Eli Stark-Elster
@eselster.bsky.social
cognitive and evolutionary anthropologist at UC Davis | writer
Substack: https://unpublishablepapers.substack.com/
Substack: https://unpublishablepapers.substack.com/
Pinned
Why Is Everything 'Wrapped'?
On Spotify, WEIRDness and the endless search for ourselves
unpublishablepapers.substack.com
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...
unpublishablepapers.substack.com/p/why-is-eve...
Reposted by Eli Stark-Elster
How experience shapes extraordinary beliefs
Review by Eli Stark-Elster (@eselster.bsky.social) & Manvir Singh (@manvir.bsky.social)
tinyurl.com/y9dbwaa5
Review by Eli Stark-Elster (@eselster.bsky.social) & Manvir Singh (@manvir.bsky.social)
tinyurl.com/y9dbwaa5
December 18, 2025 at 4:33 PM
How experience shapes extraordinary beliefs
Review by Eli Stark-Elster (@eselster.bsky.social) & Manvir Singh (@manvir.bsky.social)
tinyurl.com/y9dbwaa5
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...
unpublishablepapers.substack.com/p/why-is-eve...
Why Is Everything 'Wrapped'?
On Spotify, WEIRDness and the endless search for ourselves
unpublishablepapers.substack.com
December 17, 2025 at 3:44 PM
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...
unpublishablepapers.substack.com/p/why-is-eve...
Reposted by Eli Stark-Elster
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
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
December 15, 2025 at 4:14 PM
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
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
Reposted by Eli Stark-Elster
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..."
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
December 12, 2025 at 4:07 PM
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..."
From study: "...shaped by perceptual plausibility, triggered by anomalous experiences, or re-inforced through immersive technologies..."
Reposted by Eli Stark-Elster
God, and other things that are just for fun. Link below!
unpublishablepapers.substack.com/p/god-and-ot...
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
December 6, 2025 at 7:16 PM
God, and other things that are just for fun. Link below!
unpublishablepapers.substack.com/p/god-and-ot...
unpublishablepapers.substack.com/p/god-and-ot...
God, and other things that are just for fun. Link below!
unpublishablepapers.substack.com/p/god-and-ot...
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
December 6, 2025 at 7:16 PM
God, and other things that are just for fun. Link below!
unpublishablepapers.substack.com/p/god-and-ot...
unpublishablepapers.substack.com/p/god-and-ot...
Reposted by Eli Stark-Elster
Online Now: How experience shapes extraordinary beliefs
How experience shapes extraordinary beliefs
The ubiquity of extraordinary beliefs across human societies, such as conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, and supernatural beliefs, is a long-standing puzzle in cognitive science. Prevailing accounts emphasize cognitive biases and social dynamics but often neglect a key factor: experience. We synthesize recent evidence and identify three pathways by which experience can shape these convictions: by filtering which beliefs feel perceptually plausible, by sparking new beliefs through anomalous and emotionally charged events, and by being engineered through immersive cultural technologies that simulate sensory evidence. These pathways function alongside cognitive biases and social processes, helping explain why certain extraordinary beliefs recur, why they often accompany vivid rituals, and why they can feel convincing despite evidence that challenges their veracity.
dlvr.it
December 2, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Online Now: How experience shapes extraordinary beliefs
Reposted by Eli Stark-Elster
People don’t adopt flat-Earth theories and conspiracy myths out of nowhere.
A new review of the research shows experiences like sleep paralysis, sensory illusions and ritual practices can make extraordinary beliefs feel very true. buff.ly/khbNn7V
A new review of the research shows experiences like sleep paralysis, sensory illusions and ritual practices can make extraordinary beliefs feel very true. buff.ly/khbNn7V
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…
theconversation.com
December 4, 2025 at 12:02 AM
People don’t adopt flat-Earth theories and conspiracy myths out of nowhere.
