Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute #DISI

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...

Applications are open for SFI's 2026 Complexity Postdoctoral Fellowships

If you’ve recently earned a Ph.D. in any scientific field and want to pursue independent, transdisciplinary research, consider applying.

Deadline: October 1, 2025
Apply here: santafe.edu/sfifellowship

Children are often cast as passive vessels into which we pour culture. But children create cultures of their own—vibrant ones with special properties.

Just one of the topics discussed in our recent episode with @dorsaamir.bsky.social & @sheinalew.bsky.social!

Listen: disi.org/varieties-of...

Call for Abstracts Extended! 🌟
Join us this September in Sheffield for 'Nature of Intelligence: Bridging Animal & Artificial Intelligence', an ASAB Interdisciplinary Workshop.

@asab.org @sheffielduni.bsky.social
#ArtificialIntelligence #AnimalCognition #Neuroscience I #AcademicWorkshop #ASAB

a cartoon brain with purple tentacles and the word woo in yellow ALT: a cartoon brain with purple tentacles and the word woo in yellow

Such a pleasure to attend the Diverse Intelligences Summit in St Andrews. Making new friends, chatting with academic heroes, brainstorming Big Team Science & outreach, hanging out with old and new @divintelligence.bsky.social fellows, and basically having an epic week. My heart and brain are full.

Varieties of childhood Podcast Episode · Many Minds · 07/10/2025 · 1h 29m

A fascinating podcast with Sheina Lew-Levy and Dorsa Amir about childhood across cultures, very insightful ideas about how contemporary Western parents could learn from forager childhoods, especially the importance of peer culture (read the Opies!).
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/v...

My sound track for Bristol➡️St Andrews is all sorted! 🎧
@manymindspod.bsky.social was the obvious choice, given that I’m joining the @divintelligence.bsky.social and wider Diverse Intelligence gang for their annual summit 🙌 🧠

New episode!! 🎙️📣

A chat w/ @sheinalew.bsky.social & @dorsaamir.bsky.social about childhood across cultures.

Humans everywhere go through childhood—a time of learning, growth, and play. But this universal stage of life can look very different in different places.

Listen: disi.org/varieties-of...

Grateful to be taking part in #DISI2025 — and in such a beautiful setting!
Also lucky enough to spot some horses on the beach on #WorldHorseDay 🐎🌊

huge cylindrical rock on the coast of Scotland with fog and rocky shores in the background

robert hawkins presenting his work on a large screen at the front of a lecture hall

students sitting in a circle on the grass outside under a tree

an old scottish building on the campus of st andrews university. clearly after a rain as the ground is wet and the clouds still linger above

one week of @divintelligence.bsky.social down and two to go!

Having a blast in St Andrews, collectively foraging for new ideas with the many minds of @divintelligence.bsky.social !

Image 1: tide pool creations

Image 2: several of thousands of baby squid found at the tide line

Image 3: fog rolls in on the coastal cliffs

New episode!! 🎙️🎙️

A conversation w/ @mjcrockett.bsky.social about AI and science!

We're in the midst of a major transformation, with AI reshaping the entire research pipeline. These changes may well boost scientific productivity. Will they also boost understanding?

Listen: disi.org/science-ai-a...

Heading to St Andrews this Sunday for the @divintelligence.bsky.social !

Three weeks with researchers and artists exploring what intelligence is and how it evolves.

Really excited and grateful for this chance to learn, share, and connect.

🐳 👾 🐝 🌱

New episode!! 🎙️📣

A conversation w/ Dr. Gordon Burghardt about play across the tree of life.

It's not just kids, apes, and dogs that play. Play abounds—often in unexpected places. It takes different forms, has different functions, and still presents puzzles.

Listen: disi.org/the-primeval...

