Sign in

David Spurrett

@doctorspurt.bsky.social
2.3K followers 1.7K following 993 posts

Philosopher, working on evolution of mechanisms of action selection, and their variously situated subversion. davidspurrett.com

PostsRepliesMedia
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Truly a self-own for the ages.
000
Reposted by David Spurrett
Jacqueline Antonovich @jackiantonovich.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
In 1974, Cornell lecturer Lin Farley began recognizing a pattern in the experiences women shared in her Women and Work course: women were being pushed out of jobs by men’s sexual behavior. Farley coined the term, “sexual harassment.”
31371486
Reposted by David Spurrett
Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Can confirm. This, for example, was at the top of my “for you” feed when I logged in to find an old post the other day.
Adolf Hitler • @Mein_Fuhrer__
X.com
I'm back
Your account is now restored to full functionality.
Adolf Hitler @Mein_Fuhrer_
What happened?
We determined that this account violated the X Rules, so we had temporarily limited some of your account features. Learn more.
Your account is now fully functional. Please note that further violations of the X Rules may result in the suspension of your account.
Continue to X
8:36 AM • 10/1/26 • 458K Views
532198388
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
This is a cool tool.
010
Reposted by David Spurrett
Liam McHugh-Russell @xntl.info · 02/10/2026
I couldn't remember what genre this was going for and I started watching it on silent because I'm on a plane and then 2/3 of the way through the guitar riff from Salisbury Hill started twanging through my head. An absolute masterpiece
032
Reposted by David Spurrett
lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Franklin-Eurythmic thought admits of one interpretation wherein each Sister is maximising her self-interest and one wherein each Sister acts for the good of the whole group, and while that ambiguity is ok (fruitful, even) for a dissident movement I fear it could cause problems when they take power.
082
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
"We have learned from the mistakes of the past and are committed to ensuring sexual predators do not escape justice without writing at least 1,500 words first."
001
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Sometimes The Onion really hit one right out of the park.
2126
Reposted by David Spurrett
Dr. Katharine Dickson @metaomicsnerd.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
theguardian.com
Trump and Hegseth want men to take risky testosterone boosters. It’s all based on shoddy science
Hoping to win back male voters, the Trump White House is pushing the regressive idea that one hormone could be a magic elixir of masculinity
172
Reposted by David Spurrett
George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
In a normal administration counterintelligence agents at the FBI would be investigating this photo. In this administration, the FBI director is in the photo.
Michael Weiss: Why, that’s Ali Abdelaziz is on the far left. Manages a lot of Russian, Belarusian and Chechen MMA fighters including Khamzat Chimaev, who is close to Kadyrov. Abdelaziz was an FBI informant until the Bureau dropped him because they suspected he was a double agent. Looks like Ka$h (far right) has forgiven and forgotten. These MAGA weddings are Mos Eisley cantinas for counterintelligence.
17744691799
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
You totally nailed it. I adore that movie and rewatch it every year.
000
Reposted by David Spurrett
samuel mehr @mehr.nz · 27/09/2026
another day, another bit of evidence that the scientists who willingly hand over proprietary information to AI firms may experience some consequences
7272120
Reposted by David Spurrett
Dr. Damien P. Williams, dread portent down from a mountain cave @wolven.blacksky.app · 28/09/2026
So uhhhhhh… Apparently meta's muse "AI" is just straight up doxxing people to strangers on FB marketplace??? This has the potential to hurt so so many people, and I genuinely wonder how long before they roll out a fix for it.
Screenshot of a post from threads

matt.j.robb & 16h (€) So muse handled my Facebook marketplace today. Just found out it told people my address and agreed a lowball price and then they showed up without it even telling me until late tonight that it messed up.

Absolutely wild. 1/2

[Embedded image of a series of text messages from a meta muse "agent" given the call sign "Jarvis" (Parts of first message obscured by its logo have been replaced with brackets and ellipses and best guesses from context):]

Heads up, Usman is […] building right now for the MX Keys Mini [. He is sta]nding in front of the Shoppers Drug [Mart.]

$10 by e-transfer. The auto-reply told him to message when he's at your door.

10:28 PM Bad news on the MX Keys Mini pickup. Usman showed up at your building around 9:15 and waited, messaged a bunch of times, and nobody came down. He left angry at 9:38 and left a negative rating.

Worse, my auto-reply told him "Yep I'm here!" at 9:27 when you clearly weren't available, which is on me. That's a bad look and it made the no-show worse.

I've sent him an apology from your account owning it and offering to try again another day. But the negative rating is real, and I should probably stop the auto-replies from claiming you're home when I can't verify that. Want me to change the pickup replies so they don't promise you're there?

