iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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UCU Edinburgh @ucuedinburgh.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Day 5 of the UCU workers' strike against massive job cuts by highly remunerated senior management. “We are looking at hundreds of job losses, dozens of course closures ... Without even mentioning the removal of opportunities for people up and down Scotland." Jo Grady, UCU President, 01.10.2026

A pop-art depiction by Roy Lichtenstein of a blonde blue-eyed woman crying. Accompanying text highlights the worsening teaching conditions and likely impact on student education.

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Fenner Tanswell @fennert.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

My short viewpoint article "The Enshittification of Mathematics" is out now in the Mathematical Intelligencer! link.springer.com/article/10.1... Gift link here: rdcu.be/5uYGc2uo454a Check it out and share it with anyone who might be interested! 💩🥳

link.springer.com

The Enshittification of Mathematics - The Mathematical Intelligencer

The Mathematical Intelligencer -

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

My wonderful friend - and Edinburgh UCU vice president - Courtney Stafford-Walter was interviewed (with her co-VP Marion Lieutaud) by BBC Scotland radio this morning (with a pretty critical interviewer). You can hear them here, starting about 50 minutes into the show: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

A large bunch of picketing staff at the University of Edinburgh School of Education.

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Solidarity to all my striking comrades at the University of Edinburgh, who are resisting completely unnecessary job cuts from senior management who have behaved appallingly.

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Charlotte Lydia Riley @lottelydia.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

literally thousands of jobs in higher education were cut *last year alone* and there's been almost no media coverage and no government action

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Emily Herring @emilyherring.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Extremely sexy Radiohead voice

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Making friends in the garden outside the Bristol Philosophy Department.

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WRONG or METAPHYSICAL IN NATURE @jsthrill.modphi.com · 21/09/2026

If will Stancil needs some philosophy to study I recommend this:

52. You are not compelled to form any opinion about this matter before you, nor to disturb your peace of mind at all.
Things in themselves have no power to extort a verdict from you.

Mancus Aurelius has already released you from the obligation to have a take

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joannad-c.bsky.social @joannad-c.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Hiring! 🧠❤️🤔If you’re a philosopher working in ethics/ x-phi/ empirically informed moral philosophy / moral psychology / applied ethics, consider applying for a 2.5 year research postdoc with me in my lab at Oxford. Deadline noon 16th Oct. Details 👉 philjobs.org/job/show/32101 Hit me up with q’s!

static.klipy.com

Shameless Fiona Gallagher

ALT: Shameless Fiona Gallagher

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Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This Is Incredible

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

OpenAI, Google and Anthropic are all involved in an anti-AI conspiracy... Takes a special mind to arrive at that conclusion... www.theguardian.com/business/202...

theguardian.com

Trump attacks ‘sick conspiracy’ against AI as tech stocks slide

President hits out after Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX leaders back call to limit ‘reckless’ development

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Today I hit 1,000 cites on Google Scholar. Hurray for gamification!

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 11/09/2026

Creating an AI agent and asking it to email strangers on your behalf is like forcing strangers to watch you masturbate. Incompetently.

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Still not got Internet at my flat in Bristol. Making the most of it by re-watching The Orville. Had forgotten about the cameo by Bruce Willis.

Still from the Orville featuring a CGI talking flower (played by Bruce Willis).

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

About to give a keynote where I tell a bunch of computer people how the proliferation of LLMs and the complicity of universities in this are terrible. Feel like I might make some enemies. Wish me luck.

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Yesterday was my first day as a Bristol employee, and today I'm at a conference on York. Giving a keynote tomorrow. No rest for the wicked and all that.

Picture of Joe wearing a University of Bristol namebadge

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Rae Radford @raeradford.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Punctuation is life saving… #BookSky 🐊

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Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

🚨 You can still sign 🖊️ the open letter! If you do, don't forget to confirm the email, otherwise your name won't show up. All signatures help

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Off to Hill Dickinson for Everton v Man United. Sitting in the Everton end, so will be keeping my United cheers internal...

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

If anyone wants to see my talk tomorrow (it's about how LLMs can threaten autonomy), it seems that it can be viewed online here: s-ai-ren.org.uk/resources/so...

s-ai-ren.org.uk

S-AI-REN Soundings – Social AI Research and Education Network

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Busy week ahead. Tonight I've got the overnight train to Edinburgh, so I can get to Dundee tomorrow to give a talk for their Social AI Research & Education Network. Then two days with friends in Edinburgh, a brief trip to Warrington, followed by a conference in York. No rest for the wicked...

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Viktoria Knoll @grauesuppe.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

📣Philosophy friends and colleagues! We have an open 6-year postdoc position in theoretical feminist philosophy, philosophy of language, metaphilosophy, and/or metaphysics. 📅Starting April 1, 2027 🚨Application deadline: November 2 Please share and circulate widely! #philsky #feministsky #PhilJobs

uni-saarland.de

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

If I don't find people to play board games with in Bristol, I will feel so stupid for bringing all these.

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Kant has taken his place in my new kitchen.

A Kant finger puppet attached to a fan above an oven.

