Chris Buckley
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chrisbuckley.bsky.social
Chris Buckley
@chrisbuckley.bsky.social
Anthropologist with interests in cultural evolution, phylogenetics, classical methods, weaving. Interface of archaeology and ethnography. Author of "Stone and Fiber: Daily life in the Baliem valley, Papua".
Three from the roads near Dunhuang, October 2011
November 11, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Apparently AGI is already here and is already "superior to humans in many tasks". But hey, I bought a pocket calculator in 1975 that could do sums faster than any human alive, and it got the answer right 100% of the time www.ft.com/content/5f2f...
AI pioneers claim human-level general intelligence is already here
Tech leaders say systems now rival human intelligence in key tasks, further fuelling the superintelligence debate
www.ft.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Archaeology of pottery production at Lamalera in Indonesia corroborates local legends of population displacement from Sulawesi around 600ya (but note that their textile traditions ... mentioned briefly ... show no connection with Sulawesi) www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Recovering a legend: The Wara Liang pottery assemblage and the origin story of Lamalera, Lembata, Indonesia
Wara Liang is a shoreline rockshelter on Lembata island, Indonesia, where excavation in 2017 revealed a deep stratigraphy preserving evidence of forager habitation from ca. 1200 years ago. At aroun...
www.tandfonline.com
November 5, 2025 at 5:58 PM
You thrilled to the Preprint. You swooned over the Accepted Manuscript. Now read The Actual Published Paper…
November 5, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Nomads waiting for a bus, Zoige grasslands, around 1998
November 3, 2025 at 5:28 AM
Tibetan monk's robes, in Langmusi, Gansu-Sichuan border region, around 2000
November 3, 2025 at 5:25 AM
Adopted a stray cat. In one month it has gone from a ravening bag of skin and bone that would consume anything, to "hmm ... not enough gravy on this dish, please try harder"
November 2, 2025 at 9:04 PM
I hope they are all wearing their chickenwire underpants when they switch this thing on
At d3dfusion.org we inject microwaves (100 - 200 GHz) to heat and drive current in our fusion plasmas. We've just unboxed our newest 1 MW microwave unit, a gyrotron named Zapdos, and are excited to bring it online. This unit will extend our plasma parameter range deeper into reactor territory. 🧪
November 2, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Scanning some old Kodachromes for a project. These are Tibetan monks at a summer camp in Zoige province, on the Sichuan-Gansu border, playing football, around 25 years ago
November 1, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Important paper debunking the quasi-scientific notion of "agency". As the authors note: "An organism’s capacity for goal-directed behaviour does not itself explain any biological phenomena" ... www.researchgate.net/publication/...
(PDF) Biological agency: a concept without a research program
PDF | This paper evaluates recent work purporting to show that the “agency” of organisms is an important phenomenon for evolutionary biology to study.... | Find, read and cite all the research you nee...
www.researchgate.net
October 29, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Researchers cite their friends and colleagues. You've always known this of course, but it's good to have the evidence
🧵 1/
🚨 New paper out in PLOS ONE! w/ @caropradier.bsky.social @benzpierre.bsky.social @natsush.bsky.social @ipoga.bsky.social @lariviev.bsky.social
We studied 43k authors and 264k citation links in U.S. economics to ask:
👉 Why do some papers cite others?
🔗 journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
October 28, 2025 at 12:43 AM
On groupthink and the amplifying effect of social media www.ft.com/content/35ff...
How fan power is reshaping pop
Amplified by social media, fanbases now feel closer than ever to their idols — for good and for ill
www.ft.com
October 25, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Guillaume Jacques and I have collaborated to survey spindle whorls and the origins of weaving in East Asia ... lots of new stuff in this preprint ... a novel method for processing spindle whorl archaeological data, comparison with farming, and new linguistic information ... osf.io/preprints/so...
October 10, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Cotton in Burmese amber ... mid-Cretaceous www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7...
