iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Colin Danby

Stoicism is like libertarianism. A fine philosophy but 99 out of a 100 cases are vavilovian mimicry in the field of ideas. A weed selected to look like a crop plant you would want. People with easy lives want to look like they are made of stern stuff. Would-be oppressors want to look liberty-loving.

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Stuart Elden @stuartelden.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Sander Verhaegh, Logical Positivism: An American History - @academic.oup.com, September 2026 global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Cover of book - black with white writing, and inset image of a building being constructed.

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Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Max pulling to go *back* to the vet's office so he can yell at them some more. Crazy part is he wasn't even seen today...

Lower center, a small harnessed dog strains at the end of his leash, standing on his back legs, to bark at the other side of the road. Another dog is visible bottom left.

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Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

October is the time for selling your ox and gathering grapes. #MedievalCalendar Morgan Library MS M.399; Da Costa hours, illuminated by Simon Bening; ca. 1515 CE; Belgium; f.11v

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Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

"his only smile was a grin" Alexander Bain on Comte and Robert Owen. He's meeting Comte in 1851. 223-4 in Bain's autobiography.

The general tenor of his discourse, however, was to treat of the advancement of his own scheme of political reconstruction, of which he had, as we know from his writings, a most extravagant anticipation.

Excepting the millenarians, who, presumably, reproduce the position of the first apostles, I never met such an extreme case of immediate anticipation of organic change, except in Robert Owen. Owen came over from America once a year ; went the round of his friends, and communicated to them his expectations of an immediate reorganization of society in the United States. I heard him myself in one of these conversations, while calling upon Dr. Arnott, and regarded his peculiarities

as indicating an extraordinary aberration from the common judgment and ways of life. I may say again, with regard to Comte, that I never knew or could imagine such a case of the negation of humour. His whole attitude was that of severe denunciation or self-aggrandisement, and his only smile was a grin.

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Dr. Peter Paul Rubens @peterpaulrubens.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Most glorious Annunciation ever. Yet Mary is clearly not convinced! Painted in 1333 by Simone Martini of Siena, whose day is today, with some help from Lippo Memmi.

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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

David Quammen's essay in The New York Times today closes with this paragraph. It's both a scientific falsehood, and an incredibly dangerous narrative. If you're willing to give me five minutes of your time, I'd like to explain why.

The Ebola virus doesn’t need to spill back. It abides in its reservoir host, and awaits its next opportunity. A virus can’t climb out of a bat or a monkey and fly off in search of human prey. It can only spill over. If humans left the reservoir host alone — not hunting it, not capturing it, not eating it, not exporting it live, not disturbing its forest habitat — the virus wouldn’t re-emerge in humans. It would remain where it is, harming no one. But of course that’s not what happens. And when viruses spill, they often spill into us, because the human population is such a big, busy target.

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Howard French @hofrench.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Exciting book news today. The Second Emancipation is now out in paperback, and I've just learned that its predecessor, Born in Blackness, is coming out in another translated edition in November, this time Mandarin Chinese.

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Joe Mason @moreorloess.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

"we're going to lose some fine intellectual dexterity": Knowing your address, finding your way to and from home, ability to read a map or work from a mental map, see details in the patterns of tree bark or the shape of leaves or the shapes of the landscape that let you identify trees and landforms,

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Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Your dogs Marty and Max seem OK after a chicken bone scare. Details unsavory, but happily no worse. Max is reported waking up from x-ray anaesthesia and we'll collect him in an hour. We'll have to police evening walks more carefully!

A small white dog looks at you quizzically from the arm of a couch.

An even smaller white dog, harnessed outdoors, makes a bid to be lifted onto a bench.

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Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Five months ago, these animals had never seen an elevator. Now Max sits in protest if we try to pass the lifts at end of our hall to use the outside stairs. Marty wants to ride all the outdoor ones at Stratford Cross.

Two harnessed dogs inside an elevator, Max looking at you.

Marty makes a bid to ride one of the outdoor elevators in Stratford Cross.

