For those in Bangkok next week please join us on Tha Prachan campus to hear Elliott Prasse-Freeman (@epf.bsky.social) to discuss his ongoing research. "The Political Economy of Rohingya Mass Violence: The Centrifugal/Centripetal Dialectic of Racial Capitalism"

The count down starts for #CESRabat! Follow @ces2026.bsky.social and join us May 11-13 next year for an exciting meeting in Rabat, Morocco. Massive thanks to the #CESRabat organising committee: Sarah Alami (co-chair) Mathieu Charbonneau (co-chair) Zachary Garfield Edmond Seabright

What do the gods want? The book Seshat History of Moralizing Religion explores how cultures from Egypt to India to the Americas linked morality to supernatural reward & punishment. Learn more & read about the book edited by Jenny Reddish, Peter Turchin and Jennifer Larson: shorturl.at/jUj6m

Enjoyed putting together two chapters for this new volume on the history of how religions have come to see supernatural punishment and reward as moral (a result of interpersonal conduct). I argue that two kinds of supernatural punishment typically seen as amoral are actually moral.

Science is a lot cheaper than most other investments. The anti-intellectual society is inescapably on the decline, abolishing its own future. Be the opposite of that. Go all-out for science, expertise and knowledge, because it pays back, many times over, as it did for the formerly-great America

In the past 5 years, there’s been an explosion of new work on the philosophy & cog sci of norms. If you want to get up to speed on it, check out this newly revised SEP entry on the Psychology of Normative Cognition by @dryan149.bsky.social, Stephen Setman & me. plato.stanford.edu/entries/psyc...

"The Special Feature 'Half a Century of Cultural Evolution' assembles answers from a broad array of scientific disciplines with vastly different views on culture, but with one uniting theme: that culture evolves." Open access www.pnas.org/topic/565

Does the culture you grow up in shape the way you see the world? In a new Psych Review paper, @chazfirestone.bsky.social & I tackle this centuries-old question using the Müller-Lyer illusion as a case study. Come think through one of history's mysteries with us🧵(1/13):

Great new paper from @aiyanakoka.bsky.social consistent with the argument that 'mystical harm' can be seen as moralising supernatural punishment -- for local, particularistic norm violations

Nice to see this pithy insight from Peter Turchin, with a nod to his work on Seshat, in @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024...

Announcement! The next @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social CES conference will be at UM6P in Rabat, Morocco, provisional dates 11-13th May 2026! Hosted by Mathieu Charbonneau, @sarahalami.bsky.social, @zhgarfield.com & @edseabright.bsky.social. Save the dates! culturalevolutionsociety.org/news-and-eve...