iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by elisa freschi

Evan @evansmithhist.bsky.social · 15/10/2026

Today I found out that Umberto Eco crafted a version of this meme in the 1980s…

Beware the
alibi of photocopies ! Photocopies are indis-
pensable instruments. They allow you to keep with you a text you have already read in the library, and to take home a text you have not read yet. But a set of photocopies can become an alibi. A student makes hundreds of pages of photocopies and takes them home, and the manual labor he exercises in doing so gives him the impression that he possesses the work. Owning the photocopies exempts the student from actually reading them. This sort of vertigo of accumulation, a neocapitalism of information, happens to many. Defend yourself from this trap: as soon as you have the photocopy, read it and annotate it immediately. If you are not in a great hurry, do not photocopy something new before you own (that is, before you have read and annotated) the previous set of photocopies. There are many things that I do not know because I photocopied a text and then relaxed as if I had read it.

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Thank you! No, I am currently in Austria. No Thanksgiving here, but the "Nationalfeiertag" is celebrated on October 26, so close enough! Looking forward to see Beau by my next Toronto trip.

020

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 12/10/2026

Happy Thanksgiving to my friends and colleagues in Canada! Many thanks for your friendliness, the many hiking trails, the obviously intercultural life in Toronto, the kayaks on the lakes, the many animals you can see just while hiking, the Inuit art scene…

photos taken from my Kayak of Lake Ontario (with Toronto islands and the city of Toronto on the back)

191

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Serious Q here: Don't you think that aesthetic judgements might be abbreviated moral judgements? You are disgusted at X, bc you have reasons to hate X?

100

Reposted by elisa freschi

Shannon Vallor @shannonvallor.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

But of course repeating the study in conditions with a real reward would be informative. In a sense that’s what longitudinal studies like the one on undergrads in China did, since they suffered actual exam score losses.

fortune.com

Study finds AI boosted homework scores 18%—then tanked exam results 20% | Fortune

There’s a massive debate over whether Gen Z is the first generation to be less cognitively capable than their parents. A study of 26,800 high school students suggests AI incentives only point in one d...

0192

Reposted by elisa freschi

Dr Dean Burnett @drdeanburnett.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

"By using AI, tasks like essays that used to take hours can be completed in minutes!" Sure, like how if I arrive at the gym and immediately go for a shower, my workout is done in record time. And if I throw my sandwiches straight in the bin, I can finish my lunch in under 10 seconds.

7070421927

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

This comes true for me every single day.

051

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Exactly that! Why should care towards oneself and others (who might not want to have a "page" about themselves without their consent) be described as "fear"?

000

Reposted by elisa freschi

Peter Adamson @histphilosophy.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Hey #HoPWaG fans, don't forget to check out our new spinoff podcast on cross-cultural philology! It launched a few days ago with three initial episodes, on philology and science; the Cain and Abel story; and the ancient language Aramaic! pagesofhistorypodcast.net #podcast #philology

24213

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Alphabetical order according to a @springernature.com 's journal:

150

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

The beginning of the abstract seems to me to contradict what follows. Common belief: *Romantic* relationships matter more for women than for men. Data: Men benefit more than women from relationships and hence don't want to lose their wives/female partners.

000

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

110

Reposted by elisa freschi

Yale Classics Library @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

What do we perceive? Direct realism, representationalism, idealism and illusionism in South Asian philosophy | International Symposium Oct. 7 to 9 @oeaw.bsky.social & online www.oeaw.ac.at/ikga/veranst... @elisafreschi.bsky.social

oeaw.ac.at

What do we perceive? Direct realism, representationalism, idealism and illusionism in South Asian philosophy

International Symposium

031

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

As a child, I used to think that Matthew was the first boy on the right (with the light on his face). As an adult I checked with others and it seems that several people were uncertain about who was being called exactly. Relevant for the theology of free will and deserving-ness. #philsky

010

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

In case you are interested in my latest book (on Veṅkaṭanātha's "revolution" within Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, on doing Sanskrit philosophy based on individual authors and on doing history of philosophy outside of Europe in general), here is a discount code fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/...

fdslive.oup.com

014

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Yes. But I will not stop complaining about its "lazy" use, as in "Vasubandhu's conception of the self is v different from the Western conception". Which "Western conception"? Hume's? Plato's? Freud's? Because they are all influential, but they are really not the same!

111

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Good point! But it shows that "West" and "East" are slippery terms, given that the "West" is often used to define "democratic countries", thus excluding, among others, Belarus and Russia, which are considered to be part of the "West" philosophically (if they are at all considered philosophically)

110

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Usually this specific narrative is not so widespread as one might think. It may have originated only in the last two centuries, only in NA (/France/Germany…), only among a certain social group. Attributing it to the "West" is wrong and oblivious of its complex history, imho.

100

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Can we stop talking about the "Western model of X" (moral responsibility/belief in the self/any other philosophical theory)? There is no uniform "East" nor any uniform "West".

