manvir singh
@manvir.bsky.social
anthropologist at uc davis.
contributing writer at the new yorker.
author of SHAMANISM: THE TIMELESS RELIGION (knopf + allen lane).
contributing writer at the new yorker.
author of SHAMANISM: THE TIMELESS RELIGION (knopf + allen lane).
Pinned
manvir singh
@manvir.bsky.social
· Sep 17
My book SHAMANISM: THE TIMELESS RELIGION will be out on May 20, 2025! Shamanism characterized the earliest religions, echoes in often unappreciated ways in the world around us, and will long outlive us.
Pre-order it here: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730339...
Pre-order it here: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730339...
Reposted by manvir singh
What can shamanism teach us about religion -- and the human mind?
What a pleasure to share this excellent conversation to the listeners of On Humans! The hard work was done by @manymindspod.bsky.social and @manvir.bsky.social 🙏
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/4nhm3fG...
Apple 👇
What a pleasure to share this excellent conversation to the listeners of On Humans! The hard work was done by @manymindspod.bsky.social and @manvir.bsky.social 🙏
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/4nhm3fG...
Apple 👇
What Can Shamans Teach Us About Religion? | Many Minds with Manvir Singh
Podcast Episode · On Humans · 01/21/2026 · Bonus · 1h 20m
podcasts.apple.com
January 21, 2026 at 3:28 AM
What can shamanism teach us about religion -- and the human mind?
What a pleasure to share this excellent conversation to the listeners of On Humans! The hard work was done by @manymindspod.bsky.social and @manvir.bsky.social 🙏
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/4nhm3fG...
Apple 👇
What a pleasure to share this excellent conversation to the listeners of On Humans! The hard work was done by @manymindspod.bsky.social and @manvir.bsky.social 🙏
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/4nhm3fG...
Apple 👇
Reposted by manvir singh
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
Reposted by manvir singh
My favourite chapter so far in @manvir.bsky.social ‘s compelling new book is the one on the oracles of finance. Highly recommended.
December 10, 2025 at 10:43 PM
My favourite chapter so far in @manvir.bsky.social ‘s compelling new book is the one on the oracles of finance. Highly recommended.
Reposted by manvir singh
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...
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 manvir singh
Shamans have always been with us. This week, we explore how shamanism works with @manvir.bsky.social and why forms of it pop up in some surprising places, from modern medicine and CEO culture to charismatic Christianity. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
November 30, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Shamans have always been with us. This week, we explore how shamanism works with @manvir.bsky.social and why forms of it pop up in some surprising places, from modern medicine and CEO culture to charismatic Christianity. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
Reposted by manvir singh
Last month, the Cultural Analytics Lecture series, a collab b/w @ucbids.bsky.social and the I School, kicked off w/ a lecture from @manvir.bsky.social, where he shared his findings on global patterns in music and storytelling.
Read about the event:
👇
tinyurl.com/3de3khzd
Read about the event:
👇
tinyurl.com/3de3khzd
November 26, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Last month, the Cultural Analytics Lecture series, a collab b/w @ucbids.bsky.social and the I School, kicked off w/ a lecture from @manvir.bsky.social, where he shared his findings on global patterns in music and storytelling.
Read about the event:
👇
tinyurl.com/3de3khzd
Read about the event:
👇
tinyurl.com/3de3khzd
For this week’s New Yorker (and in celebration of Halloween!), I wrote about how fictional monsters have gone from mean and horrendous to humanized and misunderstood.
In the past few decades, monsters have gone from menaces to misfits. Why do we feel the need to humanize them? https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/ixYof5
October 31, 2025 at 8:48 PM
For this week’s New Yorker (and in celebration of Halloween!), I wrote about how fictional monsters have gone from mean and horrendous to humanized and misunderstood.
Reposted by manvir singh
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.
My newest for The New Yorker! I wrote about the project, centuries-old and surprisingly successful at times, of recovering lost mythologies that still resonate in modern storytelling.
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 8:52 PM
My newest for The New Yorker! I wrote about the project, centuries-old and surprisingly successful at times, of recovering lost mythologies that still resonate in modern storytelling.
Hugely honored to be the inaugural guest on the Minds Over Matters Podcast! We talked about my book and the timeless and ubiquitous echoes of shamanism. Watch our conversation, in glorious 1080p, here:
We're kicking things off with evolutionary anthropologist Dr. Manvir Singh for a fascinating conversation about a phenomenon that repeatedly appears across human cultures: shamanism. But why is this the case? What is shamanism? Why does it repeatedly develop across societies? Join us to find out.
