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How to use generative AI ethically
Generative AI has been at the forefront of discussions about the future of almost every field recently. It has the potential to drastically transform how we work and how we think. In many ways, the transformation has already begun. Tools…

5 media mentions in 2022
In addition to conducting research, we need to communicate it. Project-specific communication, in the form of blog posts, newsletters, and social media can advance understanding, inform future donors, and enact change. By sharing CMAC’s research methods, project goals, and specific…

Do nightmares frequently interrupt your sleep?
CMAC is conducting a study on frequent nightmares in people over 65 years old as part of Dr. Patrick McNamara’s project Neurocomputational Modeling of Nightmare Disorder. We are gathering information about the properties of nightmare imagery in individuals over the…

The Routledge Handbook of Evolutionary Approaches to Religion
Edited by Yair Lior and Justin Lane Overview The past two decades have seen a growing interest in evolutionary and scientific approaches to religion. The Routledge Handbook of Evolutionary Approaches to Religion is an outstanding reference source to the key topics, problems…

Response: Field of Dreams: What Do NAASR Scholars Really Want?
Chapter in On the Subject of Religion – Charting the Fault Lines of a Field of Study F. LeRon Shults and Wesley J. Wildman This chapter provides an “international perspective” on the field from a scholar who was trained in…

A summary of CMAC publications over the years
CMAC facilitates conversations about the mind-culture nexus and connects a network of experts to the organizations that need them. In the last 5 years, our researchers have published academic papers, books, blog posts, and podcast episodes on a variety of…

Adapting Cohort-Component Methods to a Microsimulation: A case study
Ivan Puga-Gonzalez, Rachel J. Bacon, David Voas, F. LeRon Shults, George Hodulik, Wesley J. Wildman Abstract: Social scientists generally take United Nations (UN) population projections as the baseline when considering the potential impact of any changes that could affect fertility, mortality or migration, and the…

Panel on ethical constraints on validation, verification, and application of simulation
Andreas Tolk, Justin E. Lane, F. LeRon Shults, Wesley J. Wildman WSC ’21: Proceedings of the Winter Simulation Conference Abstract: Today’s challenges must be addressed as socio-technical systems, including insights from the social sciences and humanities to adequately represent the…

Artificial societies in the anthropocene: challenges and opportunities for modeling climate, conflict, and cooperation
F. LeRon Shults, Wesley J. Wildman, Monica Duffy Toft, Antje Danielson WSC ’21: Proceedings of the Winter Simulation Conference Abstract: Computational approaches to climate modeling have advanced rapidly in recent years, as have the tools and techniques associated with the…

The Academic Study of Religion in Bibliometric Perspective
Wesley J. Wildman Bulletin for the Study of Religion Abstract: Academic conferences are among the most energizing gatherings of scholars and scholarship. When the North American Association for the Study of Religion pivoted to an online format for their 2020…

Computational Simulation Is a Vital Resource for Navigating the COVID-19 Pandemic
Andrew Page, Saikou Y. Diallo, Wesley J. Wildman, George Hodulik, Eric W. Weisel, Neha Gondal, David Voas Simulation in Healthcare: The Journal of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare Introduction COVID-19 has prompted the extensive use of computational models to…

Scholarly Values, Methods, and Evidence in the Academic Study of Religion
Ann Taves, Wesley J. Wildman, F. LeRon Shults, and Raymond F. Paloutzian Method & Theory in the Study of Religion Abstract: The Values in Scholarship on Religion (VISOR) project collected data on the preferred methods and values of scholars in the academic study…

Amplify your impact and simplify your research process with nexusSIM
There is a growing demand for computational and data-science methods in public interest research. Academics need computational and software intensive solutions, and it can be a daunting to find a technical expert, vet them, communicate the goals of the project,…

5 media mentions in 2021
In addition to conducting research, we need to communicate it. Project-specific communication, in the form of blog posts, newsletters, and social media can advance understanding, inform future donors, and enact change. By sharing CMAC’s research methods, project goals, and specific…

Social Consequences of Religion: Year 2
Over the past year, the Social Consequences of Religion (SCORE) team has been collecting biographic data in order to conduct a systematic analysis of published works on the subject of religion and cooperation. The project will will conduct a state-of-the-art…

Is there a hack for enlightenment?
Vox’s Sigal Samuel talks with scholars and authors Wesley Wildman and Kate Stockly about their book, Spirit Tech: The Brave New World of Consciousness Hacking and Enlightenment Engineering. They discuss high-tech tools like brain stimulation and neurofeedback-guided meditation that purport…

Announcing the 2021-2022 Boston Colloquium on the Scientific Study of Religion
Cognitive Science of Religion The Colloquium, convened by Dr. Wesley J. Wildman, meets weekly for interdisciplinary discussions of the scientific study of religion. The group is a friendly and supportive environment for people making their way in the scientific study…

The Multidimensional Religious Ideology scale
Wesley Wildman, Connor Wood, Catherine Caldwell-Harris, Aimee S. Radom, Nicholas DiDonato Psychology of Religion Abstract: The Multidimensional Religious Ideology (MRI) scale is a new 43-item measure that quantifies conservative versus liberal aspects of religious ideology. The MRI focuses on recurring…

Looking back on “Reflective thought, religious belief, and the social foundations hypothesis”
In 2017, CMAC Researchers Jonathan Morgan, Connor Wood, and Catherine Caldwell-Harris published their paper “Reflective Thought, Religious Belief, and the Social Foundations Hypothesis” as a chapter in the book The New Reflectionism edited by Gordon Pennycook. In 2021, AI bots…