3104

Reposted by elisa freschi

Go Green @ecowarriorss.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Of all mammals on Earth, 96% are either livestock or humans. Humans just 0.01% of all life but have destroyed 83% of wild mammals and half of plants www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.com

Humans just 0.01% of all life but have destroyed 83% of wild mammals – study

Groundbreaking assessment of all life on Earth reveals humanity’s surprisingly tiny part in it as well as our disproportionate impact

26537

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Please don't tell me that the solution to the huge number of applications is having AI assess (AI-generated) applications. And please also don't tell me that AI is "saving us time".

162

Reposted by elisa freschi

Susana Monsó @susanamonso.com · 21/09/2026

I’ve just been named subject editor for the new “Animal ethics” area in the SEP, following my complaint that there are too few articles on this topic (serves me right for complaining). So stay tuned for new entries in the area, and hit me up with suggestions on topics that you think merit one!

710115

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

There are surely many reasons for this raise, but I wonder whether also the use of AI is one of them. It makes applying very easy...

031

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

#OtherMinds: is biological "life" a conditio sine qua non for consciousness?

010

Reposted by elisa freschi

Grumpy Philosopher @stevecooke.org · 18/09/2026

Ha ha ha. There is no area of my work where AI has saved time. AI use by other people has significantly increased my workload. Unwanted insertion of AI tools has forced unnecessary, time-consuming, changes to my work processes & configurations. It has no benefit in my own work.

34813

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This is exactly my experience. No advantage in my working routine and infinite disadvantages bc of students' cheating, poorly crafted contracts that need to be read accurately instead of just signed, endless meetings, tons of emails by bots, lowering of standards so that getting answers is harder...

041

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

#SanskritJobs The University of Louvain (UCLouvain, Louvain-la-Neuve) is currently inviting applications for a tenure-track professorship in "Religious Studies: Asian Religions [Hinduism/Buddhism] and Social Sciences". jobs.uclouvain.be/PersonnelAca...

jobs.uclouvain.be

An academic in Religious Studies (Asian Religions and Social Sciences)

000

Reposted by elisa freschi

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 15/04/2026

To be clear- what should have happened is this software should have returned ERROR - LANGUAGE MODELS CANNOT PERFORM CALCULATIONS, instead of using several watt hours of energy to fabricate an answer The reason it didn't is because it's more profitable for Anthropic to burn energy to fake capability

06413

Reposted by elisa freschi

Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 08/04/2026

Or why he also cropped out the part where I link to the post detailing the exact energy consumption I'm comparing it to, lol

Like ChatGPT, the only right answer here would have been: "This is a language model chatbot, and cannot return accurate answers to calculations. Please consider using a calculator".

The model consumed 0.2864 watt hours to generate that answer. I asked my Bluesky crew what it would take to perform a similar calculation on a pocket calculator. Turns out the number is so small that it's quite hard. Let's use the Casio fx-83GT CW (which can return up to 23 digits). It consumes 0.0008 watts when operational. To do our calculation would take about 0.5 seconds - so it consumes 0.00000011 watt hours to deliver a consistently correct answer.

That is 2,577,600 times the energy consumption, to deliver the wrong answer.

I imagine someone looking at the energy rating for their chatbot and seeing it was only 1.5% of a phone charge would feel like it was a pretty damn efficient way of

11648

Reposted by elisa freschi

Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 15/09/2026

This is a little mean but I also think the idea that “AI must be taught in college” is an older generation projecting their own tech incompetency and anxiety onto a younger one. It sounds interchangeable from saying “TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat should be taught in college,“ which is just lame.

210019

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Colleagues, do you also increasingly receive letters asking something along the lines of "I am seeking critical feedback on my preprint…"? The ones I receive resemble each other so much that I wonder whether they have all been written using the same blueprint/LLM or whether these are just bots…

000

Reposted by elisa freschi

Dr Keith 🎃 Wilson @keithwilson.eu · 14/09/2026

For other #philosophy resources on Bluesky, see the links below, additional feeds on my profile, and the new @philosophy.eurosky.social lists. #PhilSky

02618

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

—dharma does not exist in the vartamāna, unlike trees etc. (which are clearly bāhyārthas)

112

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Thanks for pressing me on that. I will check again on the terminological use in ŚV nirālambana and śūnya. Let's see if we agree about the concepts, though. —dharma exists as dharma only as something sādhya and is therefore not sth identifiable out there in the world 1/

121

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Thanks for explaining. I am not sure that bāhyārtha is used as "external to the cognition". My impression is that it is used as "subject-independent+siddha". I will keep an eye on it.

121

Reposted by elisa freschi

Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 11/09/2026

I also find it hilarious how universities are justifying these expenditures using the language of 'equity.'"If we don't buy these tools for everyone, then only the rich kids will be able to afford them, and that's unfair." But you don't buy books assigned by profs for anyone? Why not subsidize that!

644680

elisa freschi @elisafreschi.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Good Q. IMO, it is ~ a bāhyārtha, in the sense that it is ~ a siddha object existing in the world subject-independently. I also don't think it's an internal object, like, instead, a cognition's content, since it is inherently sādhya. But the latter two cases share sth (they are proposition contents)

111