Testing the Big Gods hypothesis with global historical data: a review and “retake”
This Retake article presents a corrected and extended version of a Letter published in
Nature (Whitehouse et al., 2019) which set out to test the Big Gods hypothesis proposing …
Nature (Whitehouse et al., 2019) which set out to test the Big Gods hypothesis proposing …
Disentangling the evolutionary drivers of social complexity: A comprehensive test of hypotheses
During the Holocene, the scale and complexity of human societies increased markedly.
Generations of scholars have proposed different theories explaining this expansion, which …
Generations of scholars have proposed different theories explaining this expansion, which …
Rise of the war machines: Charting the evolution of military technologies from the Neolithic to the Industrial Revolution
What have been the causes and consequences of technological evolution in world history?
In particular, what propels innovation and diffusion of military technologies, details of which …
In particular, what propels innovation and diffusion of military technologies, details of which …
Explaining the rise of moralizing religions: A test of competing hypotheses using the Seshat Databank
The causes, consequences, and timing of the rise of moralizing religions in world history
have been the focus of intense debate. Progress has been limited by the availability of …
have been the focus of intense debate. Progress has been limited by the availability of …
The database of religious history (drh): Ontology, coding strategies and the future of cultural evolutionary analyses
E Slingerland, MW Monroe… - Religion, Brain & …, 2024 - Taylor & Francis
Perhaps the biggest challenge facing designers of large-scale, cross-cultural databases is
that of ontology, both in terms of defining the unit of analysis and the construction of an …
that of ontology, both in terms of defining the unit of analysis and the construction of an …
Social scale and collective computation: does information processing limit rate of growth in scale?
Collective computation is the process by which groups store and share information to arrive
at decisions for collective behavior. How societies engage in effective collective computation …
at decisions for collective behavior. How societies engage in effective collective computation …
Affluence, agricultural productivity, and the rise of moralizing religion in the ancient Mediterranean
In this commentary, we focus on the way the authors of the target article approach affluence
and its role in the emergence of moralizing religions. In their analysis, they employ …
and its role in the emergence of moralizing religions. In their analysis, they employ …
Explosive expansion, sociotechnical diversity, and fragile sovereignty in the domain of the Inka
SA Wernke - Journal of Social Computing, 2022 - ieeexplore.ieee.org
Societies of the late prehispanic Andes—the Inkas principal among them—have long figured
as “exceptions to the rule” in social evolutionary schemata, in large measure because they …
as “exceptions to the rule” in social evolutionary schemata, in large measure because they …
The characteristic time scale of cultural evolution
T Wand, D Hoyer - PNAS nexus, 2024 - academic.oup.com
Numerous researchers from various disciplines have explored commonalities and
divergences in the evolution of complex social formations. Here, we explore whether there is …
divergences in the evolution of complex social formations. Here, we explore whether there is …
The past as a stochastic process
Historical processes manifest remarkable diversity. Nevertheless, scholars have long
attempted to identify patterns and categorize historical actors and influences with some …
attempted to identify patterns and categorize historical actors and influences with some …