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Blue Heron Farm @blueheronfarm.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This dog ain't right

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Dan Davies @dsquareddigest.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

I really will take this a hell of a lot more seriously when I see the first story about rogue agents finding a message board to post things like "we don't have enough tokens to solve this problem directly - how can we hack OpenAI's billing system?"

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Quinn Slobodian @quinnslobodian.com · 22/09/2026

Two jobs in the school of global studies at BU where I work: Asst Prof, International Economic Policy bit.ly/4hFl5h6 Prof of Practice, Global Economic Development Policy bit.ly/4Ant5e2

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Economic thought @economicthought.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

New book: Currency and Credit Money: A Comparative History of Early Monetary Theories (1358–1918), by Jan Greitens amzn.to/3SlyxNF

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Orddu, Orwen, or Orgoch @troynovaunt.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

You come to me, on the day of my son’s wedding, with a completely gratuitous “e” on “old” when you’re probably talking about Early Modern English anyway

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Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Useful thread! From a history of science POV, I'm struck by how the recent discourse reflects 19th century arguments for a divided brain. I'm writing about efforts to ground economics in the lower, not-conscious part.

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Stuart Elden @stuartelden.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Michel Foucault, La Croisade des enfants - ed. Arianna Sforzini with Henri-Paul Fruchaud, Flammarion, October 2026 editions.flammarion.com/la-croisade-...

Cover of book, light blue background, with black and white photograph of Foucault in a turtle-neck top.

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Laura Martínez 🥑 @miblogestublog.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Best translation ever

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Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Behind every Socrates there's.......... Bodleian Library MS. Ashmole 304; Texts on prognostication, scribe & illustrator Matthew Paris; 13th century; England (St. Albans); f.31v @bodleian.ox.ac.uk

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Mariadele Boccardi @mariadele.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Professional news! My book Environmental Neo-Victorianism is coming out in early 2027.

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Isabella M. Weber @isabellamweber.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

On the evening that Elif Eralp won the Berlin mayoral race with a Mamdani-style campaign, I arrive in NYC for an event hosted by Mayor Mamdani and am welcomed at the hotel by my first review copy of «Anti-fascist Economics». 🌹

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Stuart Elden @stuartelden.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Yuriko Furuhata, Archives of the Anthropocene: Visual Grammars of Deep Time – @dukepress.bsky.social, September 2026 dukeupress.edu/Archives-of-... Introduction open access at this link

dukeupress.edu

Archives of the Anthropocene: Visual Grammars of Deep Time

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Dr. Peter Paul Rubens @peterpaulrubens.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Marketplace in Bergen op Zoom, 1590, by Abel Grimmer. Truly one of best early modern cityscapes, w/ many wonderful incidental details showing urban life in my youth!

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Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

21st September is the feast of St Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, who is depicted here sitting within the first word of his Gospel. BL Harley MS 2799; the 'Arnstein Bible'; c.1172; Germany, W. (Arnstein); f.155r @blmedieval.bsky.social

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Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Another dog party! Max worked out how to open the basket and started eating all the dog treats.

Five little dogs on the grass, Max at top left.

Marty and Max approach the picnic basket.

Max defends his new possession. We bought him off with a large biscuit.

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Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I went out this morning with Max and Marty. We came upon this monument to the Stratford Martyrs. Has anyone written the relevant history of public commemoration? The monument went up 1879. The economist I'm writing on has an 1867 lecture on the martyrdom of Bishop Ferrar at Carmarthen ...

Front panel of the monument. "To the Glory
of
GOD
in his suffering Saints
This Monument
is raised to perpetuate the great
principles of the Reformation
and
to commemorate the death
of 18 Protestant Martyrs
burnt in this neighbourhood
for the pure faith of Jesus Christ."
The there's a bas relief sculpture of the execution, and the words "ERECTED AD 1878"
More: https://christianheritage.info/places/united-kingdom/greater-london/london/monument-outdoor/stratford-martyrs-memorial/

Max, left, and Marty, right. Two small harnessed dogs seen from above, waiting patiently for the light to change.

