Why Humans Imitate. And Imitate. And Imitate.
Life in 21st-century America – or any wealthy Western nation, really – is a nonstop celebration of individualism and nonconformity. To sell Sketchers, you dream up ads showing hip young people striking...
View ArticleReligions as Complex Adaptive Systems
A shouting match is often perversely compelling in the same way that a road accident is: it’s ugly, but it commands your attention. Very occasionally, however, a viciously heated conversation manages...
View ArticleIs Your Society Good for (Biological) Fitness?
Back in September, I described a computer model my collaborator Rich Sosis and I built that simulates religious communities as complex adaptive systems. The model married complex-systems theory to...
View ArticleRitual, Play, and the Landscape of Value
Back in October, I was privileged to give the keynote talk at a Toronto School of Theology conference on how ritual and play structure "Value and Valuing." My argument? Animal ritualization and human...
View ArticleIs Academia a Failed Initiation Rite?
Now that I’m (mostly) outside the world of American higher education, I’ve been looking in at it from a slight remove, mulling on where it’s working and where I think it’s struggling. One area where...
View ArticleMusic and Dance in Human Evolution
Humans everywhere play music and dance. But other animals don't — so where did these unique abilities come from? New research provides some suggestions.
View ArticleThe Catholic Latin Mass is a Strong Credibility-Enhancing Display
Pope Francis recently restricted the Catholic Tridentine Latin mass. The resulting firestorm of controversy may help illuminate why so many people don’t believe what their churches teach.
View ArticleThe Natural History of Music
I’m teaching a course on the evolution of music through Scholarium in January and February. Or, more accurately, I’m teaching about the origins of human rhythm — our unique ability to “keep together in...
View ArticleMore Signal, Less Noise
A while back, I left formal academia. In the post where I announced that decision, I promised that I’d start writing here more frequently again, since I’d be free from the crushing pressure to...
View ArticleWhy Rites of Passage Are Painful
At the podcast "How God Works," I discuss the worldwide phenomenon of painful adolescent rites of passage with psychologist David DeSteno.
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