Had a terrific time discussing grief, immortality and griefbots with @jocelynmaclure.bsky.social and other colleagues at McGill. Also enjoyed a picture perfect Montreal winter's day!

@jocelynmaclure.bsky.social a raison: une réforme constitutionnelle exige légitimité, délibération et coopération. La CAQ n’a ni le processus ni l’autorité morale pour engager une telle démarche au Québec. #polqc www.lapresse.ca/dialogue/opi...

Our upcoming December workshop on the Ethics of Griefbots has a poster! Looking forward to hosting the event with @jocelynmaclure.bsky.social and @hugocl.bsky.social at @UofTEthics.bsky.social Thanks to our sponsors @UofT-IHPST.bsky.social @forea-virtue.bsky.social and @torontosri.bsky.social

Texte important et pertinent du collègue @jocelynmaclure.bsky.social dans la Presse aujourd'hui, au sujet du projet de constitution québécoise de la CAQ. www.lapresse.ca/dialogue/opi...

A small hit of meth a day…

1ère journée de réflexion Horizons démocratiques le 30 mai à l’Université McGill. L’événement est le résultat d’une collaboration avec les collègues @patrickturmel.bsky.social et N. Hamrouni. Il y aura des présentations sur les chambres d’écho, la radicalisation et la pensée conspirationniste,

« But others had uncharitably interpreted his Nazi-seeming salutes as Nazi salutes: “They really are trying every angle to get me.” » www.ft.com/content/0c6e...

My paper, co-authored with Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen, on how AI challenges traditional conceptions of discrimination is now published in The Journal of Ethics! Read it here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

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

Our cover this week.

Visionnement obligatoire. Présenter constamment les immigrants et les autres minorités comme des problèmes peut mener jusque là.

"Où est donc passé l’esprit de solidarité ayant mené à l’accueil des réfugiés de l’Asie du Sud-Est il y a 50 ans ?" Telle est la question posée par Rima Elkhouri dans La Presse, à laquelle Rémi Chhem et votre humble serviteur tentent de répondre. www.lapresse.ca/actualites/c...

Next week at McGill University: a truly interdisciplinary discussion on our future with AI, bringing together computer science, philosophy, geography and sociology. Open to all but registration required. With Joelle Pineau, Renee Sieber, Matissa Hollister and me.

📣The @UofT Centre for Ethics has a call for applications for a post-doctoral fellowship in on the topic of Algorithm Bias. Please share 🙏 ➡️ includes teaching opportunity and position is renewable up to 3 years @ihpst-uoft.bsky.social @uoftethics.bsky.social ethics.utoronto.ca/postdoctoral...

Je ne suis pas un expert en matière de zombies, mais si j’ai bien compris les quelques épisodes de Walking Dead que j’ai écoutés, le zombie typique n’a pas d’esprit (“mind”); il ne peut donc pas être “fanatisé”. MBC doit faire preuve de plus de rigueur conceptuelle.

Some solace:“Mr Trump still delights many hard-right European leaders. But for Ms Meloni and Ms Le Pen, the American president could become a serious headache. Europeans don’t like him: a tiny 6% of French and 8% of Italians told a poll in March that Mr Trump is “a friend of Europe”.(Same in Canada)

Ce constat de @mfbazzo.bsky.social sur les effets de certains grands conglomérats médiatiques privés à travers le monde devrait être accepté par toutes les personnes sérieuses, par-delà les orientations politiques: “Bolloré applique exactement la même technique que Murdoch aux États-Unis…

How it started / how it's going.....

Rare privilège d'avoir eu près de 30 minutes pour discuter des risques de l'IA en compagnie de @sondervorst.bsky.social et @penelopemcquade.bsky.social

Delighted that this paper co-authored with A. Morin-Martel is out in Digital Society. Building in pre-AI work in applied ethics, political & legal philosophy, we argue in favor of a two-pronged institutionalist approach to the regulation of AI technologies.

New article by RGCS faculty member Jocelyn Maclure @jocelynmaclure.bsky.social and Alexis Morin-Martel, previously presented at the RGCS WIP: "AI Ethics’ Institutional Turn" rdcu.be/edrKf

A great workshop at MANCEPt this year organised by Gabriele Badano and @neufeld.bsky.social

Next week at the Jarislowsky Chair in Human Nature and Technology: work-in-progress session on Hugo Cossette-Lefebvre's paper "Can AI Systems Hold Wrongful Beliefs? Doxastic Wrongs in Machine Reasoning".

Ce texte de @pauljournet.bsky.social est intéressant. La raison pratique ne s’épuise toutefois pas dans la rationalité instrumentale. www.lapresse.ca/internationa...

