Humanity was not restricted to small bands of hunter-gatherers, agriculture did not lead inexorably to hierarchies and conflicts and there was not one mode of social organisation that prevailed, at least until thousands of years after the introduction of agriculture. - The Guardian
New research suggests that it’s not just negative emotions that contribute to the appeal of conspiracy theories. People can also find conspiracy theories entertaining – and the more entertaining people find them, it seems, the more likely they are to believe in them. - Psyche
True, we’re hearing a lot about Covid-19 and QAnon-related conspiracies. But just because they are more visible does not mean that belief in them has gone up. - Persuasion
Longtermism might be one of the most influential ideologies that few people have ever heard about. I believe this needs to change because I have come to see this worldview as quite possibly the most dangerous secular belief system in the world today. - Aeon
The pandemic accelerated a trend that already existed: teachers increasingly find themselves facing a potential career-ending explosion if they teach the wrong “truth.” - LitHub
Graeber and Wengrow offer a history of the past 30,000 years that is not only wildly different from anything we’re used to, but also far more interesting: textured, surprising, paradoxical, inspiring. - The Atlantic
Planning applications for tall buildings in London plummeted by a third last year. Has the age of piling people into great glass shafts, of cities competing for ever higher spires, finally come to an end? - The Guardian
Postliberals, as Matthew Rose argues in his new book A World After Liberalism, agree on little. They know something has gone wrong, and they suspect the origins of the problem date back several centuries. - Hedgehog Review
In my experience, when people say they need to “listen to the most affected”, it isn’t because they intend to set up Skype calls to refugee camps or to collaborate with houseless people. - The Philosopher
"As with chemistry, the important thing is not just how the elements behave in isolation, but how they come together. Each language has rules for these combinations, which native speakers (and many teachers) generally grasp but don’t or can’t explain." - The Economist
But they definitely help define the internet: "Years later, after the movie itself has been largely forgotten, you will still find images from it circulating, speaking a new dialect." - The New York Times
If sex is everywhere, it’s also nowhere: as birth rates plunge globally, we are engaging in the act less and less. The significance of this change shouldn’t be underestimated, as how we conceptualise sex and relationships is at the root of how we organise our societies. - The Conversation
How a receptor detects a smell remains a deep riddle to scientists. The odorant’s shape appears to determine which olfactory receptors it binds to; beyond that, we have no idea why molecules smell as they do. - Believer
“Social media has gone from techno-utopianism to dystopic weaponization. Perhaps Timothy Leary was more accurate than he realized when he branded the internet the new LSD. Tomorrow’s brainwashers could not help exploring the possibilities.” - Washington Post