A new review of the research shows experiences like sleep paralysis, sensory illusions and ritual practices can make extraordinary beliefs feel very true. buff.ly/khbNn7V
A new review of the research shows experiences like sleep paralysis, sensory illusions and ritual practices can make extraordinary beliefs feel very true. buff.ly/khbNn7V
Reposted by Eli Stark-Elster
Cognitive bias or social dynamics are widely seen as contributing to extraordinary beliefs.
Review by @eselster.bsky.social & @manvir.bsky.social suggests a 3rd factor—experience, and sets out 3 pathways by which it can shape such beliefs:
buff.ly/lidc8Hc
TL;DR:🧵https://buff.ly/jLH2yPw
Review by @eselster.bsky.social & @manvir.bsky.social suggests a 3rd factor—experience, and sets out 3 pathways by which it can shape such beliefs:
buff.ly/lidc8Hc
TL;DR:🧵https://buff.ly/jLH2yPw
December 3, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Cognitive bias or social dynamics are widely seen as contributing to extraordinary beliefs.
Review by @eselster.bsky.social & @manvir.bsky.social suggests a 3rd factor—experience, and sets out 3 pathways by which it can shape such beliefs:
buff.ly/lidc8Hc
TL;DR:🧵https://buff.ly/jLH2yPw
Review by @eselster.bsky.social & @manvir.bsky.social suggests a 3rd factor—experience, and sets out 3 pathways by which it can shape such beliefs:
buff.ly/lidc8Hc
TL;DR:🧵https://buff.ly/jLH2yPw
Reposted by Eli Stark-Elster
Why do people endorse seemingly extraordinary beliefs such as in pseudoscience & supernatural entities?
Leading approaches stress cognitive biases (like agency detection) & social dynamics (like signaling). Eli Stark-Elster & I argue that experience matters too & put fwd a framework explaining how.
Leading approaches stress cognitive biases (like agency detection) & social dynamics (like signaling). Eli Stark-Elster & I argue that experience matters too & put fwd a framework explaining how.
In a new Review for @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social -- and my first first-authored paper! -- @manvir.bsky.social and I argue that experience shapes the emergence and evolution of seemingly extraordinary beliefs.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
How experience shapes extraordinary beliefs
The ubiquity of extraordinary beliefs across human societies, such as conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, and supernatural beliefs, is a long-standing…
www.sciencedirect.com
December 2, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Why do people endorse seemingly extraordinary beliefs such as in pseudoscience & supernatural entities?
Leading approaches stress cognitive biases (like agency detection) & social dynamics (like signaling). Eli Stark-Elster & I argue that experience matters too & put fwd a framework explaining how.
Leading approaches stress cognitive biases (like agency detection) & social dynamics (like signaling). Eli Stark-Elster & I argue that experience matters too & put fwd a framework explaining how.
Reposted by Eli Stark-Elster
Anthropologist @eselster.bsky.social argues parents have tried so hard to insulate their kids from offline harms, that they're forced to seek unstructured independence in online spaces.
But Big Tech often puts profits over child safety, leaving kids without safe places to play online or off.
But Big Tech often puts profits over child safety, leaving kids without safe places to play online or off.
Where Do the Children Play?
On the need for a world without us
unpublishablepapers.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Anthropologist @eselster.bsky.social argues parents have tried so hard to insulate their kids from offline harms, that they're forced to seek unstructured independence in online spaces.
But Big Tech often puts profits over child safety, leaving kids without safe places to play online or off.
But Big Tech often puts profits over child safety, leaving kids without safe places to play online or off.
In a new article for @us.theconversation.com, I explain our new perspective on how experience shapes extraordinary beliefs -- a good piece to read if you want the quick and dirty deets!
theconversation.com/flat-earth-s...
theconversation.com/flat-earth-s...
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
December 2, 2025 at 3:35 PM
In a new article for @us.theconversation.com, I explain our new perspective on how experience shapes extraordinary beliefs -- a good piece to read if you want the quick and dirty deets!
theconversation.com/flat-earth-s...
theconversation.com/flat-earth-s...
