Organizational psychologist. Author of the blog Darwinian Business, exploring business from an evolutionary perspective.
London, England
Joined June 2015
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Barely a week passes without another warning that AI is breaking off its leash.
Where is this going, and what does ‘superintelligence’ mean for Team Humanity?
Step in @robertwrighter with The God Test, to put increasingly powerful AI in perspective.
darwinianbusiness.com/2026/1…
Max Beilby retweeted
A very nice (in multiple senses) review of my book The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning. It's great to see a review that reflects a careful reading of your argument. (I mean, not that reviews ever *don't* reflect that...)
Barely a week passes without another warning that AI is breaking off its leash.
Where is this going, and what does ‘superintelligence’ mean for Team Humanity?
Step in @robertwrighter with The God Test, to put increasingly powerful AI in perspective.
darwinianbusiness.com/2026/1…
Max Beilby retweeted
Absolutely thrilled! The Origins of War and Peace in the Human Species is now published by Cambridge University Press @CambridgeUP! Available in both print and digital formats
When, why and how did we, humans, become capable of both war and peace?
cambridge.org/core/books/ori…
Max Beilby retweeted
I'm honored to have received this year's Evolution in the Public Eye Award for my writing on evolution, biology, medicine, & psychology.
Link to award lecture in comments.
Big thanks to the many colleagues, friends, & readers who've supported this public-facing science work!
Max Beilby retweeted
Inside Elon's Mind | @robertwrighter and filmmaker @alexgibneyfilm discuss Alex's epic new documentary about Elon Musk—an exploration of how the world's richest man got so powerful (and so weird).
youtu.be/S334zDOB4jw?si=LL-a…
Max Beilby retweeted
Delighted to report that my book on AI has just come out in China! So my end-of-book sermon about the urgent need for international cooperation on AI governance is now available to the two key target audiences...
Max Beilby retweeted
Introducing: Time Machine Experiments 🚀 ⏳
in which participants 'travel' to the past, and interact with a mind from the year 1930 (simulated by an AI with knowledge cut-off).
Preprint: arxiv.org/pdf/2609.15468
This is an example of what we recently called "Science Fiction Science" (Sci-Fi-Sci)
Led by our @Max_Planck_CHM member @hiromu1996 @schimmelrob and Ezequiel Lopez-Lopez, together with @LevinBrinkmann Alejandro H. Artiles and Jean-Francois Bonnefon @azimshariff
Max Beilby retweeted
AI learns from human culture. But can we learn from AI?
Very proud of my team for bringing this paper to publication, today at @NatureComms.
See Levin's thread below for details.
We worry about homogenisation, but can AI also expand human culture? In a multi-generational experiment we demonstrate AI-induced cultural shifts. Machines lastingly shift human behavior, beyond their presence, just as AlphaGo did to Go.
nature.com/articles/s41467-0…
Max Beilby retweeted
Can we harness evolutionary thinking to evolve aligned AI?
Check out my interview with evolutionary biologist @David_S_Wilson as part of his 'Evolving Alignment' podcast.
youtu.be/elkgRGoQLsk?si=PTkT…
Max Beilby retweeted
This week, we talk to @AthenaAktipis about our Extended Cooperative Phenotype, Zombies, Jam Sessions, and ways to follow what you're passionate about (even if you're an academic).
youtu.be/wwZ_WTNt5II?si=FUez…
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…
podbean.com/eas/pb-9x482-1b7…
Max Beilby retweeted
The biggest problem with the Siberian plague incident right now is the lack of clear, consistent information, I tell @Telegraph.
telegraph.co.uk/global-healt…
Max Beilby retweeted
Man never thought I’d be an author one day but here I am, holding a book with my name on it. Had been a bit bummed today—the last year has been hard if I’m being honest—but having copies of my book arrive brightened the mood. It’s OK to feel a bit accomplished for a moment right?
Max Beilby retweeted
The popular narrative of AGI often centers on a single, isolated super-intelligence. My colleagues James Manyika, @bratton, and I have a different model. In our new DeepMind Institute essay, we argue that the AGI transition will be a highly social event.
bit.ly/artificial-symbiotic-…
Max Beilby retweeted
I had the opportunity to offer feedback on Claude's Constitution to the authors at Anthropic (in person). This piece nicely converges with my own thinking: mustafa-suleyman.ai/a-warnin…
Max Beilby retweeted
NEW: I talked to Joseph Henrich about why he wanted to tackle the issue of politicization in anthropology for the Vanderbilt humanities commission, what he found out, and what he thought of my Q&A with the head of the American Anthropological Association. chronicle.com/article/the-ha…
Max Beilby retweeted
New publication:
Burnout and depression were associated with the same workplace variables related to social threat: domineering leaders, negative workplace gossip, lower perceived social rank, and feeling physically vulnerable.
These may represent modern workplace versions of the kinds of social threats our ancestors faced, raising the possibility that burnout reflects an ancient threat-management system.
Read the paper here:
mdpi.com/2076-328X/16/8/1289
Max Beilby retweeted
"Good writing doesn’t usually come out that way the first time; it’s created through innumerable drafts and tiny improvements. You don’t have to be born with a magical gift. You just have to put in the work - and then make it look like you didn’t."
stevestewartwilliams.com/p/h…
Max Beilby retweeted
Why are men larger than women? Why aren’t the sexes the same size, or women larger?
That's the topic of this excerpt from my new book, A Billion Years of Sex Differences. Check it out!
stevestewartwilliams.com/p/s…
Max Beilby retweeted
"Evolutionary psychology begins with a simple idea: The human mind is part of the natural world and, like the rest of the body, was shaped by evolution."
Top 18 Quotes about Evolutionary Psychology
stevestewartwilliams.com/p/t…
Max Beilby retweeted
The insights of Robert Trivers are obvious once explained, yet eluded great minds for ages; simple enough to be stated in a few words, yet with implications that have busied scientists for decades, writes @sapinker.
quillette.com/2026/03/25/the…
