Olivier Morin
@oliviermorin.bsky.social
Researcher at Ecole Normale Supérieure / CNRS in Paris. Culture, cognition, things in between. https://linktr.ee/oliviermorin
Pinned
Olivier Morin
@oliviermorin.bsky.social
· Feb 19
🚨 New paper! 🚨 by Yoolim Kim, @helenamiton.bsky.social, Marc Allassonnière Tang, & myself, in Journal of Memory and Language. We tried to do for letter shapes what phonologists did for speech sounds. doi.org/10.1016/j.jm... A 🧵 (1/14)
Reposted by Olivier Morin
November 26, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Reposted by Olivier Morin
Today, we published a paper on the strength of language universals (if language has X, it also has Y) given spatial & phylogenetic autocorrelation in @nathumbehav.nature.com ! It is a cool research project, led by the brilliant Annemarie Verkerk at @uni-saarland.de
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Enduring constraints on grammar revealed by Bayesian spatiophylogenetic analyses - Nature Human Behaviour
Despite their great diversity, human languages are shaped by recurring grammatical universals. Verkerk et al. show that about one-third of the proposed universals hold cross-linguistically through ana...
www.nature.com
November 17, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Today, we published a paper on the strength of language universals (if language has X, it also has Y) given spatial & phylogenetic autocorrelation in @nathumbehav.nature.com ! It is a cool research project, led by the brilliant Annemarie Verkerk at @uni-saarland.de
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Olivier Morin
🎉 New preprint: Bayesian Competence Inference guides Knowledge Attribution and Information search
If someone knows that Venus is the only planet in the Solar System that rotates clockwise, will they also know what Earth’s only natural satellite is? What about which planets have no moons at all?
If someone knows that Venus is the only planet in the Solar System that rotates clockwise, will they also know what Earth’s only natural satellite is? What about which planets have no moons at all?
November 13, 2025 at 5:16 PM
🎉 New preprint: Bayesian Competence Inference guides Knowledge Attribution and Information search
If someone knows that Venus is the only planet in the Solar System that rotates clockwise, will they also know what Earth’s only natural satellite is? What about which planets have no moons at all?
If someone knows that Venus is the only planet in the Solar System that rotates clockwise, will they also know what Earth’s only natural satellite is? What about which planets have no moons at all?
Interesting! Curious to know what
@docteur-drey.bsky.social thinks.
@docteur-drey.bsky.social thinks.
How “intelligent” is a slime mold? When it solves mazes, it might not be thinking:it’s obeying physics. Our new paper with
@jordiplam.bsky.social shows how it follows a least action principle,letting physics do the job arxiv.org/pdf/2511.08531
@drmichaellevin.bsky.social @docteur-drey.bsky.social
@jordiplam.bsky.social shows how it follows a least action principle,letting physics do the job arxiv.org/pdf/2511.08531
@drmichaellevin.bsky.social @docteur-drey.bsky.social
November 12, 2025 at 9:04 AM
Interesting! Curious to know what
@docteur-drey.bsky.social thinks.
@docteur-drey.bsky.social thinks.
Reposted by Olivier Morin
Just out - "Art Beyond Cognition: Reframing Neanderthal art through social connectivity and cultural transmission" by Straffon & Tennie
Art Beyond Cognition: Reframing Neanderthal art through social connectivity and cultural transmission | Evolutionary Human Sciences | Cambridge Core
Art Beyond Cognition: Reframing Neanderthal art through social connectivity and cultural transmission
www.cambridge.org
October 27, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Just out - "Art Beyond Cognition: Reframing Neanderthal art through social connectivity and cultural transmission" by Straffon & Tennie
Too bad — and in it makes sense, in hindsight, given the weaknesses of cognitive dissonance reduction as a theory. Still, on literary merits alone, When prophecy fails remains a gem of a book.
Ok, just wow. If the content of this article is right, this is depressing. We're slowly reaching the point where ~100% of what I was taught in Social Psych was either innocently wrong or plainly frauded
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Debunking “When Prophecy Fails”
In 1954, Dorothy Martin predicted an apocalyptic flood and promised her followers rescue by flying saucers. When neither arrived, she recanted, her group dissolved, and efforts to proselytize ceased....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:09 AM
Too bad — and in it makes sense, in hindsight, given the weaknesses of cognitive dissonance reduction as a theory. Still, on literary merits alone, When prophecy fails remains a gem of a book.