Seeing Shamanism Everywhere
YouTube video by Minds Over Matters
youtu.be
October 15, 2025 at 6:02 AM
Hugely honored to be the inaugural guest on the Minds Over Matters Podcast! We talked about my book and the timeless and ubiquitous echoes of shamanism. Watch our conversation, in glorious 1080p, here:
Excited to speak with Prof. Charles Stang tomorrow (Wednesday, October 15th) about my new book, "Shamanism: The Timeless Religion"!
The conversation is sponsored by Harvard's Center for the Study of World Religions and will take place at 10 AM Pacific/1 PM Eastern. Join live here: shorturl.at/Holy8
The conversation is sponsored by Harvard's Center for the Study of World Religions and will take place at 10 AM Pacific/1 PM Eastern. Join live here: shorturl.at/Holy8
October 14, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Excited to speak with Prof. Charles Stang tomorrow (Wednesday, October 15th) about my new book, "Shamanism: The Timeless Religion"!
The conversation is sponsored by Harvard's Center for the Study of World Religions and will take place at 10 AM Pacific/1 PM Eastern. Join live here: shorturl.at/Holy8
The conversation is sponsored by Harvard's Center for the Study of World Religions and will take place at 10 AM Pacific/1 PM Eastern. Join live here: shorturl.at/Holy8
Reposted by manvir singh
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....
Honored to have been interviewed for this week's issue of @currentbiology.bsky.social!
From burying beetles to shamans, follow Manvir Singh @manvir.bsky.social in his sweeping Q&A from our latest issue.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Manvir Singh
Interview with Manvir Singh, who studies the evolutionary and cognitive origins of
human cultural behaviors at the University of California, Davis.
www.cell.com
September 22, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Honored to have been interviewed for this week's issue of @currentbiology.bsky.social!
Reposted by manvir singh
From burying beetles to shamans, follow Manvir Singh @manvir.bsky.social in his sweeping Q&A from our latest issue.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Manvir Singh
Interview with Manvir Singh, who studies the evolutionary and cognitive origins of
human cultural behaviors at the University of California, Davis.
www.cell.com
September 22, 2025 at 8:32 PM
From burying beetles to shamans, follow Manvir Singh @manvir.bsky.social in his sweeping Q&A from our latest issue.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by manvir singh
Join us for the first lecture in our Cultural Analytics Talk Series, co-sponsored w/ @ucbids.bsky.social!
@manvir.bsky.social will discuss projects investigating global patterns in music & storytelling.
📅 Oct. 3, 12:15 - 1:30 pm
📍 210 South Hall, Online
www.ischool.berkeley.edu/events/2025/...
@manvir.bsky.social will discuss projects investigating global patterns in music & storytelling.
📅 Oct. 3, 12:15 - 1:30 pm
📍 210 South Hall, Online
www.ischool.berkeley.edu/events/2025/...
September 16, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Join us for the first lecture in our Cultural Analytics Talk Series, co-sponsored w/ @ucbids.bsky.social!
@manvir.bsky.social will discuss projects investigating global patterns in music & storytelling.
📅 Oct. 3, 12:15 - 1:30 pm
📍 210 South Hall, Online
www.ischool.berkeley.edu/events/2025/...
@manvir.bsky.social will discuss projects investigating global patterns in music & storytelling.
📅 Oct. 3, 12:15 - 1:30 pm
📍 210 South Hall, Online
www.ischool.berkeley.edu/events/2025/...
A reminder that the deadline for commentary proposals for my new BBS paper is tomorrow!
An honor of publishing with BBS is having thoughtful colleagues engage with one's work, and I can't wait to see y'all what think.
An honor of publishing with BBS is having thoughtful colleagues engage with one's work, and I can't wait to see y'all what think.
Why do societies reliably develop strikingly similar traditions like dance songs, hero stories, shamanism & justice institutions?
In a new BBS target article, I propose a theory for such "super-attractors" + cultural evolution more broadly. Now open for commentary: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
In a new BBS target article, I propose a theory for such "super-attractors" + cultural evolution more broadly. Now open for commentary: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
September 9, 2025 at 8:47 PM
A reminder that the deadline for commentary proposals for my new BBS paper is tomorrow!
An honor of publishing with BBS is having thoughtful colleagues engage with one's work, and I can't wait to see y'all what think.
An honor of publishing with BBS is having thoughtful colleagues engage with one's work, and I can't wait to see y'all what think.
I'm giving a free book talk next Wednesday at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Come by if you're in the Boston area!
September 5, 2025 at 5:03 PM
I'm giving a free book talk next Wednesday at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Come by if you're in the Boston area!
Reposted by manvir singh
‘One veteran shaman, returning from his first experience performing at a top-dollar eco-lodge, asked the ayahuasca researcher Stephan Beyer why these people had come halfway round the world to see him when they weren’t sick.’
