Thomas Talhelm

New study out in PNAS Nexus! 🚨Is modernization driving cultures farther apart?? Here it is in 60 seconds. 🧵 @PNASNexus" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/arti…

@demetriastudy @PNASNexus Oh really? That's very cool to hear! 😃 It's crazy that it all started by just strapping a filter onto a fan to get through terrible air pollution. This is the first purifier I ever made. It's not sophisticated! 😆

@ThomasTalhelm @PNASNexus This is such an interesting experience and really shows how dynamic culture really is. Also, Smart Air is such a cool idea and enterprise, a lot of people I know have appliances from there.

I wrote a magazine article about how modernization may actually be driving cultures farther apart! 🤯 At least, cultural differences haven't collapsed nearly as much as people suspect. And that's good news in my book! 🤩

@demetriastudy @PNASNexus The interns from Singapore seem *more* deferential and nervous around me ("the boss") than the interns from China. Outwardly, they're very modern--hip clothes, fashionable haircuts, tech gear. But the social behavior is not American (nor should it be!). /3

@ThomasTalhelm @PNASNexus I agree, to me the more interesting question is why despite globalisation and westernisation, countries like China and India have kept their cultural practices intact and heterogeneous and what did colonialism etc. change on a psychic level.

@demetriastudy @PNASNexus In my experiences, I found Singapore and Hong Kong often *more* culturally collectivistic than Mainland China. For example, Smart Air (the social enterprise I founded) gets interns from China and Singapore. 2/

@demetriastudy @PNASNexus Yes! 👏 One of the most remarkable cultural experiences in my life has been going to Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Singapore. It's an interesting contrast because they all have Chinese populations (of course), but they differ in wealth and modernization. 1/

@koenfucius Ooh, it's all game theory! So much juking, waiting for the other person to move.

The Game Theory of penalty shootouts—when your decisions depend on what you think others will decide. (If you think that sounds a bit like the prisoners’ dilemma, you’re not wrong): buff.ly/wVhzr8H

@koenfucius @Epsiloon_mag @PNASNexus Ooh, it does!

@ThomasTalhelm @Epsiloon_mag @PNASNexus Your remark supports the French title in unexpected ways (uniformization of cultures is hard to conceive without a uniform language… 😉)

I don't speak French, but it's fun to see my seed theory make an appearance in a French magazine! 🇫🇷 epsiloon.com/tous-les-numer… @Epsiloon_mag @PNASNexus

@demetriastudy @PNASNexus 4/ To be fair, there is definitely some marveling at progress. China's high-speed trains are a marvel, and Westerners do come to China and say, "Why don't we have this?" But I think still far more interest is in the cultural stuff.

@ThomasTalhelm @PNASNexus Well it could be seen in that way, I guess the liberal intelligensia has pretty homogeneous values across countries and they think westernisation is true development and hence, this is bad but I'm not sure how differing values are against development or progress.

@demetriastudy @PNASNexus 3/ I explained Westerners mostly think that stuff is boring. It feels cookie cutter. The culture is the fun stuff, the really different stuff. And Westerners don't see that as bad, backwards, or poor.

@demetriastudy @PNASNexus 2/ As I asked more questions, I realized it was because he saw those things as markers of poverty. He wanted Westerners to come to China and marvel at the new apartment buildings, the modernity. Look at our progress!

@demetriastudy @PNASNexus 1/ This reminds me of a long conversation I had with a friend/tutor in Guangdong, China. He complained to me that Westerners come to China, and they just want to see the past--temples, hutongs, martial arts. He was pretty angry about it! I was confused.

@demetriastudy @PNASNexus Totally. 💯 I don't see some cultural values as better or worse. They're just different. I do see them as functional or adaptive (meaning they are better at accomplishing different tasks), but I don't see becoming American as a better thing.

@demetriastudy Interesting! I hadn't really thought of being ona smartphone as an independent thing, but you're right. It's also private, since it's really only for one person in the room. Contrast that with TV, which I spent a lot of time watching as a kid. Anyone in the room experiences it.

@ThomasTalhelm Also, being on the phone for some reason in terms is always seen as unproductive and I think in some sense children are more independent than before but also require a lot of handholding.

@demetriastudy @PNASNexus I think so too! I heard about this first from a Swiss German PhD student who came to one of my talks. She told me how the young generation started texting in Swiss German, which used to be not acceptable.

@ThomasTalhelm @PNASNexus This is a very interesting example.

@Sakiera_Hudson @Epsiloon_mag @PNASNexus Haha, yeah! It makes my beard look rugged--something I am not. 😆

@ThomasTalhelm @Epsiloon_mag @PNASNexus This art rendering is also amazing!!

@Tongrongtian @cherylwoooo That's a lovely paper! Thanks for alerting me to it. 😃

@cherylwoooo Have you seen this paper yet @ThomasTalhelm? As droughts drag on, rain becomes more likely regardless of prayer—but prayers timed to the return of rain end up "validating" the ritual, showing how ecology can shape cultural practices and beliefs.

Super awesome paper!!

@koenfucius I love this work! I have a study coming out soon that'll show this in 100 cultures (and expand on it...).

Ideological differences in the expanse of the moral circle (liberal ≈ more universal; conservative ≈ more parochial) are not just a reflection of differing policy preferences, but of profound psychological differences, research by Waytz et al suggests: buff.ly/Kmq7PpF

@demetriastudy Interesting! Can you tell me more about this thought?

@ThomasTalhelm I wonder if things like child qualities that parents value are not reflected in their children and that's why a strong push for social media ban/smartphone ban or more surveillance from parents indirectly (or maybe directly) tied to globalisation.

@demetriastudy @PNASNexus The funny thing is, some of the most emotional criticisms I get when I present this research is from people from non-Western cultures who seem to think that becoming Western is a good thing and that I'm denying their "progress." I just don't see it that way.

@ThomasTalhelm @PNASNexus This is such a fascinating article, I can see a lot of subaltern movement/resistance too can be explained with this model.