Reposted by Olivier Morin
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
November 3, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
Reposted by Olivier Morin
It is time to abandon student evaluations of teaching
Comment by Gordon Hodson (@gordonhodsonphd.bsky.social)
Web: go.nature.com/4jfAzXo
PDF: rdcu.be/ef9y5
Comment by Gordon Hodson (@gordonhodsonphd.bsky.social)
Web: go.nature.com/4jfAzXo
PDF: rdcu.be/ef9y5
April 2, 2025 at 2:51 PM
It is time to abandon student evaluations of teaching
Comment by Gordon Hodson (@gordonhodsonphd.bsky.social)
Web: go.nature.com/4jfAzXo
PDF: rdcu.be/ef9y5
Comment by Gordon Hodson (@gordonhodsonphd.bsky.social)
Web: go.nature.com/4jfAzXo
PDF: rdcu.be/ef9y5
Reposted by Olivier Morin
In this commentary, I argue that student-based teaching evaluations are problematic bc
✳️ systematic biases (e.g., racism, sexism)
✳️ poor construct validity
✳️ undermine standards and learning
We should evaluate teaching as seriously as we do research. Or don't do teaching evaluations.
✳️ systematic biases (e.g., racism, sexism)
✳️ poor construct validity
✳️ undermine standards and learning
We should evaluate teaching as seriously as we do research. Or don't do teaching evaluations.
It is time to abandon student evaluations of teaching
Comment by Gordon Hodson (@gordonhodsonphd.bsky.social)
Web: go.nature.com/4jfAzXo
PDF: rdcu.be/ef9y5
Comment by Gordon Hodson (@gordonhodsonphd.bsky.social)
Web: go.nature.com/4jfAzXo
PDF: rdcu.be/ef9y5
April 2, 2025 at 4:30 PM
In this commentary, I argue that student-based teaching evaluations are problematic bc
✳️ systematic biases (e.g., racism, sexism)
✳️ poor construct validity
✳️ undermine standards and learning
We should evaluate teaching as seriously as we do research. Or don't do teaching evaluations.
✳️ systematic biases (e.g., racism, sexism)
✳️ poor construct validity
✳️ undermine standards and learning
We should evaluate teaching as seriously as we do research. Or don't do teaching evaluations.
Reposted by Olivier Morin
Your chilly sneer
Of cold command
Your trunkless legs
Upon the sand
Once awed the Persian, Turk,
And Damascene
A pedastal
Beside your smirk
Proclaims “Look up,
You lazy jerk!
Behold the mighty work
Of great
Jolene.”
Of cold command
Your trunkless legs
Upon the sand
Once awed the Persian, Turk,
And Damascene
A pedastal
Beside your smirk
Proclaims “Look up,
You lazy jerk!
Behold the mighty work
Of great
Jolene.”
i never saw two trunkless legs
i never hope to see 'em
but i can tell you, anyhow,
i'd rather see than be 'em
i never hope to see 'em
but i can tell you, anyhow,
i'd rather see than be 'em
Now Ozymandias was from the Himalayas, where a cold wind howls and blows.
Why he left his home in the peaks to roam 'round the sands, God only knows.
His statue fell down, the desert's boundless and completely bare;
Though it's still scrawled on his pedestal that "ye Mighty should despair!"
Why he left his home in the peaks to roam 'round the sands, God only knows.
His statue fell down, the desert's boundless and completely bare;
Though it's still scrawled on his pedestal that "ye Mighty should despair!"
October 31, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Your chilly sneer
Of cold command
Your trunkless legs
Upon the sand
Once awed the Persian, Turk,
And Damascene
A pedastal
Beside your smirk
Proclaims “Look up,
You lazy jerk!
Behold the mighty work
Of great
Jolene.”
Of cold command
Your trunkless legs
Upon the sand
Once awed the Persian, Turk,
And Damascene
A pedastal
Beside your smirk
Proclaims “Look up,
You lazy jerk!
Behold the mighty work
Of great
Jolene.”
Reposted by Olivier Morin
Excited to see our research highlighted in @psychscience.bsky.social Observer!
With @oliviermorin.bsky.social , @hugoreasoning.bsky.social , and Thomas Dheilly, we explored how people infer others’ knowledge: even from a single answer, they can estimate how much someone knows about a topic!
