Working Knowledge: A Simon Schaffer Reader, eds. Charlotte Bigg, John Tresch, and Simon Werrett – @uchicagopress.bsky.social, April 2026 press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

"“This is not a war for security. It’s a war for the political economy of fossil fuels – and the people paying the price are Iranian civilians and working‑class communities around the world.”

Large language mistake Cutting-edge research shows language is not the same as intelligence. The entire AI bubble is built on ignoring it. www.theverge.com/ai-artificia... #LLM #AI #language #intelligence #philosophy #PhilosophySky #philsky

The Iran war is tightening global tech supply chains by cutting off helium from Qatar, a key source of the gas used in advanced industries like chipmaking.

So the humanities, and philosophy in particular, are back—not on the sidelines, but as another battlefield. In this case, the battle can be won. It may take a few rounds, but Larijani isn't the first to try to enlist Kant in the service of an antihumanist philosophy. A great article. t.ly/QjBgU

Philosophers have turned from timeless to timely questions.

When Spring Break feels neither like spring nor a break.

Heidegger's philosophical concepts are challenging sculptures. Einstein's scientific concepts are challenging technical tools.

When you buy a cheaper used copy of a work by an admired author and it comes with a signed dedication (to the previous owner/reader!).

We make our objects of inquiry pose like we make our photographic subjects, even when we just mean to catch a pose. It's not just selection from their assumed manifoldness, but from our own panoply of possible constructions and interactions.

Philosophers and philosophies are children of their time, which they turn into thought. Habermas' time was long over and his intellectual mourning signals one more type of consoling idealism and one more exercise in futile nostalgia, with hope and no expectation. We're mourning our own predicament.

Prior to Habermas' death, this week I have used four times in writing the word 'Habermasian'.

RIP Jürgen Habermas (1929-2026)

The question of just war or legitimate violence is continuous with the question of legitimate police force. Politically foreign policy extends, and shifts attention from,the exercise of violence in domestic policy. Technologically & historically the distinction has become blurred & one of reliance.

We asked people around the world to rate the morality and ethics of others in their country. The U.S. is the only place we surveyed where more adults describe the morality and ethics of others living in the country as bad than good. See our full morality report here: www.pewresearch.org/...

28 scientists say political pressure to remove a chapter on climate science in a manual for judges is a troubling turn for other disciplines, too. @defendpublichealth.bsky.social @standupforscience.bsky.social sciencepolitics.org/2026/03/02/a...

So turns out Cantor stole the proof that \\(\mathbb{R}\\) is uncountable from Dedekind https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-man-who-stole-infinity-20260225/

'Aesthetic breakthrough' www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

AIs can’t stop recommending nuclear strikes in war game simulations Leading AIs from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google opted to use nuclear weapons in simulated war games in 95 per cent of cases www.newscientist.com/article/2516...

I have spent the past several months studying the cutting-edge research on modern democracies that have defeated authoritarian leaders. I've learned that the conventional wisdom on the topic is wrong — in ways that have clear implications for the US going forward THREAD www.vox.com/politics/479...

New: A comedian set up a fake ICE tip line as a joke. Then 100 calls flooded in: neighbors ratting on neighbors, a teacher reporting a kindergartener. Fans say the viral TikToks revealed deportation's "banality of evil." Conservatives say he should be in prison wapo.st/4kM4qbF

Between enshittification and enschmittification. Ways of the world.

How can we best learn about the world? A new paper by SFI's Marina Dubova (@mdubova.bsky.social) and coauthors applies the scientific method to itself, finding that some common strategies that scientists consider gold standards for designing experiments could perform worse than random choice.

The Russian state may morph into a steampunk Byzantium with nukes. China may continue as a high-tech Panopticon (...). The European Union may become an avatar of the Holy Roman Empire, a fading kaleidoscope of shifting principalities and powers.(...)

this is a well executed and interesting study. The conclusions are worrisome, even though the absolute amounts are small for now.

Consider it a red flag if “everybody” online seems to agree. You might be scrolling AI-generated posts by a bot swarm, coordinated to fake consensus, game the algorithm and make fringe ideas look mainstream. buff.ly/CjqxvIP

In terms of what cures are being lost: - Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis - herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis - shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease

Don’t be fooled by Ring’s latest attempt to make mass surveillance and real-time identification the new norm in our neighborhoods. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...

NEW: A newly updated reference manual for U.S. judges that provides answers to scientific and technical questions has eliminated some 90 pages about climate science. It comes as numerous climate cases make their way through state and federal courts.

Cool/important job alert: Principal Research Scientist at the Wikimedia Foundation's Research team for the area of knowledge integrity Job posting: job-boards.greenhouse.io/wikimedia/jo...

CFA: AAAS Section L (#HPS) & @philsci.bsky.social invite submissions for the AAAS-PSA Cognate Society Symposium Session at the PSA meeting November 19-22, 2026 in San Diego, CA. Deadline is 11:59 pm Anywhere on Earth (UTC -12) on April 1st. Submit session proposal here: forms.gle/YmihYVmZDEvq...

With FY26 federal appropriations bills now signed into law, the R&D funding outlook is brighter than initially feared. Compared to the drastic cuts that were proposed in the spring, the bills show some increases, flat funding, or relatively small reductions for R&D.

Excited to announce that my post doc, Sasha Kaurov, and I are launching reckoningscience.org/launching-re... Please take a look, read, and subscribe! All proceeds will go to supporting the underfed post-doc.

The Dept of Energy (DoE) overhauled a set of nuclear safety directives and shared them with the companies it regulates, without making the new rules available to the public. The changes affect various aspects of reactor operations, including saf... TAT: [Attacking Science | Controlling Information]

The Department of Energy announced it would exempt new experimental nuclear reactors from major environmental law requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The act calls on federal agencies to consider the environment when undertaking new projects and... TAT: [Attacking Science]

David Hume’s tomb attacked by satanists! @theguardian.com www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Alarmingly relevant new paper out in @apsrjournal.bsky.social by Turku Isiksel and @tompepinsky.com. They take on the question of whether citizens of authoritarian states should vote in their often unfair elections, & find reason to do so. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

The Dept of Energy (DoE) overhauled a set of nuclear safety directives and shared them with the companies it regulates, without making the new rules available to the public. The changes affect various aspects of reactor operations, including saf... TAT: [Attacking Science | Controlling Information]

AAAS voting ballots should've arrived in your inbox today. Lots of #HPS scholars on the ballot, including @jordicat.bsky.social & @bhgross144.bsky.social Donald Opitz & Mary Susan Lindee. Voting open through February 2nd.