I finally listened to the latest E. Klein interview on AI. If you didn’t listen to it, don’t be fooled by the headline. There is 0 argument for the view that AGI is fast approaching. Unless we count ‘’many people working in AI are convinced that AGI is around the corner‘ as a weighty consideration.

Should we worry about AI Welfare? Roundtable Discussion with Heather Alexander and Jonathan Simon on March 21. My own answer is no; my colleagues disagree. www.mcgill.ca/jarislowsky-...

Joe is a smart guy. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/02/o...

Trump did not end the Russian war of aggression in 24 hours. But he brought most Europeans together in less than 48 hours.

Here I react to the shameful encounter between American leaders and media and the Ukrainian president. No doubt there were more, but I saw five failures on our side: of hospitality, decency, democracy, strategy, and independence. Please watch and share. snyder.substack.com/p/five-failu...

Institutional Epistemology Workshop 2025, June 18-19, University of Helsinki. Our invited speakers this year are Helen Beebee, Jessica Brown, and @kevinzollman.com . We look forward to receiving your abstracts by March 10. More information here: www.institutionalepistemology.net #philsci #philsky

Très beau texte. À lire, en particulier pour ceux qui, comme moi, connaissent mal la vie et l’œuvre de Marc Bloch.

I was so appalled by Vance’s Munich speech that I overlooked his cringe joke on G. Thunberg. ‘´If American democracy can survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk’´. Wow, who’s the snowflake now.

Texte important du professeur @jocelynmaclure.bsky.social. Il nous invite, notamment, à " repenser les conditions de la rationalité, du savoir et de la discussion libre dans les circonstances qui sont les nôtres".

Nouveau texte dans La Presse+: l’autonomie rationnelle et la pensée critique sont souvent présentées comme des antidotes à la désinformation, à la manipulation et aux chambres d’écho.

"Nous devons nous réconcilier avec notre dépendance épistémique radicale, c-à-d le fait que nos croyances dépendent lourdement du témoignage des autres et des savoirs produits par les institutions. La dépendance épistémique nous rend vulnérables." @jocelynmaclure.bsky.social in @lapresse.ca

This is why we need trained philosophers in public policy, both inside and outside academia. ‘´Contrary to the claim once made by Milton Friedman, positive analysis (what is) cannot be separated from normative claims (what ought to be).´

38 lectures over the last dozen years about the values, institutions, and principles of a free society, at @rgcs-mcgill.bsky.social .

Been waiting all my adult life for a new Golden Age in Arts and Culture.

“One way of saying this is that until just the other day there was really no such thing as U.S. manufacturing, Canadian manufacturing or Mexican manufacturing, just North American manufacturing — a highly efficient, mutually beneficial system that sprawled across the three nations’ borders.”

Giving online talk on “Ethics in Academic Publishing” at the SJ Center for Business Ethics on Feb. 10 at 5pm EST. I’ll be discussing the crisis of for-profit academic journal publishing, the emerging diamond open access alternative, and what we can do. You can register to attend online here:

How can liberal #democracies respond to the rise of right-wing #populism? Politicizing Political Liberalism: On the Containment of Illiberal and Antidemocratic Views by Gabriele Badano & @alasianuti.bsky.social (Oxford Academic) reviewed by @andrewshorten.bsky.social @politics-ul.bsky.social 👇

The Journal Canadian Public Policy/Analyse de politiques has a CFP for a special issue on AI Safety and Public Policy in Canada. Research coming from all relevant disciplines are welcome. I was asked to serve on the guest editorial committee to advise on AI Ethics papers.

Timely speech by a superb movie director (via Patrick Weil) m.youtube.com/watch?si=Jsr...

Quand @janictremblay.bsky.social s’entretient avec le prof Chapoutot sur la contemporanéité du nazisme, ça donne une entrevue à écouter ici: ici.radio-canada.ca/ohdio/premie...

As far as I can tell from this interview, I don’t fully share Mark Lemley’s views on LLMs, but this is this is the right kind of attitude :

Institutional Epistemology Workshop 2025, June 18-19, University of Helsinki. Our invited speakers this year are Helen Beebee, Jessica Brown, and @kevinzollman.com . Find the call for abstracts here: www.institutionalepistemology.net #philsci #philsky

Excited about this article coming out. Timely study of how to engage with people we think are echo-chambered. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

If you watch only one short video today, make it this one. Remarkable bravery, and the looks on the various faces could be material for a dissertation on gender, the family, and authoritarianism. youtu.be/gVInX42IQD8?...

Recklessness

Next Jarislowsky Chair in Human Nature and Technology work-in-progress seminar: Virginie Simoneau-Gilbert (PhD candidate, Oxford), "Empathy in Animals: Its Epistemic Moral Relevance and Limitations", Jan 31, 3:30. To obtain a copy of the paper: www.mcgill.ca/jarislowsky-...