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Alberto Acerbi

@acerbialberto.com

2.8K followers 1.1K following 720 posts

I am an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Research at the University of Trento (Italy): cognitive anthropology / cultural evolution / digital media / cultural analytics More info in the pinned post. .. more

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Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · Mar 23

Tecnopanico: www.mulino.it/isbn/9788815...

Cultural evolution in the digital age: bit.ly/2McstmR

Individual-based models of cultural evolution. A step-by-step guide using R: bit.ly/3MQBjT4 (free: acerbialberto.com/IBM-cultevo)

Substack (italiano): bit.ly/3lDERMq

web: acerbialberto.com

A. ACERBI, Technopanic. New Media, Reasonable Caution, Unfounded Fear

The spread of fake news, the power of conspiracy theories, the influence of algorithms on our choices and behaviour, the impact of social media on youth’s mental health, and other similar phenomena al...

www.mulino.it

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 2h

I link della settimana (#112)
open.substack.com/pub/albertoa...

I link della settimana (#112)

(i) Dan Williams (sempre lui) argomenta che il problema dei social media è che ci danno troppa democrazia e non troppo poca. Naturalmente sono d’accordo, ma come bonus link vi metto anche una risposta...

open.substack.com

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 21h

...topic (William, the first author is) so I would tend to trust him! (Also, in any case, our main argument is independent from the claim in question).

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Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 21h

...the question is how robust is the current empirical evidence. We cite some support in the paper, but I saw the blogpost you mention claims that this support come from WEIRD samples (but, on the other side, we cite some cross-cultural experiments...). I am not really an expert on the specific...

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Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 21h

...is reported that something similar to X does not happen does not necessarily show that there is not a evolved cognitive predisposition towards X. One should look for patterns in the ethnographic literature and see if it is possible to conclude something. Said so...

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Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 21h

The ethnographic evidence is interesting, but I do not think it is sufficient to disprove a claim. For any non-obvious behaviour X we would expect some cross-cultural variance, as many cultural forces (including drift) act. So showing that in some culture...

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Reposted by Rebecca Sear, Alberto Acerbi, Jean‐Baptiste André

EHBEA 2026 @ehbea2026.bsky.social · 22h

🚨𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗵𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀!
www.ehbea2026.com is now live for our 2026 European Human Behaviour & Evolution Association (EHBEA) conference in Leiden (NL🇳🇱) Check for 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻, first 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 & the [𝗔𝗜]𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸!
🗓️ 14–17 Apr 2026 | CBEN pre-conf 14 Apr
📍Pesthuis
#EHBEA2026

Overview | EHBEA2026

www.ehbea2026.com

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Reposted by Martín Haspelmath

Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 3d

“It is precisely because social media has democratised the public sphere that it has contributed to trends liberals (including myself) are so worried about.” 👏
www.conspicuouscognition.com/p/is-social-...

Is Social Media Destroying Democracy—Or Giving It To Us Good And Hard?

It’s easier to blame the algorithm than the bewildered herd.

www.conspicuouscognition.com

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Alberto Acerbi @acerbialberto.com · 7d

I link della settimana (#111)
open.substack.com/pub/albertoa...