jonathan r goodman

Or academics

Join us at the Cambridge Festival for an interactive panel: Traitors style, with a scientific twist!

If you think you can spot impostors better than a TV contestant, come and prove it.

Friday 27 March, 7pm at Darwin College.

Tickets here: www.festival.cam.ac.uk/events/trait...

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The Epstein Emails Show How the Powerful Talk About Race The files reveal the disgraced financier’s interest in “race science.”

"Arguing intelligence & adjacent traits are biologically determined served a clear function for Epstein, who treated women as subordinate. It’s equally unsurprising that the powerful people he cultivated might come up with a natural, objective explanation for their perch at the top of society"

April 2026: Paperback Previews Debuts dominate the fiction offering this month, with non-fiction reflecting the shifting times we live in

Thanks @thebookseller.com for including my book in your preview: paperback is out 16th April www.thebookseller.com/comment/prev...

In an essay for @aeon.co, I argue that humans evolved not to cooperate or to compete, but with the capacity for both – and with the flexibility to cheat when we’re likely to get away with it.

Cooperation is therefore something we need to promote, not to presume.

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aeon.co/essays/we-co...

How have ideas of relational equality developed in the past 100 years? ⚖️

Don't miss this forthcoming #London #Lecture by TRIP President @jowolff.bsky.social, Social Equality: Then and Now.

🎟️ Get tickets here: buff.ly/WQ4gFXS

#politicalphilosophy #socialequality #philosophy

“Low birth rates are not the end: they are the catalyst for a more humane, sustainable world – one where all the people live richer, fuller lives”

Amazing, Duncan!

Cool to get some coverage in the New Scientist. I might have rephrased a couple of small things! But the closing paragraphs from Jerome Lewis, especially, are fab.

www.newscientist.com/article/2507...

Trust and Perceived Trustworthiness in Health-Related Data Sharing Among UK Adults: Cross-Sectional Survey Background: Trust is an essential element in engagement with data sharing and underpins efforts to use data to combat health inequalities. Research into public trust in data sharing and healthcare set...

In an article for @jmirpub.bsky.social, @rjmilne.bsky.social, Alessia Costa, and I argue that trust should be understood contextually, not as a static concept.

Instead, trust is about the relationship between the trustor and trustee – in healthcare and beyond.

www.jmir.org/2025/1/e83533

Better on e-mail!

Thanks Anna and I agree with this – but my suggestion is that we confront biological selfishness, not celebrate it!

An article called 'Supremely Selfish' for the New Scientist

A few thoughts for the @newscientist.com about how recent research from the @sangerinstitute.bsky.social into selfish sperm tells us a lot about biological evolution – and even ourselves:

www.newscientist.com/article/mg26...

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Changes to NHS COVID-19 vaccine eligibility: a fair allocation of health resources or a risk to public trust? - Nuffield Council on Bioethics Susan Tansey, Member of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, reflects on recent changes to the COVID-19 vaccine eligibility and how the management of this could impact on public trust in decision makers...

Great blog post from the @nuffieldbioethics.bsky.social showcasing how utilitarian decision-making around vaccination combined with poor communication is a terrible recipe if you want to maintain public trust:

www.nuffieldbioethics.org/news-blog/ch...

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‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of leaked messages show leaders of Young Republican groups joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape in a private Telegram chat.

Inside rising GOP leaders’ racist chats — obtained by POLITICO and spanning more than 7 months👇

Your Genes Are Simply Not Enough to Explain How Smart You Are Seven years ago, I took a bet with Charles Murray about whether we’d basically understand the genetics of intelligence by now.

In 2018, Charles Murray challenged me to a bet: "We will understand IQ genetically—I think most of the picture will have been filled in by 2025—there will still be blanks—but we’ll know basically what’s going on." It's now 2025, and I claim a win. I write about it in The Atlantic.

Yes! Hopefully available soon.

Most of the power authoritarians have is freely given. We should not comply with them in advance.

Trump is far weaker than he looks. So is the GOP. We should draw them out, drain them at every opportunity, and fight for people’s wellbeing at every turn.

We have been sent here to fight for people.

Text from a poem of Jozsef Attila: They can tap all my telephone calls (when, why, to whom) They have a file on my dreams and plans And on those who read them. And who knows when they'll find Sufficient reason to dig up the files That violate my rights.

The not so distant future of the US?

From Adam LeBor’s The Last Days of Budapest

The ultimate practical guide to conjoint analysis with R | Andrew Heiss Learn how to use R, {brms}, and {marginaleffects} to analyze conjoint data and find causal and descriptive quantities of interest, both frequentistly and Bayesianly

Fantastic resource for running conjoint analysis in R by @andrew.heiss.phd

www.andrewheiss.com/blog/2023/07...

How conspiracy theories about COVID’s origins are hampering our ability to prevent the next pandemic The COVID pandemic likely began when the virus jumped from animals to humans, and didn’t start in a lab. But false narratives continue to circulate.

You’ve been badly misled over COVID origins theconversation.com/how-conspira...

Transhumanism Should Focus on Inequality, Not Living Forever Opinion | Instead of trying to extend the lives of a privileged few, we should invest in improving the lives of all people today.

Instead of trying to extend the lives of a privileged few, we should invest in improving the lives of all people today.

A piece for @undark.org on transhumanism, oligarchy, and biology

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undark.org/2025/07/23/o...

Evolution has made humans both Machiavellian and born socialists Humanity’s innate treachery is behind social ills ranging from inequality to abuse of power. Lessons from our ancestors can help defeat the enemy within

Without a proper understanding of human nature, we are at the mercy of our biological heritage. A feature on cooperation, competition, and invisible rivalry for @newscientist.com:

www.newscientist.com/article/2486...

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Excellent and considered post. A must read

Findings from our accents study follow up: image showing that study accent–listeners had the highest probability of a correct response (62.49%–70.12%), followed by UK/Ireland (53.18%–62.44%), and other English-speaking country (50.03%–56.85%) and non-English speaking country (49.72%–58.32%).

In a follow-up to our study on accent mimicry last year, we've found that natives are the best at detecting accent mimicry.

People from other English speaking countries were, however, worse at mimicry detection than were native listeners.

@robfoley.bsky.social

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Talking yesterday evening with @jonathanrgoodman.bsky.social at the launch of his new book Invisible Rivals (yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300... )

SO excited to announce that INVISIBLE RIVALS by the brilliant @jonathanrgoodman.bsky.social publishes today!

'Working across philosophy, evolutionary biology, public policy, and politics, Invisible Rivals is unlike any other book I’ve read.’ - Devi Sridhar

Are we hardwired to fall for autocrats? It’s human nature to trust strongmen, but we’ve also evolved the tools to resist them

In an article for @theguardian.com, I argue that we have a proclivity for blindly trusting success, leading us open to exploitation by autocrats.

To counter this, we have a collective need to support others' capacity to think both critically and ethically.

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

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Picture of "Invisible Rivals: How we evolved to compete in a cooperative world"

Excited to say that an advance copy of Invisible Rivals has arrived!

Thanks so much to @agentbal.bsky.social and Jean Black of @yalepress.bsky.social for making this a reality – it's a funny feeling holding 5 years of work in your hands!

Preorder available here: yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...

Why trust science? 22 May 3pm

🎯 Our next #GenomicsLite session with
@jonathanrgoodman.bsky.social will explore: Why trust #science?

We'll be discussing the importance of #trust and what scientists can do to build trust with communities.

📅 Thurs 22 May, 3pm BST

🔗 cstu.io/28697e