Edward Slingerland

Apr 8, 2024 | smallpotatoes.paulbloom.net | Julia Galef |Maria Konnikova |Russ Roberts |Edward Slingerland

Thanks for reading Small Potatoes! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. People who want to learn more about psychology sometimes ask me to recommend books, and I find this difficult. It’s a big field, and there are so many books. I find it easier to give more focused recommendations, like coming up with Eight Recommended Books About Good and Evil.

Apr 1, 2024 | journals.uchicago.edu | Ze Hong |Edward Slingerland |Joseph Henrich

Ritual protocols aimed at rainmaking have been a recurrent sociocultural phenomenon across societies and throughout history. Given the fact that such protocols were likely entirely ineffective, why did they repeatedly emerge and persist, sometimes over millennia, even in populations with writing and recordkeeping?

Jul 9, 2023 | edward-slingerland.medium.com | Edward Slingerland

The Link Between Alcohol and Creativity is Alive and WellPeople love it when science debunks everyday beliefs. One familiar trope in cultures around the world and throughout history that has recently been thrown into question is that of alcohol as muse. The belief in a connection between alcohol and creativity is ancient and ubiquitous.

Jul 2, 2023 | edward-slingerland.medium.com | Edward Slingerland

By Edward Slingerland The Alcoholic Beverage Industry Needs to Get Out of Its Defensive Crouch People indulge in all sort of vices. They masturbate to porn, gorge on Twinkies, smoke cigarettes, snort lines of coke. The human taste for alcohol might seem to be simply one more vice to add to the list, and therefore something that healthy-minded people should ideally eliminate from their lives.