In a new Review for @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social -- and my first first-authored paper! -- @manvir.bsky.social and I argue that experience shapes the emergence and evolution of seemingly extraordinary beliefs.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
How experience shapes extraordinary beliefs
The ubiquity of extraordinary beliefs across human societies, such as conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, and supernatural beliefs, is a long-standing…
www.sciencedirect.com
December 2, 2025 at 3:32 PM
In a new Review for @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social -- and my first first-authored paper! -- @manvir.bsky.social and I argue that experience shapes the emergence and evolution of seemingly extraordinary beliefs.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
News from the future, inspired by work from Michael Levin, Josh Bongard, David Chalmers and many others! Link below.
open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...
open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...
The Experience Machine
News from the Future #1
open.substack.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:00 PM
News from the future, inspired by work from Michael Levin, Josh Bongard, David Chalmers and many others! Link below.
open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...
open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...
I was interviewed this week by @ayesharascoe.bsky.social on @npr.org about the evolution of play and what it tells us about how kids are using digital spaces. Here's the link!
www.npr.org/2025/11/23/n...
www.npr.org/2025/11/23/n...
Kids are highly supervised in physical spaces, but not online. Here's what that does
NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks to researcher Eli Stark-Elster about the imbalance of how adults supervise children in physical spaces versus digitally.
www.npr.org
November 23, 2025 at 2:36 PM
I was interviewed this week by @ayesharascoe.bsky.social on @npr.org about the evolution of play and what it tells us about how kids are using digital spaces. Here's the link!
www.npr.org/2025/11/23/n...
www.npr.org/2025/11/23/n...
Reposted by Eli Stark-Elster
"Where Do the Children Play?" – unpublishablepapers.substack.com/p/where-do-t... (by @eselster.bsky.social)
Where Do the Children Play?
On the need for a world without us
unpublishablepapers.substack.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:37 PM
"Where Do the Children Play?" – unpublishablepapers.substack.com/p/where-do-t... (by @eselster.bsky.social)
Reposted by Eli Stark-Elster
"By retreating to digital space, children have found an open frontier that lies beyond the interest or comprehension of their parents."
In a world without forest and creeks, where do the children play? My new essay explores peer cultures and the strangeness of Western childhood. Heavily inspired by work from @dorsaamir.bsky.social and Sheina Lew-Levy :)
open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...
open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...
Where Do the Children Play?
On the need for a world without us
open.substack.com
November 11, 2025 at 5:09 PM
"By retreating to digital space, children have found an open frontier that lies beyond the interest or comprehension of their parents."
In a world without forest and creeks, where do the children play? My new essay explores peer cultures and the strangeness of Western childhood. Heavily inspired by work from @dorsaamir.bsky.social and Sheina Lew-Levy :)
open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...
open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...
Where Do the Children Play?
On the need for a world without us
open.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 10:52 PM
In a world without forest and creeks, where do the children play? My new essay explores peer cultures and the strangeness of Western childhood. Heavily inspired by work from @dorsaamir.bsky.social and Sheina Lew-Levy :)
open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...
open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...
Thanks to @slatestarcodex , I'm pleased to announce that a fundraising page for my fieldwork on psilocybin use in Lesotho is now live on Manifund! Share (or support) if you want to further our medical and ethnographic understanding of psychedelics🍄🌍
manifund.org/projects/doc...
manifund.org/projects/doc...
Native psilocybin use in Southern Africa
Continue documenting the indigenous use of native Psilocybe mushrooms in Lesotho, including the collection of physical samples, to identify novel medical applications of psilocybin.
manifund.org
October 31, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Thanks to @slatestarcodex , I'm pleased to announce that a fundraising page for my fieldwork on psilocybin use in Lesotho is now live on Manifund! Share (or support) if you want to further our medical and ethnographic understanding of psychedelics🍄🌍
manifund.org/projects/doc...
manifund.org/projects/doc...
