How it ended the last time a Vance negotiated with Iran:

Highly recommended:

From the philosopher and soldier J. Glenn Gray’s “The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle” (1959):

This was so much fun -- thanks to Sean Smith and Alex Moran for organising it!

We're starting a PhD programme in Philosophy at Ashoka! Anyone can apply by April 15 for admission this year, and we will ensure that admitted applicants receive enough funding to support them for the 5 year programme. More info here: www.ashoka.edu.in/programme/ph...

Hannah Arendt did not mince words, did she? 'Totalitarianism replaces all first-rate talents with crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.' From "The Origins of Totalitarianism" (1951)

Huxley on dictatorial propaganda #philsky

I wrote something about analytic Philospphy, and Christoph Schuringa’s book for the Ideas Letter @stefanschubert.bsky.social @lbenardo.bsky.social www.theideasletter.org/essay/bloodl...

Nobody throws shade like Nabokov:

“What Can a Global Turn in Philosophy of Science Look Like?”, forthcoming in Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, by former Ashoka philosophy undergrad Kabir S. Bakshi. Congratulations Kabir! philsci-archive.pitt.edu/26382/

From Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams. Now known as The Trump Defence.

A unique, searing voice, and exceptionally good:

Werner Herzog is on Instagram: www.instagram.com/reel/DNyVOOR...

Easily the best novel(s) I’ve read all year:

Evelyn Waugh

A novel and enlightening intervention on the delimitation debate by Bastian Steuwer: indianexpress.com/article/opin...

“Boards are accountable to no one – only to themselves, and to some vague set of norms, often unwritten, about their obligations. Accountability is for faculty, administrators, and students.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A welcome Luce cannonade: archive.ph/EZ8Ys

The MIT Open Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science is a growing resource, expertly edited and designed, with high quality contributors (OK OK I am one of them) oecs.mit.edu

Pratap telling it like it is. This truly is the land of Maya.

Back in the classroom tomorrow. For the first time ever, my elective Intro. to Philosophy course has more students than the required foundation course I taught last semester (139 vs. 132). Go Ashoka philosophy!

"If the machine can take over everything man can do and do it still better than us, then what is a human being?... What have we left?" Prescient thoughts circa 1981 by Krishnamurti that bear on the AI-revolution: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kut5...

Excellent interview of @neddo.bsky.social (www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM1f...)

This is brilliant. Best thing I’ve read in 2025 (!) but more seriously, one of the best things the LRB has published in recent years. Fara Dabhoiwala on Francis Williams www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Elizabeth Anderson is on a roll at Crooked Timber these past few weeks: crookedtimber.org/2024/12/24/p...

Last swim in the ocean for the year.

The highest quality backlit screen I’ve ever seen at any conference at the Saxena Auditorium at IIT-Bombay. @somakrc.bsky.social we should get one of these!

Nic Rouleau & I: checklist to go through when settling on opinions about AI, diverse intelligence, unconventional cognition, consciousness, mind/machine issues, etc. When you read (or write) about these topics, run the perspective through this, to kick the tires. 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s42...

IIT-Bombay has pretty sunsets and… unusual signage.

This is what's so baffling about so many suggestions for AI in the humanities classroom: they mistake the product for the point. Writing outlines and essays is important not because you need to make outlines and essays but because that's how you learn to think with/through complex ideas.

Going to use my new publication window as an excuse to repost this thing I made in 2019. My portrait of the great David Lewis in vegemite (and a fair bit of ink, as vegemite turns out to be a lousy medium) on toast. Context below of how this connects with my book... #philsky

“What if we were to build tools that served the needs of society’s most vulnerable members instead of letting entities interested in creating efficient killing machines dictate our scientific and technological futures? Or, to put it more clearly: Who is tech really for?”

Stay safe @jiewuh.bsky.social 🙏🏽

From Saul Bellow, "The University as Villain":

For those joining bluer skies, a bit about me: blog.apaonline.org/2023/04/03/r...

May all departments have such wonderful chairs as our very own @dweltman.bsky.social who not only skilfully led our two day departmental retreat but also simultaneously wrote detailed minutes amounting to 21 pages! 🙏

What a little coterie of criminals:

An extremely attractive two-year postdoc at NYU Shanghai, open to philosophers, that will not appear in the usual venues for philosophers. Each year, one semester teaching in the core curriculum, one semester doing research. Happy to answer any questions. Please share! www.h-net.org/jobs/job_dis...

perfect

Welcome to BlueSky @ramoran.bsky.social ! #philsky

Takes notes….

"Vishwaguru"

The great desi exodus from Twitter is finally here.

Apropos of nothing