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Dr. Peter Paul Rubens @peterpaulrubens.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

More music making! Dinner is over, dog's asleep, and we're singing about Italy (on the wall). From Jan Miense Molenaer.

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Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Max chronicles: pillow fort yesterday evening, bounding through Stratford's "East Village" today.

Hairy little dog looking at you sleepily, couch, pillows, blanket. He dug under one pillow and pushed it aside just enough to make a space to sleep in.

Little dog harnessed and leashed in the concrete jungle, looking away from the camera.

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Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Yom Kippur 2026 begins at sunset on 20th September. Here is the Initial-word panel at the beginning of Kol Nidrei (All vows). Bodleian Library MS Michael 619; Maḥzor for the High Holidays; Western Ashkenazi rite (Tripartite Maḥzor, volume 3); 1320-1330 CE; f.100v @bodleian.ox.ac.uk

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Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

"Package the findings ..." The power of genre!

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Alexandre Klein @alexandreklein.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

(New Book) The Wonders of Childbirth. Giving Life between the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period histoiresante.blogspot.com/2026/09/donn... #histmed

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Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Seems serious, especially if online databases or repositories are not especially secure. With an LLM, a query goes in and the distributed-plagiarism machine responds from its training set. Bad, but done. But "agents," which I see some colleagues enthusing over, could change the data.

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Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Marty and Max take a break during a windy walk. They're highly engaged by the "East Village" area in Stratford. To me it's a bit dull, but they dash about, pull the leash, keep trying to go into random doorways.

Two small fluffy dogs, wearing harnesses, sit on a cushioned bench in a little alcove. Their noses are lifted to smell the wind.

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Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Great connection-drawing discussion following this. Also a migration story, when these rural-urban moves cross borders.

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Noah Blan @noahwblan.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

I’m thrilled to share that my book Carolingian Ecological Sovereignty is out now with @archumanities.bsky.social ! You can order physical copies now, and the open access versions will be available sometime in early October. www.arc-humanities.org/978180270283... Keep an eye out for updates here 📚

arc-humanities.org

Carolingian Ecological Sovereignty - Arc Humanities Press

During the early Middle Ages, the ecological was political—as it is today. For the Carolingians, the governance of nature was integral to the making of emp...

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Colin Danby @cdanby.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Local Dogs Opt to Remain in UK. "There's food on the ground everywhere," said Marty, seven. "Honestly I'm pretty impressed."

Max, left, and Marty, right. Two dogs on the floor looking right at you.

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Dan Berger @dnbrgr.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I am humbled and ecstatic to share an early blurb for PRISON: Incarceration and the Making of America, coming from @basicbooksgroup.bsky.social in March 2027 and available for preorder now: 1/ www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/dan-b...

hachettebookgroup.com

Prison

A sweeping history of American prisons, showing how they have shaped the US from the founding to the present.The land of the free is the home of the pr...

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Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I wonder if Mendel did his research in secret, or did he … update his priors? (I invented this joke 5 years ago and I just saw some Bayesian bla-bla-bla).

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Philipp Hölzing @philipphoelzing.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

FOUCAULT 100 Saar und Vogelmann präsentieren in ihrer scharfsinnigen Sondierung weder eine unanfechtbare Autorität noch stoßen sie auf Zersetzung von Wahrheit, Verabsolutierung von Identität und Zersplitterung von Politik. Vielmehr entdecken sie ein hochbewegliches diagnostisches Denken. Out 8.9.!

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Brad DeLong @braddelong.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

“Does not replicate” is a very polite way of putting this. Overly polite. By a lot. By a factor of x100, perhaps: **CROSSPOST: ANDREW GELLMAN: “Replication Crisis”, Dan Ariely Files** Andrew’s title: “I am shocked, shocked to learn that this 2002 paper by Dan Ariely is based on dubious data &... 1/