Reposted by Eli Stark-Elster
Patterns recur through various mythologies: floods, tricksters, battles with monsters, creation and apocalypse. Some scholars believe there is a common source—and hope to find it.
The Hunt for the World’s Oldest Story
From thunder gods to serpent slayers, scholars are reconstructing myths that vanished millennia ago. How much further can we go—and what might we find?
www.newyorker.com
October 15, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Patterns recur through various mythologies: floods, tricksters, battles with monsters, creation and apocalypse. Some scholars believe there is a common source—and hope to find it.
Those who wish to judge the crimes of the past should not support the crimes of the present. Link below.
open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...
open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...
He who is without sin
On factory farming, the Holocaust and hypocrisy
open.substack.com
October 13, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Those who wish to judge the crimes of the past should not support the crimes of the present. Link below.
open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...
open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...
The last twenty years of the cognitive science of religion have been defined by religious belief. The next twenty years will be defined by religious experience. Here's one reason why!
Experience required
Or: Do Atheists Dream of Conscious Trees?
open.substack.com
September 29, 2025 at 12:37 PM
The last twenty years of the cognitive science of religion have been defined by religious belief. The next twenty years will be defined by religious experience. Here's one reason why!
Reposted by Eli Stark-Elster
"the decline of religious belief doesn’t imply the emergence of true disbelief"
New commentary out w/ @manvir.bsky.social
in Religion, Brain, and Behavior! We argue that social learning fails to explain three patterns in religious belief and practice: SBNR beliefs, strategic endorsement of beliefs, and religious experience. Check it out:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
in Religion, Brain, and Behavior! We argue that social learning fails to explain three patterns in religious belief and practice: SBNR beliefs, strategic endorsement of beliefs, and religious experience. Check it out:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Strategy and experience required: Social learning cannot explain the varieties of supernatural belief
Published in Religion, Brain & Behavior (Ahead of Print, 2025)
www.tandfonline.com
September 24, 2025 at 7:44 PM
"the decline of religious belief doesn’t imply the emergence of true disbelief"
New commentary out w/ @manvir.bsky.social
in Religion, Brain, and Behavior! We argue that social learning fails to explain three patterns in religious belief and practice: SBNR beliefs, strategic endorsement of beliefs, and religious experience. Check it out:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
in Religion, Brain, and Behavior! We argue that social learning fails to explain three patterns in religious belief and practice: SBNR beliefs, strategic endorsement of beliefs, and religious experience. Check it out:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Strategy and experience required: Social learning cannot explain the varieties of supernatural belief
Published in Religion, Brain & Behavior (Ahead of Print, 2025)
www.tandfonline.com
September 24, 2025 at 6:13 PM
New commentary out w/ @manvir.bsky.social
in Religion, Brain, and Behavior! We argue that social learning fails to explain three patterns in religious belief and practice: SBNR beliefs, strategic endorsement of beliefs, and religious experience. Check it out:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
in Religion, Brain, and Behavior! We argue that social learning fails to explain three patterns in religious belief and practice: SBNR beliefs, strategic endorsement of beliefs, and religious experience. Check it out:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Eli Stark-Elster
"A well-designed PhD program teaches you how to ask good questions. Trivial as this may sound, no ability is more central to scientific progress than asking good questions. And doing it is much, much harder than you think."
OpenAI was mocked for saying GPT-5 would display "PhD-level intelligence." If we took that concept seriously, what might it mean? Which capacity is uniquely cultivated through a PhD?
I think it's mostly one thing: learning how to ask Goldilocks questions.
open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...
I think it's mostly one thing: learning how to ask Goldilocks questions.
open.substack.com/pub/unpublis...
Goldilocks questions
On the nature of "PhD-level intelligence"
open.substack.com
September 16, 2025 at 1:53 PM
"A well-designed PhD program teaches you how to ask good questions. Trivial as this may sound, no ability is more central to scientific progress than asking good questions. And doing it is much, much harder than you think."