October 7, 2025 at 4:19 PM
What do non-southeast Asian scholars offer to southeast Asian studies? The answer (which I suspect could apply anywhere) is perspectives that are not rooted in ethnonationalism link.springer.com/article/10.1...
What Does the History of Prehistoric Archaeology in Mainland Southeast Asia Tell Us? Statistical Analysis of Scholarly Publications from 2000 to 2023 - Archaeologies
The past 20 years have witnessed profound changes in prehistoric archaeological research in mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA). Based on publication data from related research results—including journal article, book, book section/conference paper, and thesis—this paper provides a bird’s-eye view of how the field of prehistoric archaeology has developed over the past 20 years and, in particular, the role of local and international scholars. The findings show that Western scholars, who remain active in this field, have had a comprehensive and far-reaching influence on the discipline of prehistoric archaeology in MSEA. Local and international scholars have remarkably contrasting interests in terms of research topics, as local scholars are deeply invested in revealing the intricate threads of their own histories and cultures, while international scholars traverse regional boundaries and engage in macro-level discussion to explore scientific questions. This diversity is also found in their journal selection preferences, with local scholars focusing on local journals and international scholars preferring high-impact international journals. The analysis of institutional cooperation also shows diversified international cooperation and a growing local cooperative practice. This study provides a broad perspective from which to examine the development of research on prehistoric archaeology in MSEA over the last two decades and to deepen our understanding of the state of the field in this region.
link.springer.com
October 6, 2025 at 4:32 PM
In Berkeley? Come hear me talk about weaving in southeast Asia, the Pacific and the Americas (including a new, unpublished phylogeny). At the Sutardja Dai hall in UC Berkeley, Thursday 9th Oct at 1.40pm, free entry and no need to register. Full program here: indd.adobe.com/view/8a5cf75...
October 6, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Souvenir of my time working for an NGO in Lhasa in the early 2000s. This is a large blanket made by nomadic Tibetans from yak or goat hair. Woven in narrow strips, sewn together
September 28, 2025 at 7:49 PM
I don't know what their offenses were, but this seems extreme
Purdue to Send Professor, Grad Student and Alumni Into Space https://bit.ly/4nNTN8y

#EDUSky #HigherEd #AcademicSky
September 26, 2025 at 2:51 AM
A weft beater for making narrow bands seems like the obvious use. It lacks the sharp point or edges that you would expect on an awl, and it has a distinct handle
September 25, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Spotted this boat on Flores. I wonder what it's for?
September 23, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by Chris Buckley
Lovely detailed description by @haneuljang.bsky.social & @danielredhead.bsky.social of how knowledge & skills are differentially spread through the network of a forager village in DRC. And how this is patterned by own & contact age, kinship and relationship status
Transmission networks of long-term and short-term knowledge in a foraging society
Abstract. Cultural transmission across generations is key to cumulative cultural evolution. While several mechanisms—such as vertical, horizontal, and obli
academic.oup.com
September 22, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Reposted by Chris Buckley
I'm super excited to announce that ISBA @isba-bayesian.bsky.social has voted to start a new section on Bayesian Social Sciences! It will be a great way to further collaborations with many disciplines in the Social Sciences and Humanities.

bss-isba.github.io
Home - BSS-ISBA
bss-isba.github.io
September 22, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Portentious nonsense. We've been editing the DNA of plants and animals for thousands of years, and the planet is already littered with our creations
Ayer, en MAR Museo Provincial de Arte Contemporáneo, vimos el corto de Max De Esteban (@max_deesteban en IG) "Lamb of God" (2024). Trata el dilema bioético de la edición génica, principalmente para la creación de órganos humanos en otros animales.
Gran trabajo de #arte y #SciComm
(TRAILER)
LAMB OF GOD
vimeo.com
September 22, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Arrived today. Naturally I opened it immediately and looked at my own chapter. I like it.
September 18, 2025 at 10:34 PM