A fantastic new addition to my Elements in Philosophy of Mind series: The Senses by Ann-Sophie Barwich (@smellosopher.bsky.social) offers a new and refreshing take on an old philosophical topic, grounded firmly in modern neuroscience. And it's open access. Enjoy! www.cambridge.org/core/element...

It is out and OPEN ACCESS: "The Senses: Perception and Experience" (Cambridge University Press, Elements: Philosophy of Mind, ed. by @keithfrankish.com) #PhilSky #booksky #HPBio #philosophy #cogsci www.cambridge.org/core/element...

"Common sense and science have taught us that people cannot thrive in a degrading environment." Dr. Jane wrote these words last year, and they are just as relevant now as they were back then. Photo: Artu Nepomuceno

People who can barely afford food or rent are stuck paying a trillionaires bills. Fuck that.

As philosophy rushes to claim expertise on AI, AI companies rush to control the philosophical narrative. Unlike other disciplines, philosophy has no standards for reporting conflicts of interest. This petition endeavors to change that: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

shakespeare could never

Nomination deadline for #STATWunderkinds has been extended! STAT Wunderkinds is a chance to celebrate early-career researchers who are not yet independent scientists or program leaders. Nominate here: www.statnews.com/wunderkinds-...

'What is perhaps remarkable about the Exeter cuts is that they are targeted at some of the university’s most successful departments, many of which turn over a profit even after they have made enormous and increasing contributions to the central university budget.' Read, rage and weep.

As the billionaire class gets richer, the growing online community is offering tips on how to survive with very little. www.wired.com/story/the-al...

They and us. They are not emotionally ready, let alone intellectually! But moi, I am part of the smart guy's club. "That's why they call me multidimensional!"

‘Say yes and never do it’ Mel Brooks knew how to deal with the studios

The publisher Springer claims it can only discuss why it retracted Planck's paper with... Planck! But until they hold a seance, they are happy to sell you a completely redacted version: a blank page for $39.95.

Remarkable letter to Indiana University's Provost and IU Bloomington's Chancellor by Deborah Cohn regarding the recent (and concerning) removal of our Dean of Arts and Sciences: strong, clear, and with a vision of real leadership. medium.com/@dncohn/lett...

The Nobel laureate László Krasznahorkai on his notoriously long sentences, our estrangement from beauty, and why he would “never voluntarily reread” one of his books. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

1/4 of Philosophy is on the line of termination. It's a pretty interdisciplinary Department, integrating Phil with Sociology and Anthropology. My Alma Mater. Again: there is no deficit, there was no warning/negotiation. You can sign here: www.change.org/p/stop-redun...

Gonna see the producers today!

Remarkable letter to Indiana University's Provost and IU Bloomington's Chancellor by Deborah Cohn regarding the recent (and concerning) removal of our Dean of Arts and Sciences: strong, clear, and with a vision of real leadership. medium.com/@dncohn/lett...

I am heartbroken by University of Exeter’s decision to endanger the majority of staff in philosophy and qualitative social science, including #Egenis @exeterspspa.bsky.social No warning, no consultations, just an email dropped into inboxes announcing redundancy. c.org/zKbPJFDwBq #philsci #sts #hps

Nearly 400 local newspapers sue OpenAI, Microsoft over alleged copyright theft. newjerseyglobe.com/media/nearly...

Transl: The Carl von Ossietzky State and University Library Hamburg lacks the funds to purchase books. It has informed users that it is currently unable to fulfill its core mission:

“I have done all of the things that one is supposed to do to earn a tenure-track position. And I have done approximately 85% of them by typing prompts into a large language model and then moderately editing the output.” 🤣🤣🤣 brilliant 👌🏽 open.substack.com/pub/inprepar...

Philosophers of science: our contact with scientific practice is selected scientific papers. Here we measured words in more scientific papers. They correspond with our intuitions about concepts but also show some differences. (This is a summary of a paper.)

Today, I realized that my current @rad-institute.bsky.social book project is largely built on scholarly work by women. This was not originally planned. They just published the more radically original and interesting work.

This is my Alma Mater. Note: THERE'S NO DEFICIT. Sign the petition, pls. This isn't one uni, one country. Soon underway at my uni, IU, in the US. They even make a profit. Pay the football coach >11 MILLION/year. But staff is laid off. Benefits are frozen. Programs are cut. Football goes brrrrr...

A really lovely & insightful thread on Unflattening from @lepuszeppelin.itch.io. Grateful to see how the work reached another…

"Genealogical lineages shape the kinds of problems and ideas we recognise as representative... [Their use] can never be more than shortcuts to point at one’s own understanding.... But when the shortcuts bypass all the women, they begin to look like deliberate detours." aeon.co/essays/why-a...

It's 'justsayinmice' but for society.

I love getting AI emails. It is amazing how greatly my research aligns with the interests of others who want something.

I told you last week that the excellent dean of the IU Bloomington College of Arts & Sciences had been sacked. This story illustrates the sort of action that upper administrators want from deans: www.nytimes.com/2026/06/17/u...

Scientific American is 180 years old. The most eminent science magazine for the general public. And today, sold off as scrap to stop the staff from unionizing. Many top editors I've worked with for a decade on several articles have been fired. What a disgrace @sciam.bsky.social

“Since Bakhtin first became widely known in the 1980s, his book on Rabelais has occupied a perplexing place in his oeuvre because it seems to contradict just about everything else he wrote.” —Gary Saul Morson

If data centres were that fucking clever they'd develop their own cooling solutions.

Too real. And then there are first class, business class, economy plus... With PanSpirit Airlines shutting down operations mid-molecular recomposition -- so your eyes end up in 1828 Germany while your arse appears in 1657 France. They have lost your nose.

NEW: Thiel's Dialog society privately told members their data was stolen in a cyberattack. But WIRED found it was just readable to anyone on a misconfigured web page. Its lawyers sent us a legal demand to hand over the data. We passed.

@nsousanis.bsky.social gets it.

They're saying the quiet part out loud now. Jenny Maxwell, head of education for Grammarly/Superhuman: “We’re doing a huge pedagogical upheaval in education,” she said, calling it a “burn it down moment. We’re just in the early stages.” Burn down higher ed without any plan to rebuilt. Gift link.

The thoughtlessness of these people is precisely what Arendt expressed with the banality of evil. Unable to think, caught in the wheels of their own narrow Tetris bubble, the extreme horror of their ideas does not touch their minds.

I am in the 'all at once within 24 hours' phase of the current chapter.

So this happened: came home, crashed hard (this book chapter is my undoing), had a nap. Which means Duch had to wait for her food. Woke up. Instead of giving her food right away, I checked emails. She sat down next to me. Stared. And let a massive one rip. While staring at me. This dog. No chill.

How your email found me

This reminds me of something the engineering dean said at my old uni, which also happens to be Musk’s alma mater: after the liberal arts-championing president was forced out, the professional and technical deans and trustees could reaffirm the arts + humanities’ “ornamental” status

When a respected and very well-liked dean is removed to become a "special advisor", you know big changes that said dean does not support are in the wind...

How we got here

Today has been one long "WHAT NOW?". Terrible horrible no good very bad day. I fear 2026 has put me through the wringer, and I am taking a break, also from this site.

WHAT???? This is bad news. Really, really bad.

Ok, coffee's ready. Back to writing and revising then. www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8r3...

I am in this picture. And I don't like it.