iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

One of the important takeaways: genetic findings can inform risk without determining a person’s future. That’s why how we communicate this knowledge to people matters so much.

000

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I recently completed an American Psychological Association (APA) continuing education course, Building Genetic Literacy to Help Patients Navigate Results, Risk, and Concern, to deepen my understanding of #bioethics and inform my ongoing #intersex community work.

120

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

My partner had the day off today, so we went to a local farm to pick apples and buy some local sweets 🙂 I love little outings like this, especially when the weather is warm and sunny and I get to spend some time outside.

010

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

This really resonates with my current work. In small, in-depth studies with hard-to-reach populations, “saturation” can easily become a quantitative standard imposed on qualitative inquiry. Sometimes a rare experience may be more analytically important than something frequently repeated across cases

011

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Unfortunately, these backlog numbers feel very familiar. I’ve been waiting more than 17 months for my naturalization interview. 😔

000

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Unfortunately, I’m not surprised ~ I’ve been waiting more than 17 months for my naturalization interview!

000

Reposted by Alexander Berezkin

Kevin Mitchell @wiringthebrain.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Embryo editing and embryo selection need joint governance www.nature.com/articles/s41... - a very sensible, cautious position that deflates the hype around polygenic screening of human embryos (never mind genome editing)

nature.com

Embryo editing and embryo selection need joint governance - Nature Medicine

Nature Medicine - Embryo editing and embryo selection need joint governance

0126

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Just completed this. It is such a fascinating study of #consciousness and subjective experience. If you work on or are familiar with consciousness research, I really encourage you to take part. ⬇️

020

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Very excited about this new 2026 volume: #Phenomenology of Emotions. The chapters on agency, embodied empathy, affective suffering, feel especially relevant to my current dissertation work on embodied #consciousness. Looking forward to reading and probably heavily annotating this one. 📖 :)

020

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Honestly, I’d apply myself if the timing matched my PhD timeline 😄 What a fantastic #postdoc opportunity — #consciousness + phenomenology + #micro-phenomenology at BAMΞ.

010

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Interesting #HomeBody experiment. But using a body to act in the world & making sense through embodied interaction with the world are not quite the same thing. If the body is mainly an interface for already acquired competencies, can we really call this a “transfer of mind”? youtu.be/TVeGoNoBiEM?...

youtu.be

First look: HomeBody: A Humanoid That Explores, Remembers... by Stanford, Caltech (Sep/2026)

YouTube video by Dr Alan D. Thompson

000

Reposted by Alexander Berezkin

Aeon Magazine @aeon.co · 28/09/2026

‘Affects are the intensities that move us’. This provocative video examines the ‘affective turn’ in the humanities, exploring the interplay of physicality, emotion and identity buff.ly/hTyVmJ9

buff.ly

Beyond the mind-body divide – on the ‘affective turn’ in the humanities | Aeon Videos

In the mid-1990s, thinkers pushed back against the idea we’re built by language, turning to feeling and the body instead

0104

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

What becomes visible or invisible depending on how consciousness is operationalized and investigated and under what conditions?

000

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Interesting moment in Villalobos & Cea (2026): the historical dominance of neural “difference-makers” in #consciousness studies may partly reflect methodological and theoretical limitations in studying brain–body interdependencie. And it raises a question for me ⬇️ link.springer.com/article/10.1...

100

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I live in Massachusetts:) but I guess you are right

000

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

After my vacation in Maine, I decided to start running around the neighborhood again to stay in shape and clear my head a bit from my dissertation. And today, during my run, I caught a sunset like this

110

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Thank you! I’m glad the question resonated.

110

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Yes! I’ve read it. Their argument about the “blind spot” has been quite influential in how I think about these questions.

011

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

can the body be understood only as an object of consciousness if bodily processes and engagement are constitutive of how conscious experience unfolds?

020

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I find this an interesting attempt to bring the Advaita Vedānta practice of self-inquiry into #neurophenomenology as a scientifically investigable first-person method. However, it raises another question: ⬇️ www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...

frontiersin.org

Frontiers | Who am I? Self-inquiry as a neurophenomenological approach to consciousness

Inconclusive evidence for leading third-person theories of consciousness has renewed scientific interest in its first-person nature. Self-inquiry, a first-pe...

110

Reposted by Alexander Berezkin

Anne Fausto-Sterling @birdlady.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Study finds sharp decline in Black, Hispanic researchers receiving NIH funding Drop in those receiving grants and fellowships in 2025 shows impact of Trump administration rollbacks to diversity initiatives www.science.org/content/arti...

science.org

Study finds sharp decline in Black, Hispanic researchers receiving NIH funding

Drop in those receiving grants and fellowships in 2025 shows impact of Trump administration rollbacks to diversity initiatives

01311

Reposted by Alexander Berezkin

Anil Seth @anilseth.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

4/ The original target article, "Conscious artificial intelligence and biological naturalism" is available here: cambridge.org/core/journal...

1133

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

This week I attended @claudiapassos.bsky.social Claudia Passos-Ferreira’s “Tests for Consciousness in Infants”. Fascinating discussion: 75% of surveyed experts think newborns are conscious, and some place its emergence before birth. When does human #consciousness begin and how can we test for it?

100

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I’m with you on “agency all the way down,” but I’m less ready to call “human” just a brand :) That’s exactly where my unease begins. If human neural tissue can function within a nonhuman organism, what happens to our concepts of subjectivity, moral status, and the human/nonhuman boundary?

210

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Saw Akram Khan’s Vertical Road at Boston Ballet yesterday. A remarkable meeting of Kathak, contemporary dance, and ritual movement at times almost cinematic, yet always grounded in the body. One poetic language of movement. 🔥

001

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Reading this, I wonder: what might findings like these eventually mean for how we think about #consciousness and what it means to be human? If human cortical cells can develop and function within another organism, how should we think about the relations between brain, body, and environment?

