A lovely and well-balanced piece, thanks for sharing!

For 99% of human history, children were free to roam their environments at will. No longer. So kids are roaming online worlds instead. Today in Psyche, I write about how the Internet became the last refuge for childhood freedom, and why that might be okay. psyche.co/ideas/have-o...

Psilocybin mushrooms are found worldwide, yet I have long argued (based on direct evidence) that traditional use is confined to Mesoamerica. I was wrong! In a new paper led by @eselster.bsky.social, we document Indigenous psilocybin mushroom use—potentially very old—in highland southern Africa.

Genuinely groundbreaking work in psychedelic anthropology here! I understand that this is the first well-documented case of indigenous psilocybin use outside of the Americas. Fieldwork led by @eselster.bsky.social under @manvir.bsky.social also w/ Sandeep Nayak and myself

People claim that psychedelics have been used by Indigenous groups around the world for millennia. But clear evidence of serotonergic psychedelic use has long been confined to the Americas. Until now. Here, we document clear evidence of Indigenous psilocybin use in Lesotho. 🍄 osf.io/preprints/so...

This post is what happens when too many people call me a fascist for thinking AI is useful. Link below! open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...

Tomorrow at 12 PM PST, I'll be chatting with @tommyblanchard.bsky.social on Substack livestream about extraordinary beliefs, cognitive anthropology, and the evolution of childhood. Tune in for a great convo :) open.substack.com/live-stream/...

"With the advent of artificial intelligence, though, the only distinction that remains between scientists is that of seerdom: who can ask the right questions, and who can figure out how to put everything together? Finally, the seer soul is free to roam."

Artificial intelligence might mean the end of science as we know it. If that goes the way I think it might, then I, for one, will welcome our robot Einsteins. Link below! open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...

My book is now published! 🌏🎶🧪
 You can download it for free at academic.oup.com/book/62353 - I’d be grateful if you do! I also published an accessible summary with audio/video today in @nature.com: www.nature.com/articles/d41... Try reading that first, then give the whole book a read if you like it!

Following my recent fieldwork in Zimbabwe, a meditation on rock art and the faceless weight of forever. Read below. open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...

I enjoyed this argument / thesis.

that was my take too - social media is bad for kids because it *enhances* the negative aspects of regular teenage life. before, if you didn't fit in, didn't have many friends, were bullied, etc, you could escape that after leaaving school. now you can't. also congruent with the evidence

Said it my whole life. Like pulling teeth to get people to believe me, unless they suffered in school too.

This was a p good read. We 100% should reform education in the US along the lines that are recommended here. AND we should ban social media for kids.

A vast array of data suggests that school, not social media, is the biggest modern threat to the mental health of children. If you were recently a child, that won’t be a surprise. If not: enjoy the post :) open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...

Stop worrying and learn to love AI – or at the very least, accept all the good it can do for those who weren’t as lucky in the womb lottery as you. open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...

Aesthetic absolutist, loud and proud. open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...

How experience shapes extraordinary beliefs Review by Eli Stark-Elster (@eselster.bsky.social) & Manvir Singh (@manvir.bsky.social) tinyurl.com/y9dbwaa5

Spotify Wrapped is effectively now a national holiday. Why? I argue that the appeal of these year-in-reviews lies in how they feed our cultural obsession with individuality -- Wrapped makes us feel special, and we just can't get enough. Link below! unpublishablepapers.substack.com/p/why-is-eve...

Why do humans have linguistic intuition? And why should you care? A short thread about my new paper in @cadlin.bsky.social This work has the most original insight I've ever had, a genuinely new idea about the nature of language cadernos.abralin.org/index.php/ca... 1/20

Flat Earth, spirits and conspiracy theories – experience can shape even extraordinary beliefs theconversation.com/flat-earth-s... by @eselster.bsky.social From study: "...shaped by perceptual plausibility, triggered by anomalous experiences, or re-inforced through immersive technologies..."

God, and other things that are just for fun. Link below! unpublishablepapers.substack.com/p/god-and-ot...

God, and other things that are just for fun. Link below! unpublishablepapers.substack.com/p/god-and-ot...

