May 2019
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How Indians invented the universal religion
Disagreeing with guest Armin Navabi on a podcast, the author argues that universalist, post-tribal religion was not invented by Christianity and the Abrahamic tradition, pointing to Ashoka’s Edict 13 and…
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newsletter
A pasted Insitome email newsletter, mostly stylesheet code, promoting discounted ancestry apps and an essay on the settling of Scandinavia, plus a podcast episode in which Razib discusses Scandinavian prehistory…
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Pakistani women, Chinese men, the continuing story….
Following a New York Times report, the author notes that Pakistani Muslim women are being taken to China by rural Chinese men who overstate their wealth and perform nominal conversions,…
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I’m fond of saying “two is the first number”
A former think-tank analyst explains his HipBone Games, an attempt to make Hesse’s Glass Bead Game playable, arguing that patterns need two linked concepts, so that the basic move is…
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Vital stats in South Asia
Shares vital statistics for South Asia, noting that Pakistan and Bangladesh have diverged and puzzling over Bangladesh’s high adolescent fertility, while warning that India’s averages hide regional variation.
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Browncast Ep 42: American Arranged Marriage
A BrownCast episode with Amit, an Indian American doing a medical residency, who after dating troubles chose an arranged match, a process the host found more flexible and voluntary than…
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The decline of the bee
Quotes a report on Indian-American dominance of the national spelling bee, then argues that paid coaching turns childhood exuberance into another notch on a meritocratic conveyer belt.