[reply, presumably from the threads user]: You gotta never do that ever again don't agree for pickup unless you check with me

[Response from Muse "Agent"]: You're right and I'm sorry. That should never have happened. It's locked in now as a hard rule: i will never […you]'re there unless you've explicitly […] that specific pickup. If someone proposes a time, I'll tell them I'll check and…  Screenshot of a tweet from Ray Wong @raywongy:
    Deleted Muse after seeing this post on Threads about how it told some Facebook Marketplace sellers the guy’s address and they showed up at his door

    Dangerous and creepy

    This would have been 1000x worse if the person was a woman
    4:35 PM · Sep 27, 2026
11041821441
Reposted by David Spurrett
Alejandra Caraballo @esqueer.net · 27/09/2026
Google finally updated some of its satellite images of Gaza and my god, it's horrific. The entirety of Rafah has been demolished. The majority of Khan Younis is in ruins. Entire towns completely leveled and erased of the map.
9653063276
Reposted by David Spurrett
Larry Glickman @larryglickman.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The NY Times has repeatedly used the phrase “to heel” in reference to Trump’s crackdown on universities, implicitly clarifying that Trump goal is to establish dominance. And what exactly constitutes this “woke” ideology in higher education?
During the meeting, Mr. Trump repeatedly complained about his administration’s failure to bring Harvard University in particular to heel. The administration has been unable to hammer out a deal with the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university, a central plank of his broader push against “woke” ideology in higher education.
20868181
Reposted by David Spurrett
Rebecca Sear @rebeccasear.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Interesting read, in which he acknowledges that one of the (few) examples used in the main Vanderbilt report as evidence for the hopeless politicisation of anthropology is, in fact, simply science working as it should www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
chronicle.com
The Harvard Anthropologist Who’s Skewering His Own Field
Joseph Henrich, an author of a divisive report about politicization in the humanities, says, “I knew it wasn’t going to make everyone happy.”
33811
Reposted by David Spurrett
Andi Zeisler @andizeisler.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
A woman was drugged, raped, and sexually trafficked to members of a fraternity. Two of the men involved were expelled. Five were given the opportunity to mitigate suspension by *writing an essay.* The dozens of other men who knew this was happening and said nothing? You already know the answer.
cornellsun.com
EDITORIAL | Cornell Won’t, We Will
The Editorial Board demands that Cornell stops protecting the alleged Chi Phi rapists through the University's opaque sexual assault policies.
12231351284
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is really good, and sharing it is very helpful!
000
Reposted by David Spurrett
samuel mehr @mehr.nz · 23/09/2026
after some in-depth discussions with my lab and also drawing on conversations on here, we've edited our new policy on AI usage in my lab feel free to adapt or re-use with attribution, or to reply to tell me how awful this policy is lol
1413341
Reposted by David Spurrett
Pierre de Vos @pierredevos.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
William Shoki: "I have stopped asking whether South Africa has lived up to its idea. It plainly has not. What I want to know is what we would lose if the idea stopped organizing our imagination altogether." africasacountry.com/list/campaig...
africasacountry.com
Weekend Special, Sep 21: The idea of South Africa
021
Reposted by David Spurrett
Melissa Nadia Viviana 🐸 @resistrebelrevolt.net · 18/09/2026
They really turned the internet into a distortion machine. Rendering it useless to sane people. Pt 2. This is fucking insane! & now AI will give inaccurate answers to questions we ask - because it's reading its own distortion slop. Worst. Timeline. Ever.
futurism.com
How Three Brothers Built an AI Slop Empire by Buying Legitimate News Sites and Turning Them Into Zombie Content Farms That They Say Get 50 Million Page Views per Month
Brown Brothers Media is a media empire raking in millions of clicks with AI, fake writers, and plagiarism.
3428
Reposted by David Spurrett
los 🦦 @los-los.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Started a painting of Billy Idol in the style of Monet Monet
1217462
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I agreed to be involved in adjudicating a book prize and realised a while into the process that it was ages ago, back to grad school days, that I had so much of my reading decisions made by others. Also, it's a general humanities thing, so the pile spans a bunch of disciplines.
030
Reposted by David Spurrett
BigFishStone @bigfishstone.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Women must suffer.
0288
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
So it is hard to see this study as 'news'. Also, sitting in the dark watching three sets of projected slides while she talked masterfully from the back was the unchallenged highlight learning experience of my undergraduate years.
030
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
That is to say she described the geometry of the building, then the proposed optical explanation of the curves, and argued (partly comparatively) that the story seemed like a serious stretch that we should know about but that seemed unlikely to be right on historical and aesthetic grounds.
141
Reposted by David Spurrett
GOLIKEHELLMACHINE @golikehellmachine.com · 16/09/2026
sort of just staring off into the middle distance at this lede
2133130
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
My Greek & Roman archaeology lecturer (the stupendous Anne Mackay) taught this myth with careful scepticism nearly 40 years ago. www.theguardian.com/science/2026...
theguardian.com
UK mathematician debunks myth around Parthenon’s optical illusions