Online Now: How experience shapes extraordinary beliefs

People don’t adopt flat-Earth theories and conspiracy myths out of nowhere. A new review of the research shows experiences like sleep paralysis, sensory illusions and ritual practices can make extraordinary beliefs feel very true. buff.ly/khbNn7V

Cognitive bias or social dynamics are widely seen as contributing to extraordinary beliefs. Review by @eselster.bsky.social & @manvir.bsky.social suggests a 3rd factor—experience, and sets out 3 pathways by which it can shape such beliefs: buff.ly/lidc8Hc TL;DR:🧵https://buff.ly/jLH2yPw

Why do people endorse seemingly extraordinary beliefs such as in pseudoscience & supernatural entities? Leading approaches stress cognitive biases (like agency detection) & social dynamics (like signaling). Eli Stark-Elster & I argue that experience matters too & put fwd a framework explaining how.

Anthropologist @eselster.bsky.social argues parents have tried so hard to insulate their kids from offline harms, that they're forced to seek unstructured independence in online spaces. But Big Tech often puts profits over child safety, leaving kids without safe places to play online or off.

In a new article for @us.theconversation.com, I explain our new perspective on how experience shapes extraordinary beliefs -- a good piece to read if you want the quick and dirty deets! theconversation.com/flat-earth-s...

In a new Review for @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social -- and my first first-authored paper! -- @manvir.bsky.social and I argue that experience shapes the emergence and evolution of seemingly extraordinary beliefs. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

News from the future, inspired by work from Michael Levin, Josh Bongard, David Chalmers and many others! Link below. open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...

I was interviewed this week by @ayesharascoe.bsky.social on @npr.org about the evolution of play and what it tells us about how kids are using digital spaces. Here's the link! www.npr.org/2025/11/23/n...

"Where Do the Children Play?" – unpublishablepapers.substack.com/p/where-do-t... (by @eselster.bsky.social)

"By retreating to digital space, children have found an open frontier that lies beyond the interest or comprehension of their parents."

In a world without forest and creeks, where do the children play? My new essay explores peer cultures and the strangeness of Western childhood. Heavily inspired by work from @dorsaamir.bsky.social and Sheina Lew-Levy :) open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...

Thanks to @slatestarcodex , I'm pleased to announce that a fundraising page for my fieldwork on psilocybin use in Lesotho is now live on Manifund! Share (or support) if you want to further our medical and ethnographic understanding of psychedelics🍄🌍 manifund.org/projects/doc...

Patterns recur through various mythologies: floods, tricksters, battles with monsters, creation and apocalypse. Some scholars believe there is a common source—and hope to find it.

Those who wish to judge the crimes of the past should not support the crimes of the present. Link below. open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...

The last twenty years of the cognitive science of religion have been defined by religious belief. The next twenty years will be defined by religious experience. Here's one reason why!

"the decline of religious belief doesn’t imply the emergence of true disbelief"

New commentary out w/ @manvir.bsky.social in Religion, Brain, and Behavior! We argue that social learning fails to explain three patterns in religious belief and practice: SBNR beliefs, strategic endorsement of beliefs, and religious experience. Check it out: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

"A well-designed PhD program teaches you how to ask good questions. Trivial as this may sound, no ability is more central to scientific progress than asking good questions. And doing it is much, much harder than you think."

OpenAI was mocked for saying GPT-5 would display "PhD-level intelligence." If we took that concept seriously, what might it mean? Which capacity is uniquely cultivated through a PhD? I think it's mostly one thing: learning how to ask Goldilocks questions. open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...

Graduate school is hard, because sometimes it requires you to explain the word “boofing” to your grandparents. Context below! open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...

Not science, but wrote this short essay about Jesse Welles and the meaning of ‘Dylanesque.’ If you don’t know who Jesse is — you should check him out! open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...

Yes, I’m serious. But don’t get mad until you’ve read the piece! Ft. recommendations for work by @edhagen.net , @lukeglowacki.bsky.social , Will Buckner and others. open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...

Amidst the destruction of Gaza, what does it mean to be Jewish? In my latest Substack, I look for answers in an unlikely source: Superman. Link below! @jacobgeller.com open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...

What technologies, if any, should we expect any alien civilization to invent? Find out in my latest Substack, linked below. Inspiration creds to @etiennefd.blogsky.venki.dev and his lovely Historical Tech Tree 👽😃 open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...

For Substack (link below), I explore why the media won't shut up about trans athletes. It's because they're political cheesecake, to borrow a phrase from Steven Pinker. The special ingredient? Disgust. open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...