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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...

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Religions 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...

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Is 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...

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Ritual, 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...

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Is 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...

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Music 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.

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The 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.

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The 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...

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More 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...

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Why 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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