cognitive and evolutionary anthropologist at UC Davis | writer
Substack: https://unpublishablepapers.substack.com/
Eli Stark-Elster
Loading...
The combination of music and digital anonymity seems to make people feel like they can share memories with total strangers that they wouldn’t ever share in-person. Like the messages you find on bathroom stalls.
I made a tool for finding the memories people share in the comments on Youtube music videos. Lots of grief, but lots of joy too. Link in 🧵
Inspired by work from @dorsaamir.bsky.social , among others :)
For 99% of human history, children were free to roam their environments at will. No longer. So kids are roaming online worlds instead.
Today in Psyche, I write about how the Internet became the last refuge for childhood freedom, and why that might be okay.
psyche.co/ideas/have-o...
Link: whensoftvoices.fly.dev
Use the tip button at the bottom of the page if you want to help me keep the site running -- I'm using an LLM linked to an API key to filter comments, which is not terribly expensive but also not free. I'll funnel all donations into more API credits.
Eli Stark-Elster
Psilocybin mushrooms are found worldwide, yet I have long argued (based on direct evidence) that traditional use is confined to Mesoamerica.
I was wrong!
In a new paper led by @eselster.bsky.social, we document Indigenous psilocybin mushroom use—potentially very old—in highland southern Africa.
Eli Stark-Elster
Genuinely groundbreaking work in psychedelic anthropology here! I understand that this is the first well-documented case of indigenous psilocybin use outside of the Americas.
Fieldwork led by
@eselster.bsky.social under @manvir.bsky.social
also w/ Sandeep Nayak and myself
psyche.co
Eli Stark-Elster
Eli Stark-Elster
Eli Stark-Elster
A lovely and well-balanced piece, thanks for sharing!
