Just as personality tests (see, I’m an introvert!), astrological signs (I’m a Libra!), and generational monikers (I’m Gen Z!) are used to aid self-understanding, so are psychiatric diagnoses, manvir singh writes. nyer.cm/8pqIv5y

For this week's The New Yorker, I wrote about how psychiatric diagnoses create social identities and offer frameworks for self-understanding, establishing personal stakes in flawed systems like the DSM: newyorker.com/magazine/2024/…

“Railing against social media for manipulating our zombie minds is like cursing the wind for blowing down a house we’ve allowed to go to rack and ruin,” manvir singh writes, about what we get wrong in the fight against misinformation. nyer.cm/bWBvEY5

The alien language spoken in Frank Herbert’s “Dune” novels carries traces of Arabic. Why has that influence been scrubbed from Denis Villeneuve’s films? nyer.cm/PJdCtMX

Herbert’s “Dune” was filled with Arabic, most of which has been cut from the films in the name of a believable sci-fi world. In my new The New Yorker essay, I explore the art of making fictional languages & what gets lost in the pursuit of speculative realism. newyorker.com/culture/cultur…

I'm hiring a post-doc for a 2-year position to study ritual, religion, & explanations of misfortune in Indonesia. Applications will be reviewed starting March 1. Please spread the word & reach out if you have questions!

Job ad: recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF06264