Reviewer 2 may have used the autopen during the final days of the Biden administration

Factor Fexcectorn

Can AI simulations of human research participants advance cognitive science? In @cp-trendscognsci.bsky.social, @lmesseri.bsky.social & I analyze this vision. We show how “AI Surrogates” entrench practices that limit the generalizability of cognitive science while aspiring to do the opposite. 1/

1. We ( @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social, and I) have a new preprint up on the arXiv. There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.

New piece w/ James Evans in Science explores what we call 'science after science', an era where our ability to control nature may exceed our ability to understand it; a new struggle to sustain curiosity & understanding under AI's predictive dominance. #ai #science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Twin cities friends: I'll be speaking tomorrow at the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science on how AI disrupts the sometimes precarious balance of scientific incentives.

One of the best #philsci conferences in one of the best cities: the 2026 BSPS Annual Conference is taking place in Leeds 21–23 July. Keynotes by Robin Hendry, Tarja Knuuttila & Eleanor Knox. More info: www.thebsps.org/news/bsps-an... #philsky

it’s crazy because no one knows what the aim of science is

In 1977 computers proved the 4Color Theorem. Human's can't check that proof, but trust it because they understand it. Now #AI can generate proofs we'll never understand. Can we trust those? In a new paper out in PhilSci @philscijournal.bsky.social, we argue yes! with a catch: tinyurl.com/yhmnrx5m

AI use & coverage are growing quickly & recently across academic fields arxiv.org/pdf/2405.15828

1. The philosophy of science sometimes gets an unearned reputation as a purely academic exercise that offers little by way of concrete tools for advancing research. This is wrong. And today, as we grapple with how AI is changing the nature of scientific activity, it's desperately wrong.

Applications are open for SFI's 2026 Complexity Postdoctoral Fellowships If you’ve recently earned a Ph.D. in any scientific field and want to pursue independent, transdisciplinary research, consider applying. Deadline: October 1, 2025 Apply here: santafe.edu/sfifellowship

A few months ago, Nature published how-to guide for using ChatGPT to write your peer reviews in 30 minutes. This is, of course, a horrible idea. Here’s my response with @jbakcoleman.bsky.social .

Paper is finally up and open access (www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...), it's a sequel to an earlier paper where we'd argued that there's not good evidence that pre-publication peer review is a net benefit (www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1093/...). So in this one we suggest an alternative.

Would you like to teach philosophy of science and technology in Vienna? #philosophy #STS jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Senior-L...

The plan is to threaten to primary the diseases

feels... relevant www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Uy...

I had such a great time doing this program and can't recommend it highly enough.

Just called and spoke with a very nice staffer. Not giving up.

Open postdoc position at @sfiscience.bsky.social to work with my fantastic colleagues on "emergent engineering": santafeinstitute.teamtailor.com/jobs/5463514...

Study sections are the review panels that allocate NIH research grants. They bring in experts from around the country and have to be scheduled many months in advance; they provide the funds that keep the nation's biomedical research going. It's hard to overstate the disruption this causes.

Why should the public care about the freeze on the NIH? Aside from the need for scientific pursuits to make our society better… -For every dollar we invest in NIH research, there is a $2.5 return. -Research dollars help fund universities that employ non-academics. (1/)

With Wikipedia under attack, it's important to remember that its articles source and cite *very high quality* science AND serve to amplify public access to that science! @wikipdia.bsky.social is probably the best public knowledge repository we have: asistdl.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

philsci-archive has been down for a couple of days... @philsci.bsky.social

ht @eloiseboisseau.bsky.social credit smbc-comics.com

Here's an amazing study, about bullshitting -- the idea of claiming knowledge and expertise in areas you don't actually understand. Paper: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Totally selfish plug for our "Confabulation" main conference paper at #ACL2024 on exactly this issue: arxiv.org/abs/2406.04175

Two tenure-track positions in AI at the School of Information Sciences, UIUC. Artificial intelligence is broadly construed here to include AI policy, governance, ethics, AI for cultural heritage, &c. Review of applications will start Jan 6th. Please RT and share! #MLSky #NeurIPS

I know that consensus is now passé, but... is there consensus on what bsky posts are called?

Twitter trains you to create more outrageous content. From 2018-2021 my team developed a tool to measure outrage on Twitter. Here's our paper showing that “likes” and “shares” teach people to express more outrage over time. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

It's nice to see that Purdue Philosophy is now recognized as one of the top departments to do philosophy of cognitive science. Undergrad/MA mentors: get the word out to your students! Especially if they're interested in memory, AI, rationality, moral psych, norms, cultural evolution, or x-phi.

So proud of our team!!

AI for science could be more impactful than chatbots. It is already helping win Nobel prizes and accelerating drug development and materials discovery. Today we published an essay about it: why it matters, how it’s happening and its implications. Here is a summary from an econ / social sci lens.

Here is the starter pack for folks in science of science, meta science, STS, philosophy of science, history of science, economics of science, science policy, AI+science, and so on. Feel free to nominate and self-nominate! #SciSci #STS #MetaScience #SciPol #AI4Science #ScAISci go.bsky.app/2R1E4TD

Oh this is the social media that I recall from yesteryear. Pointers to amazing papers by fascinating people, combined of course with beautiful images from Medieval manuscripts and the like @weirdmedieval.bsky.social

New paper from Martha Lewis and me: "Evaluating the Robustness of Analogical Reasoning in Large Language Models" Preprint: arxiv.org/pdf/2411.14215 This is a much-extended follow-up on our earlier pre-print on "counterfactual tasks" in letter-string analogies. 🧵

Nice paper about the epistemology of AI-driven Science illustrated with the case of AlphaFold. philsci-archive.pitt.edu/24182/

We strongly suggest that academic publishers and other platforms that host research rapidly implement a Share to Bluesky button for their articles. Here's how: docs.bsky.app/docs/advance... #AcademicSky #HigherEd #Altmetrics

I'm seeking a postdoc to work with me at Purdue & Argonne National Lab! AI & science, philosophy of AI, automation in math/science, or philosophy of math. Philosophy appt. but not particular about disciplinary background! pls repost widely. DM me w/ questions! www.higheredjobs.com/faculty/deta...

6. One more public talk, again in Sydney. On Friday November 17th, I'll be speaking on "The Impediments to High-Risk, High-Return Research" as part of the Trust in Knowledge seminar series at Sydney University. This talk may be a bit more technical but I'll endeavor to make it accessible.

Very excited to be presenting on collective intelligence and artificial intelligence in science at this *very* cool Cambridge Philosophy and HPS and Philosophy of Contemporary and Future Science event. You should register... this lineup 👀 t.co/9jVm4pHp9y