The National Archives of Ireland's genealogy site has been taken offline - to find out where to access those collections online see this very helpful post from @cbgenealogy.ie #IrishGenealogy #IrishFamilyHistory #Skystorians

Earlier this week I was informed that “The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Early Modern Women's Writing” is now published. It's a phenomenal effort by the editors but selling at a phenomenal price too. I've published some stuff in it so if any one doesn't have access happy to share my work #earlymodern

Newest philosophy podcast episodes The ethics of anti-aging technology, the division of labor in society, philosophers don't want to solve philosophy, C.S. Lewis argues for Christianity, why Democritus believed in the void... #philosophydiscussion philosophypodcasthub.substack.com/p/new-episod...

This evening I've got the best job in radio — presenting the best of the week's programmes on Pick of th Week. BBC Radio 4 at 6.15pm! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

There is no expert cited in this piece saying that AI/LLMs might be conscious. David Chalmers, who is cited, says only that there is a significant chance of conscious LLMs within a decade. Also features equivocation between AI and LLMs. Comes across as a "scare salespitch" for LLMs.

On 6 Music today, James Cheshire ('The Library of Lost Maps') talked about how maps look perfect, while being imperfect. His example was a map of giraffes, created by asking experts to mark where (they thought) species were. Result was a scrawed mess, but that is not reflected in the printed map.

My heart is heavy that we are making a collective miscalculation in undervaluing the humanities - from my FT piece www.ft.com/content/fbde...

I welcome the idea of a minister for AI: it is a massive change which could affect every aspect of society, economics, the climate and even humanity itself. But if this minister is just supposed to act as a tech booster rather than taking a holistic approach, they’ll be worse than useless

Using words like "honest" about an LLM is dishonest. It both implies falsely that the LLM is "capable of forming intent and possesses an internal sense of truth" as the article says, and thereby distracts from the complete responsibility of OpenAI for the fault.

"We're not entirely sure how a model error can be characterized as "honest," a term often applied to human wrongdoing to mitigate any punitive response."

Love Flann, but it still has to be "Berkeley and Irish Philosophy". It opened a door into a past I never knew existed. I had no clue that 18th century Ireland was as philosophical and ridiculous and intelligent and tragic and well-meaning and bloody-minded as it was.

Whatever could be said about that claim when he made it in 1962, it soon became undeniable that government vaccine research, distribution, and mandates are objectively among the greatest achievements of civilization. Claiming otherwise is embarrassing, it's like saying you don't wash your hands.

appears the US war apparatus is pivoting from general war crimes to a more openly genocidal strategy

Trump / Miller are now limiting student visas to 4 years. PhD programs typically run 5-6 years in many disciplines.

Banned Comics at the NLI 📖 Were comics really banned in Ireland? Join comic scholar James Bacon as he explores the history of comic censorship in Ireland using material from the National Library's collections. 📅 Thursday 6 Aug at 6pm (for ages 16+): https://ow.ly/fipx50Znh9q

Keep seeing stuff about AI in family history. Let me tell you a cautionary tale. Last week, a mate asked me to help her research a crime she'd heard about on social media. A 10 year old girl sentenced to transportation, a mudlarked memento found in the Thames close to Millbank.

Something I think about a lot is how crank theories around science can ONLY exist in a world predominantly operating on truth. People enjoy all the protections of the truth even as they performatively reject it. Flat-eartherism would die the instant an airline navigated according to it.

Thomas Paine’s 'Rights of Man' sold more copies in Ireland than any other country, helping to shape political debate in the years leading up to the 1798 Rebellion. In the latest issue of History Ireland, Fergus Whelan examines his enduring influence in Ireland. historyireland.com/thomas-paine...

Wow, the "head of the Church" and "the head of the Roman Court" distinction in the 21st century!

Melissa Gilliam, the president of Boston University, pointed out that in her university it takes PhD students an average of nearly six years to complete their degrees. The new rule means PhD students need special permission to stay past 4 years from September, with other restrictions.

Celtica ar líne Celtica online Celtica 30 (2018), Celtica 31 (2019) ar líne anois / now online. journals.dias.ie/index.php/ce... #DIASdiscovers Cuirtear seaneagráin na hirise ar líne de réir a chéile. We are gradually making the back issues of the journal available online.

A Smoke Bush (Cotinus coggygria), showing off the reason for its common name in a ridiculously attractive St Joseph's Square today. @maynoothuniversity.ie @stpatsmaynooth.bsky.social

A birth that altered history. A life that would span over 87 years, 87 of which were spent outside the land of his birth. (Elizabeth II the first accepted monarch to live longer, I believe.)