100

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Wow. I took this quiz and honestly didn’t expect Sweden’s #migration rules to feel this harsh. Some of it felt uncomfortably familiar from the U.S. immigration system. val2026.centerpartiet.se/quiz-blir-du...

val2026.centerpartiet.se

Quiz - blir du utvisad? - Centerpartiet

Blir du utvisad? Gör testet nu! Tio verkliga scenarier, byggda på dagens migrationsregler. Läs och gissa vad som faktiskt händer.

000

Reposted by Alexander Berezkin

Jay Van Bavel, PhD @jayvanbavel.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

The US is facing a mass exodus of scientists The funding cuts & attacks on science are demoralizing a generation of brilliant minds One-third of young scientists who were planning careers in academic research changed their minds in 2025 and many now plan to leave www.nber.org/system/files...

13718

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Today I had an appointment at the Harvard Dental Center student practice and left feeling objectified, less like a patient seeking help, and more like a teaching case whose needs were secondary to the students’ training. Very different from my experience at a student dental clinic in San Francisco

000

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Our vacation has come to an end, and we finished it the same way we started: with a visit to a historic house museum :) This time it was Victoria Mansion in Portland, Maine, built in 1858 for a wealthy couple from New Orleans, Louisiana.

000

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Today my partner showed me the Fort Popham, built in 1861, where he used to play with his cousins when he was a little boy, around 6–8 years old. We had a lovely walk to the fort and I listened to stories from his childhood. Such a peaceful, relaxing day in a beautiful and meaningful place.

121

Reposted by Alexander Berezkin

Mind & Life Europe @mindandlifeeu.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Today we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the birthday of Francisco Varela (September 7, 1946 – May 28, 2001), who remains one of the most visionary and influential figures in the history of cognitive science having transformed how we think about consciousness, life, and experience.

052

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Fantasy & sci-fi often offer unique metaphors for experiencing the scientific concepts I study (consciousness, embodiment, agency, selfhood). Stephen R. Donaldson’s Mordant’s Need unexpectedly became one of those books for me: #consciousness explored through mirrors, bodies, and relations. 🪞

000

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Today my boyfriend and I walked out to the island during an incredibly low tide at Popham Beach State Park in Maine. It was absolutely beautiful. I love moments like this.

010

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

My patner’ relatives rented a cottage for a week near Popham Beach State Park in southern Maine and invited us to spend a few days with them. It’s so quiet and beautiful here. I haven’t enjoyed sunrises and sunsets this much since we lived near the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

000

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

I’ve never seen a double 🌈 rainbow and such a bright, complete arc! Wow 😮

030

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Today I finally visited Orgonon, Wilhelm Reich’s museum in Maine. I was especially interested in his laboratory and art studio. The place has a very unique atmosphere, much like the life of its creator: a physician, psychoanalyst, political radical, artist, and deeply controversial thinker.

010

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

I love Michael Whelan’s #art. There is always something in it about liminality and infinity, and philosophical questions about connection, consciousness, and the relations between different beings and worlds. #Whelan calls his style “Imaginative Realism.” www.michaelwhelan.com

020

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The thought experiments forced me to ask what I actually think matters for consciousness: embodiment, memory, biology, relationality, AI, animals, even ecosystems. I’m still agnostic about many of the boundaries, which is exactly what makes consciousness so fascinating.

010

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Researchers at Université de Montréal are conducting a worldwide study on how people across disciplines and cultures understand #consciousness. I took the survey and really enjoyed how its thought experiments helped clarify my own beliefs. www.whatisconsciousness.io

whatisconsciousness.io

What Is Consciousness? – Defining Consciousness: A global research survey

A worldwide study on how people across disciplines and cultures define consciousness. Anonymous, 10–20 minutes, open to anyone over 18.

121

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

I think the NYC mayor’s order restricting #AI use in public schools is not simply about technology. It also may be a resistance against the privatization of cognition and a struggle over who, and what, gets to mediate the relationship between children and education. www.nyc.gov/mayors-offic...

nyc.gov

Mayor Mamdani and Chancellor Samuels Put Students First with Nation’s Broadest Generative AI Moratorium in Schools

000

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Interesting structural resonance: Paul Ekman’s “emotional episode timeline” looks surprisingly similar to the diachronic structures reconstructed in #micro-phenomenological analysis: phases, transitions, bodily/perceptual changes, and an unfolding trajectory of experience. Not the same method

000

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

There is a certain irony in studying how institutional and normative constraints shape lived experience and embodied agency while experiencing, in a very different context, how immigration uncertainty can constrain one’s own possibilities for professional participation. 😏😔

010

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Unfortunately, due to the continuing uncertainty around my U.S. naturalization process and the resulting travel restrictions, I’ve had to withdraw from MoC7. I’m very disappointed, but I’m grateful to @moc7.bsky.social for accepting my work and for their understanding.

100

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

At the beginning, I worried that having only 5 cases might be too small. Now I’m doing multimodal analysis across semi-structured and micro-phenomenological interviews, body maps (narrative, embodied, paralinguistic, visual data) & this dataset feels anything but small. OMG 😆 Help me survive :))

000

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Last Sunday, I was invited to see Derrick Adams: View Master at ICA Boston, an exhibition celebrating Black life through everyday beauty, freedom, resilience and joy. It was also a meaningful encounter between Black American and #queer communities and their intersections. #derrickadams #black #art

020

Alexander Berezkin @birchalexander.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Today, two #intersex people from two countries asked me about intimacy, relationships, bodies, and hormones. It reminded me how few safe spaces exist for these conversations. Maybe it’s time to bring back 30–45-minute peer consultations grounded in experience and research? 🤔

010