{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T01:49:33Z","timestamp":1760147373283,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":44,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,31]],"date-time":"2023-01-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1675123200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000001","name":"National Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["ACI-1548562","ACI-1928147","HUM220003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ACI-1548562","ACI-1928147","HUM220003"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000001","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000001","name":"Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC)","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["ACI-1548562","ACI-1928147","HUM220003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ACI-1548562","ACI-1928147","HUM220003"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000001","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"John Templeton Foundation","award":["ACI-1548562","ACI-1928147","HUM220003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ACI-1548562","ACI-1928147","HUM220003"]}]},{"name":"Templeton Religious Trust","award":["ACI-1548562","ACI-1928147","HUM220003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ACI-1548562","ACI-1928147","HUM220003"]}]},{"name":"Canada\u2019s Social Sciences","award":["ACI-1548562","ACI-1928147","HUM220003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ACI-1548562","ACI-1928147","HUM220003"]}]},{"name":"Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)","award":["ACI-1548562","ACI-1928147","HUM220003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ACI-1548562","ACI-1928147","HUM220003"]}]},{"name":"Survival and Flourishing Fund","award":["ACI-1548562","ACI-1928147","HUM220003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["ACI-1548562","ACI-1928147","HUM220003"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Entropy"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The space of possible human cultures is vast, but some cultural configurations are more consistent with cognitive and social constraints than others. This leads to a \u201clandscape\u201d of possibilities that our species has explored over millennia of cultural evolution. However, what does this fitness landscape, which constrains and guides cultural evolution, look like? The machine-learning algorithms that can answer these questions are typically developed for large-scale datasets. Applications to the sparse, inconsistent, and incomplete data found in the historical record have received less attention, and standard recommendations can lead to bias against marginalized, under-studied, or minority cultures. We show how to adapt the minimum probability flow algorithm and the Inverse Ising model, a physics-inspired workhorse of machine learning, to the challenge. A series of natural extensions\u2014including dynamical estimation of missing data, and cross-validation with regularization\u2014enables reliable reconstruction of the underlying constraints. We demonstrate our methods on a curated subset of the Database of Religious History: records from 407 religious groups throughout human history, ranging from the Bronze Age to the present day. This reveals a complex, rugged, landscape, with both sharp, well-defined peaks where state-endorsed religions tend to concentrate, and diffuse cultural floodplains where evangelical religions, non-state spiritual practices, and mystery religions can be found.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/e25020264","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,1]],"date-time":"2023-02-01T02:29:03Z","timestamp":1675218543000},"page":"264","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Inferring Cultural Landscapes with the Inverse Ising Model"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"25","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2366-9351","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Victor M\u00f8ller","family":"Poulsen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5346-9393","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Simon","family":"DeDeo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA"},{"name":"Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6","DOI":"10.1017\/S0003598X0003461X","article-title":"Archaeology: The loss of innocence","volume":"47","author":"Clarke","year":"1973","journal-title":"Antiquity"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"61","DOI":"10.1017\/S0140525X0999152X","article-title":"The WEIRDest people in the world?","volume":"33","author":"Henrich","year":"2010","journal-title":"Behav. 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