@mikejay.bsky.social on shamanism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@mikejay.bsky.social on shamanism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Mike Jay · Priest of the Devil: On Shamanism
‘Shamanism’, as a concept, is of course a Western invention, and from the earliest cross-cultural encounters it was...
www.lrb.co.uk
September 4, 2025 at 12:12 PM
‘One veteran shaman, returning from his first experience performing at a top-dollar eco-lodge, asked the ayahuasca researcher Stephan Beyer why these people had come halfway round the world to see him when they weren’t sick.’
@mikejay.bsky.social on shamanism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@mikejay.bsky.social on shamanism: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Thrilled to see this mammoth review of "Shamanism" in
@lrb.co.uk from master drug historian @mikejay.bsky.social!
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@lrb.co.uk from master drug historian @mikejay.bsky.social!
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Mike Jay · Priest of the Devil: On Shamanism
‘Shamanism’, as a concept, is of course a Western invention, and from the earliest cross-cultural encounters it was...
www.lrb.co.uk
September 3, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Thrilled to see this mammoth review of "Shamanism" in
@lrb.co.uk from master drug historian @mikejay.bsky.social!
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
@lrb.co.uk from master drug historian @mikejay.bsky.social!
www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Why do societies reliably develop strikingly similar traditions like dance songs, hero stories, shamanism & justice institutions?
In a new BBS target article, I propose a theory for such "super-attractors" + cultural evolution more broadly. Now open for commentary: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
In a new BBS target article, I propose a theory for such "super-attractors" + cultural evolution more broadly. Now open for commentary: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
August 25, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Why do societies reliably develop strikingly similar traditions like dance songs, hero stories, shamanism & justice institutions?
In a new BBS target article, I propose a theory for such "super-attractors" + cultural evolution more broadly. Now open for commentary: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
In a new BBS target article, I propose a theory for such "super-attractors" + cultural evolution more broadly. Now open for commentary: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by manvir singh
BBS just announced a call for commentaries on @manvir.bsky.social's target article, "Subjective selection, super-attractors, and the origins of the cultural manifold"
Deadline is Sep 10!
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Deadline is Sep 10!
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Call for Commentary Proposals - Subjective selection, super-attractors, and the
Call for Commentary Proposals - Subjective selection, super-attractors, and the origins of the cultural manifold
www.cambridge.org
August 21, 2025 at 9:36 PM
BBS just announced a call for commentaries on @manvir.bsky.social's target article, "Subjective selection, super-attractors, and the origins of the cultural manifold"
Deadline is Sep 10!
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Deadline is Sep 10!
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by manvir singh
Super fun having @manvir.bsky.social on the podcast (again)!
I strongly recommend his new book—especially if you like your non-fiction laced with personal narrative, quirky characters, & history of ideas.
I strongly recommend his new book—especially if you like your non-fiction laced with personal narrative, quirky characters, & history of ideas.
We often treat religion and shamanism as fundamentally different. But the two are deeply enmeshed, and a push and pull between them has played out repeatedly across history.
Just one of the topics discussed in latest episode, with @manvir.bsky.social!
Listen: disi.org/the-shaman-w...
Just one of the topics discussed in latest episode, with @manvir.bsky.social!
Listen: disi.org/the-shaman-w...
August 7, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Super fun having @manvir.bsky.social on the podcast (again)!
I strongly recommend his new book—especially if you like your non-fiction laced with personal narrative, quirky characters, & history of ideas.
I strongly recommend his new book—especially if you like your non-fiction laced with personal narrative, quirky characters, & history of ideas.
Reposted by manvir singh
I really enjoyed Manvir Singh's Shamanism: The Timeless Religion. Addictive listen and great mix of anthropology, history, and religion.
August 1, 2025 at 4:53 PM
I really enjoyed Manvir Singh's Shamanism: The Timeless Religion. Addictive listen and great mix of anthropology, history, and religion.
Thank you, @kensycoop.bsky.social, for having me on! We had a great conversation about shamanism—its cognitive foundations, place in Paleolithic societies, role in Abrahamic religions, manifestations in industrialized societies (including hedge wizards), and much more.
New episode!! 🎙️📣
A conversation with @manvir.bsky.social about the many faces of shamanism.
Shamanism is not a relic of the past or a curio from far-off lands—it's alive and well, all around the world. The roots of shamanism, after all, lie within us.
Listen: disi.org/the-shaman-w...
A conversation with @manvir.bsky.social about the many faces of shamanism.
Shamanism is not a relic of the past or a curio from far-off lands—it's alive and well, all around the world. The roots of shamanism, after all, lie within us.
Listen: disi.org/the-shaman-w...
August 1, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Thank you, @kensycoop.bsky.social, for having me on! We had a great conversation about shamanism—its cognitive foundations, place in Paleolithic societies, role in Abrahamic religions, manifestations in industrialized societies (including hedge wizards), and much more.