🚨SOLD OUT 🚨 Tickets for our Solar Eclipse event in DIAS Dunsink Observatory on 12th August are now SOLD OUT! If you missed out on tickets please check out www.eclipse26.ie for details on other eclipse related events happening on the day! @dias.ie

We are very sad to learn about the death of Prof. Richard Cox, a distinguished member of our profession, an influential teacher, and theorist. He made several visits to Ireland, and was Kate's mentor. Our deepest condolences to his family. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Site back up. statutes.org.uk/site/

This is such a pity. When I visited Philadelphia, I was enormously impressed with America's capacity to be truthful about its past. Many other nations would not have done this. America did. And it was the stronger and better for it.

We're really excited today because our new environmental monitoring system has just gone live! To find out about how @heritagecouncil.ie has helped us see edwardworthlibrary.ie/preserving-o... and see our events during Heritage Week Details here: edwardworthlibrary.ie/news-and-eve...

🚨New Blog Alert🚨 As Ireland currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU, VOICES researchers Felix Vanden Borre and Dr Claire McNulty shed light on the women in early modern Ireland with continental connections ranging from Belgium to Tuscany who feature in the Funeral Entries. Read more:

Furious that Chris Nolan would disregard historical accuracy in adapting The Odyssey by making a "movie" with "cameras" instead of memorizing the entire story and then going on a nationwide tour to sing it to us while tripping on ergotized barley

Enjoying the comments section on my FT piece on the humanities. This one is awesome!

Cf. Síd/Shee placenames/mounds; Giants graves/Wedge Tombs; Diarmuid and Grainne's Beds/Portal Tombs; Plantations, Early Modern Landscape Enclosure, the Famine, all have large parts to play in people forgetting the social memory/landscape they used to live and travel within.

Interesting end of an interesting thread.

It’s 25 years since we lost Douglas Adams. I am happy to have been able to get a reference to him into this piece in the FT about why the humanities are essential www.ft.com/content/fbde...

Three-part series exploring @tcddublin.bsky.social #TreasuresOfTrinity with Ruth Negga, singer-songwriter Eleanor McEvoy, and former senator and civil rights activist David Norris. www.rte.ie/entertainmen...

...which just goes to show that even an advocate of passive obedience can distinguish church and state.

Iris Murdoch was born otd in 1919. For last year's #WiseWomen episode, we sent our Roving Philosophical Reporter to explore the relationship between Murdoch’s novels and her philosophical writing with Miles Leeson, Director of the @irismurdoch.bsky.social Research Centre: youtu.be/0ryeXToZFV0?...

I don't know if you depressed Dr John Curry, Charles O'Conor of Belanagare, but you are somewhat depressing me! A letter from an oppressive age (Ireland, 1758) archive.org/details/lett...

Happy Iris Murdoch's birthday! Untie the knots:

"You live too much in yourself." "Where else can I live, child?" "Outside. Leave your self. It's just an agitating puppet. Think about other things, think about anything that's good." Iris Murdoch, Bruno’s Dream

New Cambridge Element on Iris Murdoch by Bridget Clarke, just entering its free-to-download era

"It is a task to see the world as it is. A philosophy which...exalts the idea of freedom and power as a separate top level virtue ignores this task and obscures the relation between virtue and reality." Seeking the Sun: Iris Murdoch and the Good irishphilosophy.com/2013/07/15/m...

Iris Murdoch, born on this day in Phibsborough, Dublin, in 1919. Her debut novel, Under the Net (1954), was named among the Modern Library’s 100 best English-language novels. The Sea, The Sea (1978) won the Booker Prize.

"The bigger an AI model is, the less it improves with each added parameter, and so it must be made bigger at a faster rate just to sustain steady progress." And no one is going to try a different approach “because [this way] gives you a very low-risk way of investing your resources.”

5 July 1381: Execution of John Ball, priest & leader in the Peasant’s Revolt #otd at St Albans

On 11 Sept 1640, the city authorities of Leuven granted the Irish Franciscans living there permission to brew four times a year without having to pay the usual tax. (Still Life with a Glass of Beer and Nuts, Georg Hainz, 1645, National Museum Sweden)

Aldus Manutius certainly knew how to lay out a page. From his 1503 edition of Cardinal Bessarion’s ‘In Calumniatorem Platonis’, which reconciled Platonism with Christianity. Part of the library of John Moore (Bishop of Ely), given to @theulspeccoll.bsky.social by George I in 1715. Sel.3.150. #venice

I don’t know why this post doesn’t give his name, but it’s Jo Nagai. This is a true story. medium.com/@zehraanjum2...

In the 17th century, 1 and 2 were called "priestcraft", the use of religion for secular gain. Liberty Fund: oll.libertyfund.org/titles/champ...