My new installation Alaka’i 1777, which imagines the lost song culture of the Kauaʻi ʻōʻō, debuts in NYC 6/21-22! Come hear real-time simulations of extinct birdsongs in 24-channel spatial audio 🦜 Made possible by @cornellbirds.bsky.social @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social @divintelligence.bsky.social

The big five and beyond - Many Minds podcast Exploring our world's diverse forms of mind—human, animal, machine—from diverse perspectives

As people age, their personalities shift in predictable directions—to the point that it makes sense to speak of "personality age." But what drives these changes?

Just one of the topics discussed in our latest episode, a conversation w/ @renemottus.bsky.social!

Listen: disi.org/the-big-five...

If I weren't committed to living in Edinburgh, I'd jump at the chance to apply to this. A rare environment for genuinely interdisciplinary research, and with with extraordinarily cool people. (deadline 15th June)

I talked about this with @kathrynnave.bsky.social at @divintelligence.bsky.social last year, and it was one of the most fascinating topics I've heard about in 2024!

New episode!! 📣🎙️

A conversation w/ @renemottus.bsky.social about the science of human personality.

The "Big Five" model of human personality has been enormously generative and influential. But what does it miss? What does it mask? Where should the field go next?

Listen: disi.org/the-big-five...

New postdoc positions at the (DISI-affiliated) Center for Possible Minds at Indiana University.

Looking for scholars interested in interdisciplinary research on the nature of biological, artificial, and collective intelligence.

Please share widely!

indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/29547

New postdoc positions at the (DISI-affiliated) Center for Possible Minds at Indiana University.

Looking for scholars interested in interdisciplinary research on the nature of biological, artificial, and collective intelligence.

Please share widely!

indiana.peopleadmin.com/postings/29547

Psychedelics seem to reduce people's fear of death. But how do they do this, exactly? Is it in part by offering a "comforting delusion"?

Just one of the topics discussed in our latest episode, a conversation w/ Dr. Chris Letheby!

Listen: disi.org/philosophers...

New episode!! 🎙️

A conversation w/ Dr. Chris Letheby about the philosophy of psychedelics.

Psychedelics open up new questions—questions about the mind, belief, the self, moral enhancement, and the ethics of transformative experience. Philosophers have taken note.

Listen: disi.org/philosophers...

Cuttlefish are known for dynamic, kaleidoscopic displays—and yet they seem to be colorblind. How does an animal that can't see color project color out onto its skin?

Just one of the enigmas discussed in our latest episode, w/ @tessamontague.bsky.social!

Listen: disi.org/the-cuttlefi...

New episode!! 🎙️📣

A conversation w/ @tessamontague.bsky.social about cephalopod camouflage.

Cuttlefish and other cephalopods can change their appearance—color, pattern, texture—with lightning speed. What's going on in their skin and brains that makes this possible?

Link: disi.org/the-cuttlefi...

In the two decades since it was first introduced, the "free energy principle" has had enormous influence. But is the central idea really so new?

Just one of the topics discussed in our latest episode, w/ @kathrynnave.bsky.social!

Listen: disi.org/life-free-en...

so excited to finally be going to @divintelligence.bsky.social this year! 3 weeks of learning from and working with researchers from tons of fields 🌱🧠💻🐒 + seminars from amazing faculty: disi.org/category/fac...
@rdhawkins.bsky.social @joshtenenbaum.bsky.social
@dhananjayj.bsky.social + many more!!

New preprint! 🚨How do groups process information? What does it mean for part of a network to "explore" and part to "exploit"? How do we move beyond phenomenological correlation in our analyses of networks to a causal theory of collective intelligence?

Here, we try to answer these questions:

Life, free energy, and the pursuit of goals - Many Minds podcast Exploring our world's diverse forms of mind—human, animal, machine—from diverse perspectives

New episode!! 🎙️📣

A conversation with @kathrynnave.bsky.social about her new book, 'A Drive to Survive.'

The "free energy principle" has taken the cognitive & life sciences by storm. But what does it really say about brains and minds—and about life itself?

Listen: disi.org/life-free-en...