With @oliviermorin.bsky.social , @hugoreasoning.bsky.social , and Thomas Dheilly, we explored how people infer others’ knowledge: even from a single answer, they can estimate how much someone knows about a topic!
Unearthing the Nature of Knowing
Research reveals how people process information, how they acquire—and sometimes reject—knowledge, and how that compares to artificial intelligence systems’ abilities to do the same.
www.psychologicalscience.org
October 31, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Excited to see our research highlighted in @psychscience.bsky.social Observer!
With @oliviermorin.bsky.social , @hugoreasoning.bsky.social , and Thomas Dheilly, we explored how people infer others’ knowledge: even from a single answer, they can estimate how much someone knows about a topic!
With @oliviermorin.bsky.social , @hugoreasoning.bsky.social , and Thomas Dheilly, we explored how people infer others’ knowledge: even from a single answer, they can estimate how much someone knows about a topic!
Reposted by Olivier Morin
I feel like I've lost about 150 friends simply by complaining about Dumbar's number.
It is wrong theoretically, statistically, and also emprically.
It is wrong theoretically, statistically, and also emprically.
"Dunbar's Number" is a zombie that lives forever in the science press it seems. Estimates of Dunbar's Number with 95% intervals, for a range of model specifications (from doi.org/10.1098/rsbl... ):
October 15, 2025 at 2:28 AM
I feel like I've lost about 150 friends simply by complaining about Dumbar's number.
It is wrong theoretically, statistically, and also emprically.
It is wrong theoretically, statistically, and also emprically.
Reposted by Olivier Morin
My favourite book by Mokyr is A Culture of Growth: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb.... Here, Mokyr draws on cultural evolutionary theory to develop some his key ideas about the evolution of science, technology and the origins of modern economic growth. Really accessible and packed with ideas!
A Culture of Growth
Why Enlightenment culture sparked the Industrial Revolution
press.princeton.edu
October 14, 2025 at 7:47 AM
My favourite book by Mokyr is A Culture of Growth: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb.... Here, Mokyr draws on cultural evolutionary theory to develop some his key ideas about the evolution of science, technology and the origins of modern economic growth. Really accessible and packed with ideas!
Huge congratulations to @alexeykoshevoy.bsky.social l who defended his PhD thesis today!! with his co-supervisor @sblldtrch.bsky.social and jury members @simonkirby.bsky.social @gboleda.bsky.social Paula Rubio Fernandez & Benjamin Spector.
September 25, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Huge congratulations to @alexeykoshevoy.bsky.social l who defended his PhD thesis today!! with his co-supervisor @sblldtrch.bsky.social and jury members @simonkirby.bsky.social @gboleda.bsky.social Paula Rubio Fernandez & Benjamin Spector.
also with @kakapitan.bsky.social @sobchuk.bsky.social @artjomshl.bsky.social @hugoreasoning.bsky.social & many others
Looking forward to be in Paris for the launch of the CultureLab!
We're officially launching the new PSL CultureLab in 10 days !
If you're interested in the research of a collective bridging Computational Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Evolution, you can check our programme (and come to our event, if you're in Paris 22 September):
psl.eu/agenda/collo...
If you're interested in the research of a collective bridging Computational Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Evolution, you can check our programme (and come to our event, if you're in Paris 22 September):
psl.eu/agenda/collo...
September 16, 2025 at 5:34 PM
also with @kakapitan.bsky.social @sobchuk.bsky.social @artjomshl.bsky.social @hugoreasoning.bsky.social & many others
Reposted by Olivier Morin
We're officially launching the new PSL CultureLab in 10 days !
If you're interested in the research of a collective bridging Computational Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Evolution, you can check our programme (and come to our event, if you're in Paris 22 September):
psl.eu/agenda/collo...
If you're interested in the research of a collective bridging Computational Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Evolution, you can check our programme (and come to our event, if you're in Paris 22 September):
psl.eu/agenda/collo...
Colloque inaugural du Grand programme de recherche CultureLab | PSL
Recherche, CultureLab inaugure ses travaux le 22 septembre 2025 au Campus Condorcet avec une journée consacrée aux sciences humaines et sociales computationnelles et à l’évolution culturelle. , Le Gra...
psl.eu
September 12, 2025 at 3:09 PM
We're officially launching the new PSL CultureLab in 10 days !