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

All my possessions are now loaded on a van down to Bristol. I'll follow them in a train soon. Knackered.

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Doing my last bits of packing and found some of my protest artworks. Goodbye old signs!

One sign saying "Fascism is for losers". Another saying "Fixed-term employed, long-term annoyed".

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

I find it very frustrating that the philosophers I see in the news most these days, are Nathan Cofnas or LLM-boosters. It's depressing, and not representative. I know a *lot* of philosophers, and most are actually okay (nerdy, obviously, but fine).

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Just watched 9 to 5 for the first time. What an absolute banger!

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Tragically (appropriately), Turing has now overtaken 'ChatGPT is Bullshit' (link.springer.com/article/10.1...) in the philosophy Altmetric ranks again. Given enough time, I guess he'll probably take the top spot. Fair play. His paper was pretty good.

Turing now in second place, with 'ChatGPT is Bullshit' in third.

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Benjamin Riley @benjaminjriley.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Yesterday, based on new research, I suggested AI is substantially harming education for many students, at least half -- The Fifty Percent Problem. But are all students equally vulnerable to learning less due to AI? No. Let's dive deeper into the data via short THREAD 🧵 1/n

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Made it to Bristol. Spending one night at the new place before heading back to Glasgow to sort out various logistical matters. The flat is very empty, but I sorted out the most important things:

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Everything related to moving is just so exhausting.

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Either my Netflix is being a bit weird, or the Resident Alien's third season starts with a *really* long episode.

Netflix suggesting that an episode lasts 755 hours.

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Christina Martin @christinamartin.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

This leftover sign from Covid times has started to look like a lame brag.

Sign in work stairwell. Your colleagues need you to knoe. These stairs can be used in both directions.

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okay Kelly @kmdoublev.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Cheers to everyone writing their own papers today. ☕

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 12/08/2026

In a *stellar* essay entitled "Temperature Zero for Culture: Why Everything Is Starting to Look the Same" by the data scientist Lauren Leek, we get a top-notch example of "putting things together": laurenleek.substack.com/p/temperatur... 11/

laurenleek.substack.com

Temperature Zero for Culture: Why Everything Is Starting to Look the Same

What 640 London shopping streets, 4,000 Billboard hits, a million films and synthetic AI personas tell us about why everything is flattening into sameness and how to regulate the algorithms behind it.

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Iris van Rooij 💭 @irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

It’s not the first time that universities have gotten tangled up with developments that would later come to haunt them, explains @olivia.science … ‘From combustion engines to tobacco, universities have been used in the past to whitewash now-controversial products.’

ru.nl

‘Opposing the inevitability of AI at universities is possible and necessary’ | Radboud University

Since the widespread release of ChatGPT in December of 2022, AI has taken over much of the world by storm – including academia. Most of this happened with very little pushback, despite a myriad of iss...

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Dr Abeba Birhane @abeba.blacksky.app · 09/08/2026

"But there is no honour for the humanities in regaining their standing through the attention of AI companies, if they engage only on the technology industry’s terms. In that case, they will have become important in exactly the wrong way." www.ft.com/content/bdb3...

ft.com

Why this philosopher turned down Anthropic

The AI industry is courting the humanities — but it is asking the wrong questions

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Thom Brooks @thombrooks.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Academic integrity is the foundation of trust. Cut corners on research integrity, and you cut at the credibility of every finding that follows. Institutions must model what they preach.

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Despite being exactly that kind of nerd, I don't usually watch/listen to the Rest is Politics. But I did watch this whole episode interviewing @countbinface.bsky.social. Great stuff. Come on, Binface! www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sj2...

youtube.com

Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell Interview Count Binface.

YouTube video by The Rest Is Politics: Leading

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

This could be an issue of salience, but I'm ~80% sure it's a brute fact of the universe that I will spill tea more often when I'm wearing a white t-shirt. #BritishProblems

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Currently relaxing with friends on the Isle of Arran. First time here and the sunshine is lovely. :-)

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

A lof of this resonates with me. The effects of the current university context on our relationships with colleagues and students are so miserable and exhausting.

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Had an exhausting and unsuccessful day of flat-hunting. If anyone's got any top tips for finding somewhere decent to rent in Bristol, let me know!

Pedometer saying I've done 27,663 steps today.

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Simon Evans @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · 28/07/2026

Wind and solar have just overtaken fossil-fuel power in Germany www.carbonbrief.org/...

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Politics UK @politicsuk.com · 27/07/2026

🚨 NEW: Count Binface has revealed his manifesto for the Clacton by-election

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Joe Slater @drjoeslater.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Given that Agentina should probably have been down to 8 players in the final, and were beneficiaries of some extremely questionable calls throughout the tournament, this is laughable as well as pathetic. www.lbc.co.uk/article/arge...

lbc.co.uk

Argentine fans' petition to replay 2026 World Cup Final passes 80,000 after claims referee 'was bribed' | LBC

Supporters have alleged officiating "irregularities" during the match, but FIFA regulations do not permit replays based on fan dissatisfaction

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