Posts by Agustín Fuentes
Considering all humans and other organisms in the Anthropocene: learning to listen. Iconema
For hundreds of thousands of years, humans have been shaping and managing the world. Recently, we’re doing it with increasing speed, influence, and zeal. We shape and are shaped by our caretaking, consumption, manipulation of, destruction of and compassion for other beings. Human life is a multispecies endeavor, a current in which humans and our…
Read MoreI put a camera on a monkey. Here’s how it shook my understanding of humanity Big Think/The Well
Awe is a powerful force, a fact that is both exciting and terrifying. KEY TAKEAWAYS Awe is a complex feeling. It is a combination of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder, or an emotion combining dread, veneration, and marvel. Humans are not the only animals to experience awe, but our experience of it is…
Read MoreIs humanity doomed? That depends on us. Los Angeles Times
Concern over the world having too many people or too few has led some public figures to predict doom for humanity. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)BY LAURA J. MARTIN, ERLE C. ELLIS AND AGUSTÍN FUENTESMARCH 28, 2022 3 AM PT Will birth rates doom humanity? Tech billionaire Elon Musk sounded an old alarm in December when he claimed that…
Read MoreBiological Science Rejects the Sex Binary, and That’s Good for Humanity. SAPIENS
Evidence from various sciences reveals that there are diverse ways of being male, female, or both. An anthropologist argues that embracing these truths will help humans flourish. By Agustín Fuentes 11 MAY 2022 This article is also available in: Español AGUSTÍN FUENTES is a professor of anthropology at Princeton University. At the recent U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings…
Read More“The Descent of Man,” 150 years on
A (Bio)anthropological View of the COVID-19 Era Midstream: Beyond the Infection
We are in a pandemic. COVID-19 infection threatens humanity with illness and death. But disease from this microbe is not the only hazard to human health and well-being. People around the globe have experienced months of isolation and have possibly more than a year of social distancing, both of which can have devastating effects on…
Read MoreEl fin del apretón de manos: el virus visto desde la antropología
El antropólogo Agustín Fuentes advierte de la desaparición de rituales y gestos cotidianos que impliquen proximidad física e insta a preservar las relaciones sociales pese al aislamiento Atravesamos una pandemia. El COVID-19 nos amenaza a todos, pero la enfermedad provocada directamente por este microbio no es el único peligro para nuestra salud y nuestro bienestar.…
Read MoreHow did belief evolve
An anthropologist traces the development of Homo sapiens’ most creative and destructive force, from the making of stone tools to the rise of religions. About 20 years ago, the residents of Padangtegal village in Bali, Indonesia, had a problem. The famous, monkey-filled forest surrounding the local Hindu temple complex had become stunted, and saplings failed to sprout…
Read MoreAgainst the Grain
The Evolution of Belief Belief conjures up political fanaticism and blind religiosity. But evolutionary anthropologist Agustín Fuentes argues that belief is also connected to our capacities to imagine, create, and change the world for the better. He reflects on why the ability to commit passionately and wholeheartedly to an idea is a central part of…
Read MoreEvolving society: Why humanity coheres
Agustín Fuentes compares three books on the origins, trajectory and implications of our group behaviour. Genesis: The Deep Origin of Societies Edward O. Wilson Liveright (2019) The Human Swarm: How Our Societies Arise, Thrive, and Fall Mark W. Moffett Head of Zeus (2019) Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society Nicholas A. Christakis Little, Brown Spark (2019) Humans are animals,…
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