Geoffrey Miller
Geoffrey Miller is an evolutionary psychologist whose 1989 work applies genetic algorithms to neural network design and whose research includes AI safety. He earned a Columbia BA in biology and psychology in 1987, completed a Stanford PhD in cognitive psychology in 1993, and held research posts at Sussex, Nottingham, Max Planck, and University College London. He published The Mating Mind in 2000, Mating Intelligence in 2007, Spent in 2009, Mate in 2015, and Virtue Signaling in 2019; The Mating Mind connects sexual selection to traits such as art, morality, language, and creativity. As of October 2026, he is an associate professor and Evolution & Society area head at UNM, with current AI safety interests and a course in Psychology of Effective Altruism.
Timeline
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1987–1993
Columbia and Stanford degrees
He earns a BA in biology and psychology at Columbia in 1987 and a PhD in cognitive psychology at Stanford in 1993, with Roger N. Shepard as adviser.
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1989
Genetic design for neural networks
He coauthors “Designing neural networks using genetic algorithms” with Peter M. Todd and Shailesh U. Hegde for the 1989 proceedings of the Third International Conference on Genetic Algorithms.
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1992–2000
A Sussex postdoc
From 1992 to 1994, he is a postdoctoral researcher in Sussex’s Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems Group, within the School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences; in 1995, he lectures in the University of Nottingham’s Psychology Department. He is a research scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Psychological Research’s Center for Adaptive Behavior and Cognition from 1995 to 1996. From 1996 to 2000, he is a senior research fellow at University College London’s Centre for Economic Learning and Social Evolution.
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2000
The Mating Mind
In his 2000 book The Mating Mind, he argues that sexual selection shaped human traits such as art, morality, language, and creativity.
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2007–2019
Mating Intelligence and Spent
He publishes Mating Intelligence in 2007, Spent in 2009, Mate in 2015, and Virtue Signaling in 2019. In Spent, he argues that marketing presents consumption choices as a way to display social status.
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June 2025
An AI alignment talk
In June 2025, he presents an AI alignment talk at the Human Behavior & Evolution Society meeting in Atlantic City.
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As of October 2026
Associate professor at UNM
He joins the University of New Mexico as an assistant professor in 2001. As of October 2026, he is an associate professor and Area Head of its Evolution & Society Area and an evolutionary psychologist. His research interests include AI safety, AI alignment, AI governance, extinction risk, and longtermism, and his courses include Psychology of Effective Altruism.
Sources and credits
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- Geoffrey Miller (psychologist) - Wikipedia
- Publications by topic — Geoffrey Miller, Ph.D.
- Background — Geoffrey Miller, Ph.D.
- Geoffrey Miller :: Department of Psychology | The University of New Mexico
- Talks given — Geoffrey Miller, Ph.D.
- Research overview — Geoffrey Miller, Ph.D.
- Courses taught — Geoffrey Miller, Ph.D.
- Geoffrey Miller, Ph.D.