communication evolved with sociality
The size of communicative repertoires and social group size are positively correlated across non-human animals. … Read the post communication evolved with sociality
social networks
analysis of social relations emphasizing communications and evolutionary psychology
anti-social science
In 1980, a famous ethologist went into the jungles of Venezuela to videotape Yanomama natives. He would videotape them seven or eight hours a day. A graduate student helping him observed: After a while people started getting unnerved, particularly since he was shooting right at them. They were especially upset about their babies, whom [famous … Continue reading anti-social science
concern about superficiality and stagnation in academia
A spectre is haunting academia, the spectre of superficiality and stagnation. Fear, fashionable nonsense, and lack of imagination are root problems. … Read the post concern about superficiality and stagnation in academia
oracle-bone inscriptions: ancient Chinese lifelogging
The development of writing gave humans technology for storing knowledge and conveying it across time. But, at least in China, storing and transmitting knowledge doesn’t seem to be a good explanation for the earliest writing. The earliest corpus of Chinese writing is oracle-bone inscriptions from the Late Shang Dynasty. The Shang Dynasty arose about 3500 … Continue reading oracle-bone inscriptions: ancient Chinese lifelogging
Applying Newton’s Third Law to human behavior: institutions have mass
Digital forms and ubiquitous networks are greatly increasing opportunities to circulate authored symbolic works. Digitization projects are creating huge online libraries of digitized books that persons around the world can access at zero incremental cost. Storage prices are dropping so rapidly that one small device will soon be able to store all the music that … Continue reading Applying Newton’s Third Law to human behavior: institutions have mass