DNA is Not Destiny – Steven Heine
The Remarkable, Completely Misunderstood Relationship Between You and Your Genes
Moralistic gods, supernatural punishment and the expansion of human sociality
Benjamin Grant Purzycki & CERC in Nature Belief in moralistic, punitive gods that take an interest in human a airs may have facilitated the expansion of human societies, finds a study published in Nature this week.
Which Comes First, Big Cities or Big Gods – Norenzayan in Nautilus
Warriors among the Kwara’ae, a collection of tribal communities indigenous to the Solomon Islands, sacrificed pigs before battle. The tradition granted the combatants, so the belief went, aid from heroic ancestral spirits—like the mighty A’orama, a fierce fighter in Kwara’ae folklore.
How “Big Gods” Transformed Human History – Ara Norenzayan Interview
Audio Interview with Ara Norenzayan on “To the Best of our Knowledge”
ASU Center for Evolution & Medicine – Mind-Body Dualism in Ancient China
It is commonly claimed that mind-body dualism is entirely foreign to China—or “the East” more generally. This talk will draw on a wide variety of evidence to debunk this Orientalist myth of holism, including archeological findings, traditional close reading of texts, novel large-scale textual analysis techniques, and work in contemporary evolutionary anthropology and cognitive science. […]
Talks at Google – Trying Not to Try
The third in a series of Talks at Google by current and former fellows of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford University.