Alex Mesoudi
@alexmesoudi.com
Cultural evolution researcher at the University of Exeter (Penryn campus), UK.
President of the Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social
Website: alexmesoudi.com
President of the Cultural Evolution Society @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social
Website: alexmesoudi.com
Congratulations to Andoni Sergiou for defending his PhD thesis today! And special thanks to @psmaldino.bsky.social and @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social for examining his thesis
November 11, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Congratulations to Andoni Sergiou for defending his PhD thesis today! And special thanks to @psmaldino.bsky.social and @cornishjackdaws.bsky.social for examining his thesis
In an effort to make old papers more reproducible, I’ve put the code on GitHub for:
Kempe, Lycett & Mesoudi (2014) From cultural traditions to cumulative culture: parameterising the differences between human and nonhuman culture. Journal of Theoretical Biology 359, 29-36
github.com/amesoudi/kem...
Kempe, Lycett & Mesoudi (2014) From cultural traditions to cumulative culture: parameterising the differences between human and nonhuman culture. Journal of Theoretical Biology 359, 29-36
github.com/amesoudi/kem...
June 30, 2025 at 9:50 AM
In an effort to make old papers more reproducible, I’ve put the code on GitHub for:
Kempe, Lycett & Mesoudi (2014) From cultural traditions to cumulative culture: parameterising the differences between human and nonhuman culture. Journal of Theoretical Biology 359, 29-36
github.com/amesoudi/kem...
Kempe, Lycett & Mesoudi (2014) From cultural traditions to cumulative culture: parameterising the differences between human and nonhuman culture. Journal of Theoretical Biology 359, 29-36
github.com/amesoudi/kem...
We found high levels of information sharing. But most people shared indiscriminately, ignoring reputation information. This was found in the UK and China, and persisted even when we introduced exploitative non-sharing bots, and removed reputation altogether
June 13, 2025 at 8:54 AM
We found high levels of information sharing. But most people shared indiscriminately, ignoring reputation information. This was found in the UK and China, and persisted even when we introduced exploitative non-sharing bots, and removed reputation altogether
Fascinating conversation on the Renaissance. Interesting cultural dynamics where Florence survived by transmitting its prestige to other more dominant states. Also, England was a ‘weirdo island’ back then too, just like today.
June 7, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Fascinating conversation on the Renaissance. Interesting cultural dynamics where Florence survived by transmitting its prestige to other more dominant states. Also, England was a ‘weirdo island’ back then too, just like today.
Also interesting that they found greatest support for a North African origin of Homo sapiens - although I guess the larger point of the paper is that there isn’t a single origin, it’s a pan-African origin
May 25, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Also interesting that they found greatest support for a North African origin of Homo sapiens - although I guess the larger point of the paper is that there isn’t a single origin, it’s a pan-African origin
Fascinating latest model of Homo sapiens evolution within Africa.
Interesting finding that cultural innovation was accelerated by both population size increases, but also recombination across partially isolated regions (e.g. Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa)
Interesting finding that cultural innovation was accelerated by both population size increases, but also recombination across partially isolated regions (e.g. Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa)
May 25, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Fascinating latest model of Homo sapiens evolution within Africa.
Interesting finding that cultural innovation was accelerated by both population size increases, but also recombination across partially isolated regions (e.g. Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa)
Interesting finding that cultural innovation was accelerated by both population size increases, but also recombination across partially isolated regions (e.g. Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa)
May 20, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Updated the reinforcement (+social) learning models in my cultural evolution agent-based modelling in R tutorial. Now uses cmdstan rather than rstan (and more importantly now works again).
On github (Model 17):
github.com/amesoudi/cul...
and bookdown:
bookdown.org/amesoudi/ABM...
On github (Model 17):
github.com/amesoudi/cul...
and bookdown:
bookdown.org/amesoudi/ABM...
May 14, 2025 at 9:20 AM
Updated the reinforcement (+social) learning models in my cultural evolution agent-based modelling in R tutorial. Now uses cmdstan rather than rstan (and more importantly now works again).
On github (Model 17):
github.com/amesoudi/cul...
and bookdown:
bookdown.org/amesoudi/ABM...
On github (Model 17):
github.com/amesoudi/cul...
and bookdown:
bookdown.org/amesoudi/ABM...
Also justified my use of Timothee Chalamee to represent the human species in my lectures last term
January 23, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Also justified my use of Timothee Chalamee to represent the human species in my lectures last term
Question for maths types: does this kind of equation have a general name?
(a value in a set raised to a power, divided by the sum of all values in the set raised to the same power)
In cultural evolution, it’s sometimes used to model conformity (e.g. Nakahashi 2007, where the image is from)
(a value in a set raised to a power, divided by the sum of all values in the set raised to the same power)
In cultural evolution, it’s sometimes used to model conformity (e.g. Nakahashi 2007, where the image is from)
January 23, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Question for maths types: does this kind of equation have a general name?
(a value in a set raised to a power, divided by the sum of all values in the set raised to the same power)
In cultural evolution, it’s sometimes used to model conformity (e.g. Nakahashi 2007, where the image is from)
(a value in a set raised to a power, divided by the sum of all values in the set raised to the same power)
In cultural evolution, it’s sometimes used to model conformity (e.g. Nakahashi 2007, where the image is from)
but most of all farewell to this terrifying statue I saw in the castle, which will haunt my dreams until I die
January 18, 2025 at 7:49 AM
but most of all farewell to this terrifying statue I saw in the castle, which will haunt my dreams until I die
and farewell to Trento’s beautiful architecture and majestic surrounding mountains
January 18, 2025 at 7:47 AM
and farewell to Trento’s beautiful architecture and majestic surrounding mountains
Farewell Trento, and thanks to @acerbialberto.com for hosting me. Really interesting talks at the 1st ever Italian conference for computational social science
January 18, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Farewell Trento, and thanks to @acerbialberto.com for hosting me. Really interesting talks at the 1st ever Italian conference for computational social science
Trento is also impressive!
