Eli Stark-Elster
@eselster.bsky.social
cognitive and evolutionary anthropologist at UC Davis | writer Substack: https://unpublishablepapers.substack.com/
I'm not opposed to journalists using AI, but this case — a faux emotional paean to Messi in the New York Times, clearly written by an LLM — pissed me off. @nytimes.com, meet @pangram.com. open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...
The New York Times is publishing AI slop
And why that's bad, in case you still need convincing
open.substack.com
We often hear about child geniuses contributing to math and physics. Why never biology, psychology, or other empirical sciences? (Spoiler -- I think it's because we're not giving them enough money for butterflies). unpublishablepapers.substack.com/p/how-to-mak...
How to make more prodigies
Mainly, give the kids money for butterflies
unpublishablepapers.substack.com
Two new pieces out in @smithsonianmag.bsky.social ! One on two dime-sized fossils that just rewrote our understanding of the vertebrate water-to-land transition (link below), and one on the most chemically primitive galaxy ever recorded (link in thread). www.smithsonianmag.com/science-natu...
A Vietnam Veteran Collected Fossils for 66 Years. One, Mislabeled 'Baby Lamprey,' Made Paleontologists Reconsider How Vertebrates Moved From Water to Land
The fossil turned out to be a hatchling of a crocodile-like creature, and it suggests, according to a new study, that early animals did not use metamorphosis to evolve to dwell on land
smithsonianmag.com
The combination of music and digital anonymity seems to make people feel like they can share memories with total strangers that they wouldn’t ever share in-person. Like the messages you find on bathroom stalls.
Rob Sica@robsica.bsky.social · 3mo ago✨From a search on The Velvet Underground's I'm Set Free:
I made a tool for finding the memories people share in the comments on Youtube music videos. Lots of grief, but lots of joy too. Link in 🧵
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...
psyche.co
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.
Eli Stark-Elster@eselster.bsky.social · 4mo agoPeople 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...
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
Eli Stark-Elster@eselster.bsky.social · 4mo agoPeople 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...
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...
OSF
osf.io
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...
A mortal sin of argumentation
It is fruitless to argue against something that your interlocutor does not believe
open.substack.com
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/...
LIVE SOON: Cognitive Anthropology Takes On Extraordinary Beliefs and Child Freedom
Starting Mar 10 at 3:00 PM EDT
open.substack.com
"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."
Eli Stark-Elster@eselster.bsky.social · 6mo agoArtificial 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...
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...
Automation will set science free
It was always about the questions
open.substack.com
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...
To the Stone-Cutters
Notes from the Field #2
open.substack.com
I enjoyed this argument / thesis.
Eli Stark-Elster@eselster.bsky.social · 7mo agoA 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...
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
Eli Stark-Elster@eselster.bsky.social · 7mo agoA 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...
Said it my whole life. Like pulling teeth to get people to believe me, unless they suffered in school too.
Eli Stark-Elster@eselster.bsky.social · 7mo agoA 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...
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.
Eli Stark-Elster@eselster.bsky.social · 7mo agoA 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...
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...
School is Way Worse For Kids Than Social Media
On building a world that doesn’t make children want to die
open.substack.com
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...
It costs money to share the future
On AI, targeted advertising, and the subtle cruelty of paternalism
open.substack.com
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 Is Everything 'Wrapped'?
On Spotify, WEIRDness and the endless search for ourselves
unpublishablepapers.substack.com
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
Why Do Humans Have Linguistic Intuition? | Cadernos de Linguística
cadernos.abralin.org
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..."
Flat Earth, spirits and conspiracy theories – experience can shape even extraordinary beliefs
Conspiracy thinking, supernatural beliefs and pseudoscience can seem impervious to evidence. An anthropologist suggests the opposite: Extraordinary beliefs may be supported by an individual’s experien...
theconversation.com
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
On dancing our way to divinity
unpublishablepapers.substack.com
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
On dancing our way to divinity
unpublishablepapers.substack.com