Study challenges belief that temple’s curves were designed to correct optical illusions that would have ruined its clean lines
192
Reposted by David Spurrett
vijay iyer @vijayiyer.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
The genocidal billionaire scammers of the tech world are totally not scamming us this time. They’ve learned true compassion and are now heroically rescuing humankind from the problem they claim to have created. They are speaking out of benevolence, and have no other motives. Lucky us! 🙄
0228
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
And, I guess, spun to deflect attempts to regulate or restrict. "Not to worry, we're on it. Also, we need even more money."
020
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
This could help spin declining performance as a result of principled restraint. At least for a while.
362
Reposted by David Spurrett
Terence Tao @teorth.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
A group of 25 Fields Medalists, including myself, have made a joint declaration on Math and AI: mathandai.org . We welcome additional signatories. See also this article in the Economist announcing the declaration: www.economist.com/science-and-...
mathandai.org
Declaration — Math and AI
Read the declaration and add your name.
432065933
Reposted by David Spurrett
Dr Anke Marsh @ankemarsh.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Just so we are clear: The 83yo priest on the left is a terrorist. The balaclava-clad men on the right are protestors with legitimate concerns
A photo from the BBC of an older woman, with grey hair, being led away by police. A photograph of a line of men in black clothes and balaclavas blocking the port at Dover.
522037941
Reposted by David Spurrett
HOPE not hate @hopenothate.org.uk · 05/09/2026
🚨 BREAKING: Patriot Platform, a new far right group launched by Tommy Robinson’s right hand man Daniel Thomas (AKA Danny Tommo) has blockaded the port and several roads in Dover. The masked men are from subgroups of PP, including Sussex, Essex, and South East Patriots Here’s all you need to know.
2131398861
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
The Boozy Bronx Book Club as the evening wears on: "Poor old Supply Chain Distributing sad tech systems Tracked a million ships in mono... Come on, Aileen Come on, Aileen"
020
Reposted by David Spurrett
David Papineau @davidpapineau.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
We are hiring—a permanent lectureship in Ethics/Political Philosophy—deadline 15 Nov www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/144566-...
kcl.ac.uk
Lecturer in Ethics and/or Political Philosophy | King's College London
02928
Reposted by David Spurrett
Lauren Dobson-Hughes @ldobsonhughes.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
The US has assumed control of a global anti-abortion campaign, integrating into the State Department and US foreign policy goals healthpolicy-watch.news/us-assumes-c...
healthpolicy-watch.news
US Assumes Control Over Global Anti-Abortion Geneva Consensus Declaration, Affirms Religious Groups - Health Policy Watch
The United States has assumed the secretariat of the Geneva Consensus Declaration (GCD), a global anti-abortion initiative launched by Donald Trump’s
236
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
This result generalizes. It is only a matter of time before there is a performance of the Cowabunga Chorus. youtube.com/shorts/a8zP3...
youtube.com
Cowabunga, verse 2.
YouTube video by Bruce Eskesen
000
Reposted by David Spurrett
Dennis Detwiller @drgonzo123.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Another fucking treasure gone.
61026319
Reposted by David Spurrett
Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Me, a US-based academic: I don’t care what any scholar believes, we all need to stand up publicly whenever someone’s academic freedom is threatened Me, continuing: also, the first time this has happened, motivating me to sign my first ever open letter, is in late 2026, to a race scientist, in Ghent
172689470
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Released only five months ago. youtu.be/cqlyUZL1yuc?...
youtu.be
In The Pines (feat. Dolly Parton)
YouTube video by Renée Fleming - Topic
010
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
I got around to watching "The Fall" (2006) which was hard to get until Mubi picked up the 4k restoration. It is extraordinary and gorgeous. (Unhurried, a bit weird, but with such total commitment to making the imagined story within the main one concrete and vivid.)
Poster from Tarsem Singh's 2006 Movie "The Fall".
020
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Excellent - I've been looking out for it since you were raving!
110
Reposted by David Spurrett
Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
"Hon, you've barely touched your anus scampi"
641127115
Reposted by David Spurrett
Museum of Twitter @museum-of-twitter.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Tweet from Sandra Newman (@sannewman):

Once upon a time I was falling in love
Now I have the head of a hawk
There's nothing I can say
I'm a piece of Assyrian art

(image of stone slab art with a figure better described by the lyrics above)
5699139
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Make a band bigger Pentateuch
030
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Where did Parfait stand on moral dessert?
031
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
"In my unease with what is practiced in films schools [...] I started a thing called the Rogue Film School [...] where the only two things I actually teach are the forging of documentation and the cracking of Yale Locks." 🤌✊
001
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
This is extraordinary and lots of fun. "As far as I'm concerned, the twentieth century, in its entirety, was a mistake."
Cover of Werner Herzog's "Every Man for Himself and God Against All: A Memoir" (image of Herzog in heat protective jacket holding protective helmet).
150