies, but one cannot deny the tremendous popularity of pants...What selective processes favored this cumbersome garment you had to put on one leg at a time?"
I’m sorry you’ve decided from a brief skim that I don’t have something to contribute. I asked you for a single example of what I was missing and you didn’t provide one. I’m trying engage in good faith (as we must do in interdisciplinary work) but you apparently want to play cryptic gatekeeper.
Truly a kindred spirit.
Haha ok. The burden of proof is on the accuser.
There’s literally not though. It feels like there is, but if you look closely, it’s not there. If I’m wrong, please give me specific examples.
Formal models only.
I’m not really interested in border disputes, and I’m decently familiar with the relevant sociology literature. What specifically am I missing?
I agree, though I’m using a broader definition of culture in the paper.
Oh man, I totally forgot about that linguistic difference. It can’t be helped—“pants” is undeniably a funnier word than “trousers”.
I've read it.
Title page for working paper: "The Varieties of Cultural Selection"
I've been thinking a lot about the foundations of cultural evolutionary theory. While there's been a lot of work on transmission mechanisms, there has been far less work on cultural *selection*. Here's a new working paper presenting a taxonomy of cultural selection processes.
osf.io/preprints/so...
I assume he used it to cover the face of his taxidermied moose.
#polisky the absolute decimation of the social sciences cc @professormusgrave.bsky.social @mcopelov.bsky.social
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/s/lw930lDa10
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/s/lw930lDa10
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/s/lw930lDa10
The only April Fools shenanigans I am tolerating today is the normally very serious subreddit r/AskHistorians overflowing with AITA posts about historical figures.
Scandinavian Mesolithic hunter-gatherers abstractly engraved bones & other materials. What can we learn from their visual complexity? New paper w @ll-herskind.bsky.social , @helenamiton.bsky.social & @felixthehauskat.bsky.social . (doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...). 1/
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/29/o...
This Ezra Klein piece on how the adopters are using— being used by?— LLMs is horrifying.
It hardens my resistance to ever turning one of these toys on at the same time that it makes me more sure that I'm going to be completely out of step and behind as a result.
Question for the Bsky hive mind: what’s the most batshit pop Evolutionary Psychology study you’ve ever come across? Particularly interested in examples in the area of female parental investment, but I’ll take others too …
