The @nathancofnas press tour has revealed that when pressed on what explains group differences, centrists often sound like progressives – confident that the answer isn’t genetic, but vague about the specifics of the environmental or cultural alternative.

I studied in the academic department at Cambridge that later employed Jason Arday. Here's just some of the crap I learnt: For one module, I wrote a lengthy essay about how cultural products like kids’ cartoons and jazz songs serve as instruments of capitalist oppression. I got a top mark on that paper (despite knowing at the time that I was essentially regurgitating complete crap). While studying for another paper I had a debate with the professor, an eminent anthropologist, because she insisted that native tribes could fly through the trees - not metaphorically, but that they could literally fly because they believed they could fly. After all, who are we to question ‘indigenous ways of knowing’... For a different course, I read long ‘research papers’ which argued that the fact that black kids are excluded from schools more than white kids proves systemic racism exists in education. Crucially, they ignored the fact that white kids are excluded more than, e.g., Japanese kids, a statistic which, applying the exact same logic, would suggest that the education system is systemically biased in favour of, erm, Japanese kids (which obviously it isn’t). Something that was held up as proof of the existence of this largely imaginary racism was that teachers tell kids not to use booming voices in the classroom, and not to put up their hoods or wear their trousers down below their pants. On another occasion, my supervisor casually praised some students agitators who were trying to shut down a talk by someone they disagreed with. I said that I didn’t think this was something to celebrate, because I believed in freedom of speech. He got visibly angry, and proceeded to tell me that free speech was not worth protecting in a capitalist system (or something along those lines). In my all-important final year, a lecturer let me know that I shouldn’t worry too much about my exam results, because as someone who was not from an upper class background I should be more focussed on using my grasp of leftist revolutionary theory to further the interests of the proletariat. Writing this down, it strikes me that it’s so hilariously mental that some of you will presumably assume I’m lying. But there’s no way I’m leaving it out, because it happened. Unlike the academics who make a living from this stuff, I couldn’t bring myself to build a career pumping out whiney, divisive, intellectually incoherent rubbish. But others, as we’ve seen exposed in recent days, do so with gusto. And are lauded for it. Please read the full piece this is taken from, and give it a share. I've linked it in the tweet below.

The colonial New England version of a first date was called bundling. He rode too far to come back in the dark, so he stayed the night in the girl's bed, fully clothed. Her mother tied her into a sack up to her waist. Her father laid a plank down the center of the mattress. Her parents slept ten feet away. The couple would talk until sunrise, and if it went well, a proposal followed within days. Bundling lasted 160 years. Tinder turns 14 next month.

We’re back from a beach vacation, and I was delighted by how much braver and more independent my little daughters became in such a short time. But nobody warned me that increased bravery and independence would also make them so much more rascally.

It's some amazing schizo writing. I doubt Peter Thiel has even heard of Aporia or HDF. Aporia is just a Substack that Matt Archer made originally under another name (Ideas Sleep Furiously). I wasn't involved until much later. One amusing error these copycats keep repeating is that HDF was the 'relaunch' of the Pioneer Fund. It's not true at all. The Pioneer Fund exists still just like it did before. I am not quite sure how they managed to make up this claim.

My new book ALL THE FEELS is out 9/30: why evolution built every human feeling, from hunger to awe. I've got 25 free advance e-copies. Want one? Reply or DM me. The social contract: a candid Goodreads review before launch. First 25 hands up get one.

Interested in evolution and AI? I'll be speaking at the 'Evolving AI' conference at Harvard Oct 8-10. Other speakers include @peterfenton, @David_S_Wilson, @JoHenrich, @alex_pentland, @AthenaAktipis, @jefrankle, @JamesTamplin, @erikyw26. Fellowships to attend are available for students, early-career researchers, & builders (deadline Aug 31): Conference details:

Non-heterosexuals tend to have worse mental health compared to heterosexuals. Is this due to minority stress–stigma and discrimination? In a new study, we should that the answer is “mostly not.” Link to the article in the next post, followed by an explanatory thread. (1/n)

The Good Law Project, which created an open letter stating that the plagiarism charges against Arday were false and baseless has now collected nearly 100,000 signatures to demand an inquiry into further limiting the uk press.

A new paper in Evolutionary Human Sciences examines race memes on x but doesn't reproduce the original memes so readers don't have to be exposed to racism when reading a paper about racism. Here are the "ethically modified" memes.

In adults, limiting smartphone functionality to texting and calls and blocking all social media and mobile internet for 2 weeks significantly improved attention, self-reported well-being and mental health. 90% of participants experienced a benefit.