January 15, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Trento is also impressive!
Quick stop in Venice before going to Trento for the 1st Italian Conference for Computational Social Science in Trento.
Going to try to find the library that used to be a church where the crusader is buried in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Going to try to find the library that used to be a church where the crusader is buried in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
January 15, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Quick stop in Venice before going to Trento for the 1st Italian Conference for Computational Social Science in Trento.
Going to try to find the library that used to be a church where the crusader is buried in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Going to try to find the library that used to be a church where the crusader is buried in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
What a difference a century makes! Kroeber (1917) arguing that birdsong couldn't possibly be a socially learned tradition. Research since has shown how wrong he was.
January 10, 2025 at 4:49 PM
What a difference a century makes! Kroeber (1917) arguing that birdsong couldn't possibly be a socially learned tradition. Research since has shown how wrong he was.
New paper in PNAS with @maximederex.bsky.social , @glupyan.bsky.social & Piers Edmiston:
Trade-offs, control conditions, and alternative designs in the experimental study of cultural evolution
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Trade-offs, control conditions, and alternative designs in the experimental study of cultural evolution
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
November 18, 2024 at 8:18 PM
New paper in PNAS with @maximederex.bsky.social , @glupyan.bsky.social & Piers Edmiston:
Trade-offs, control conditions, and alternative designs in the experimental study of cultural evolution
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Trade-offs, control conditions, and alternative designs in the experimental study of cultural evolution
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
For the new listeners, here’s a free tutorial I made for learning how to make simulation models of cultural evolution in R, on github:
github.com/amesoudi/cul...
and as a bookdown version with outputs:
bookdown.org/amesoudi/ABM...
github.com/amesoudi/cul...
and as a bookdown version with outputs:
bookdown.org/amesoudi/ABM...
November 16, 2024 at 8:32 PM
For the new listeners, here’s a free tutorial I made for learning how to make simulation models of cultural evolution in R, on github:
github.com/amesoudi/cul...
and as a bookdown version with outputs:
bookdown.org/amesoudi/ABM...
github.com/amesoudi/cul...
and as a bookdown version with outputs:
bookdown.org/amesoudi/ABM...
Such a cool talk by Yuko Ulrich @exetercec.bsky.social today. Nematode worms infect ant brains, increase within-colony interactions, but curiously also increase hostile inter-group behaviour
October 24, 2024 at 1:04 PM
Such a cool talk by Yuko Ulrich @exetercec.bsky.social today. Nematode worms infect ant brains, increase within-colony interactions, but curiously also increase hostile inter-group behaviour
Greatly enjoyed the @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social conference in Durham last week. Excellent talks, great keynotes, superb organisation - thanks @rachkendal.bsky.social and all the organisers!
CES members stayed tuned for a newsletter with the announcements (election results, prizes, 2026 conference)
CES members stayed tuned for a newsletter with the announcements (election results, prizes, 2026 conference)
September 15, 2024 at 6:58 AM
Greatly enjoyed the @culturalevolsoc.bsky.social conference in Durham last week. Excellent talks, great keynotes, superb organisation - thanks @rachkendal.bsky.social and all the organisers!
CES members stayed tuned for a newsletter with the announcements (election results, prizes, 2026 conference)
CES members stayed tuned for a newsletter with the announcements (election results, prizes, 2026 conference)
Finally, cultural group selection also works, where groups in which individuals share information with each other outcompete groups of information free-riders. But only with strong within-group punishment (or potentially some other within-group mechanism of cooperation)
May 30, 2024 at 12:52 PM
Finally, cultural group selection also works, where groups in which individuals share information with each other outcompete groups of information free-riders. But only with strong within-group punishment (or potentially some other within-group mechanism of cooperation)
Partner choice can also maintain information sharing. If you get an increased reputation by sharing info, and others share conditional on reputation, then sharers receive beneficial traits due to their high reputations. This depends on the ability to detect and update reputations
May 30, 2024 at 12:51 PM
Partner choice can also maintain information sharing. If you get an increased reputation by sharing info, and others share conditional on reputation, then sharers receive beneficial traits due to their high reputations. This depends on the ability to detect and update reputations
Then we show how kin selection can solve this dilemma, where sharers only share with kin (offspring). This works, but greatly slows down cumulative culture due to the reduced pool of demonstrators (one or two parents), especially when copying has less than perfect fidelity.
May 30, 2024 at 12:51 PM
Then we show how kin selection can solve this dilemma, where sharers only share with kin (offspring). This works, but greatly slows down cumulative culture due to the reduced pool of demonstrators (one or two parents), especially when copying has less than perfect fidelity.
First we formalise when information free-riders (i.e. non-innovating social learners) outperform information sharers (open innovators who always share information). We also explore when information hoarders (closed innovators who never share information) outperform info sharers.
May 30, 2024 at 12:51 PM
First we formalise when information free-riders (i.e. non-innovating social learners) outperform information sharers (open innovators who always share information). We also explore when information hoarders (closed innovators who never share information) outperform info sharers.