If you're interested in the research of a collective bridging Computational Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Evolution, you can check our programme (and come to our event, if you're in Paris 22 September):
psl.eu/agenda/collo...
If you're interested in the research of a collective bridging Computational Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Evolution, you can check our programme (and come to our event, if you're in Paris 22 September):
psl.eu/agenda/collo...
Amazing Oleg!
Great news from the @erc.europa.eu today: I received an ERC Starting Grant to study the cultural evolution of literature 🔥
www.eva.mpg.de/press/news/a...
www.eva.mpg.de/press/news/a...
Charting the evolution of European literature
Oleg Sobchuk has received an ERC Starting Grant to study 200 years of European literary evolution
www.eva.mpg.de
September 4, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Amazing Oleg!
Reposted by Olivier Morin
Perfect.
September 4, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Perfect.
Reposted by Olivier Morin
🚨🚨 New preprint 📜 with Mathieu Charbonneau (@matcharbonneau.bsky.social): Modelling the emergence of open-ended technological evolution (arxiv.org/abs/2508.04828). Feedback welcomed! #Evolution #Technology #Culture #OpenEnded #TechnologicalEvolution #CulturalEvolution 🧵: 1/29
Modelling the emergence of open-ended technological evolution
Humans stand alone in terms of their potential to collectively and cumulatively improve technologies in an open-ended manner. This open-endedness provides societies with the ability to continually exp...
arxiv.org
August 15, 2025 at 4:10 PM
🚨🚨 New preprint 📜 with Mathieu Charbonneau (@matcharbonneau.bsky.social): Modelling the emergence of open-ended technological evolution (arxiv.org/abs/2508.04828). Feedback welcomed! #Evolution #Technology #Culture #OpenEnded #TechnologicalEvolution #CulturalEvolution 🧵: 1/29
I'd join the class action if I were US-based.
"If your books were uploaded to LibGen/fed into the LLMs, add your name to the potential class action lawsuit by tomorrow." Details:
LibDem database: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Attorney form: www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au...
(This information comes via a reliable Discord source.)
LibDem database: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Attorney form: www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au...
(This information comes via a reliable Discord source.)
Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI
Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.
www.theatlantic.com
August 15, 2025 at 6:24 AM
I'd join the class action if I were US-based.
Reposted by Olivier Morin
From ancient Greece to the Arabic golden age, scholars have been driven by their curiosity to investigate astronomy, history, philosophy, and sundry other disciplines. Is there a structure to that curiosity? Are astronomers as likely to also be historians or to also be philosophers?
August 11, 2025 at 12:05 PM
From ancient Greece to the Arabic golden age, scholars have been driven by their curiosity to investigate astronomy, history, philosophy, and sundry other disciplines. Is there a structure to that curiosity? Are astronomers as likely to also be historians or to also be philosophers?
Reposted by Olivier Morin
Adding AI watermark to latest paper...
July 8, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Adding AI watermark to latest paper...
Reposted by Olivier Morin
We just played Hitster at a family gathering and it was a perfect example of what they found. Teams compete to guess when hit songs came out. Even though this was my extended family and we don't meet often, teams needed only two rounds before deciding whose hunches commanded respect.
We have a lovely new paper out, showing that even ignorant people can be very good at recognising who's knowledgeable based on minimal cues
We often have to judge who is knowledgeable—precisely when we are not. Can humans really do that? Our new paper in Psychological Science shows that, surprisingly, we can. drive.google.com/file/d/1b15E...
June 10, 2025 at 8:29 AM
We just played Hitster at a family gathering and it was a perfect example of what they found. Teams compete to guess when hit songs came out. Even though this was my extended family and we don't meet often, teams needed only two rounds before deciding whose hunches commanded respect.
one of my favorite science stories got debunked...
June 9, 2025 at 11:26 AM
one of my favorite science stories got debunked...
Reposted by Olivier Morin
We often have to judge who is knowledgeable—precisely when we are not. Can humans really do that? Our new paper in Psychological Science shows that, surprisingly, we can. drive.google.com/file/d/1b15E...
June 2, 2025 at 11:43 AM
We often have to judge who is knowledgeable—precisely when we are not. Can humans really do that? Our new paper in Psychological Science shows that, surprisingly, we can. drive.google.com/file/d/1b15E...