iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I still think a good bit of this paper is true and I generally endorse the overall project but I wish I engaged more with the work on the philosophy of measurement at the time.

At the core of this debate is the set of images and metaphors we use to understand our technology, and within this context the agentive approach isn’t only the most natural but appears to be the only show in town. The language of ‘learning’, ‘training’, and ‘knowledge’ has been baked into machine learning for decades. It is not enough to insist that LLMs are not intelligent and that they don’t understand the meanings of the tokens they are processing. Within the context of this debate, there is an onus on the critic of the agentive approach to come up with an alternative image. As long as our practices look like engagement with agents, adopting an intentional stance to their behaviour has prima facie validity that can’t be ignored and the more we ‘communicate with AI’, the more natural it will be to speak as though we do.

Large Language Models Are Stochastic Measuring Devices

A billion years ago, I wrote a paper arguing that it can be helpful to view artificial neural networks as stochastic measuring devices. It has come officially out: academic.oup.com/book/63302/c...

academic.oup.com

Abstract. This chapter argues that large language models are stochastic measuring devices. A measuring device is an artefact that has been produced to alte

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The ghosts would not be able to *notice* that Pac-Man has eaten the ‘power pellet’, *fear* him, and *decide* to run the other direction if they were not rational agents.

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We’ll be reading a bunch of stuff on belief in Philosophy of Mind this year. It’s a fun category to think about.

Looking forward to teaching this paper this year: philpapers.org/archive/MANB...

Believing without Reason, or:
Why Liberals Shouldn't Watch
Fox News
By Eric Mandelbaum and Jake Quilty-Dunn

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So, like, this is my attempt to stigmatise it. That’s what social media is for, right? [finger wagging ensues]

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It's exclusionary of bilingual speakers of a minority language not to default to the dominant language in the presence of monoglot speakers. It is *far worse* of speakers of the dominant language to expect them to do so. This is seldom appreciated and the entitlement involved needs to be stigmatised

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We have nice game-theoretic models of this. You can change the information structures, e.g. introduce badges indicating willingness to speak minority languages, or payoff structures, e.g. increase the cost of switching, but it’s hard to negotiate and the dominant language almost always wins out

doaj.org

I’ve seen this countless times. You’ll have four people speaking Irish, an English-speaking monoglot enters the room, everyone defaults to English out of politeness. The Irish language loses another communal space.

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An cheist is práinní don chainteoir Gaeltachta

I’ve been thinking a lot about this article in which a native Irish speaker describes the difficulties negotiating interactions with strangers, working out what language to greet them in, how to handle mixed-language situations:

irishtimes.com

Is minic gur íogair caolchúiseach a bhíonn na gnásanna comhrá sa Ghaeltacht, idir muintir na háite féin agus le cuairteoirí

Fintan Mallory @fintanmallory.com · 05/09/2026

Space is so massive, there’s probably someone else who looks quite a bit like you out there. They’re almost certainly on earth though and you’re probably related.

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Fintan Mallory @fintanmallory.com · 05/09/2026

I remember they used to have Gollum at the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. It got me wondering where he’d stand on things.

Fintan Mallory @fintanmallory.com · 04/09/2026

Beidh mé ag spalpadh amach mo chuid seafóide sa Ghaeilge anseo ar Cogar: cogar.ie Lean mé mura bhfuil do dhothain truflais i do shaol.

cogar.ie

Cogar - Bígí páirteach i dtodhchaí na Gaeilge.

Ardán sóisialta nua do phobal na Gaeilge

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Fintan Mallory @fintanmallory.com · 03/09/2026

There's also Pacino’s Wilde Salomé which, if I remember correctly, was hilarious in an unintentional Spinal Tap sort of way.

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Fintan Mallory @fintanmallory.com · 02/09/2026

We just need a flag for representing all those people who are not represented by existing flags.

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Of course only philosophy can tell you *why* to pour a cup of coffee.

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I assume that will be revealed in another paper

David Papineau @davidpapineau.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I really hope the link is working by tomorrow morning. I can't live like this any longer. There's coffee everywhere.

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Reposted by Fintan Mallory

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

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The list does not contain itself.

Wikipedia page for List of Star Trek lists

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You must be the animate malevolent sludge you want to see in the world.

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UCD School of Philosophy @ucdphilosophy.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Star Trek is 60 years old next week. ’The Man Trap’ first aired on 8/9/66. That’s 60 years of people whose personality and fate can wholly be predicted by which episode appeared closest to the week of their birth.

141

Reposted by Fintan Mallory

Just one more week to apply for this terrific 3-year position in #CognitiveScience at #UCD School of #Philosophy! Closing date is midday local time on Friday, 4th September. Further details at: www.ucd.ie/philosophy/n... #CogSci #PhilMind #PhilNeuro #PhilPsych #PhilJobs

ucd.ie

Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Philosophy and Cognitive Science, UCD School of Philosophy

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Reposted by Fintan Mallory

Jake Quilty-Dunn @quiltydunn.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

idk if we have absorbed it fully though. i always thought lovecraft nailed this:

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.

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Fintan Mallory @fintanmallory.com · 29/08/2026

I remember thinking there must be some elaborate cultural technology that enabled us to process this before realising that this is just what sci fi is.

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Fintan Mallory @fintanmallory.com · 29/08/2026

We've known for less than a century that our galaxy is only one of hundreds of millions. It’s pretty impressive how we managed to fit this knowledge within our culture with ease.

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It’s quite funny to read the difference between how the Norwegian Heimskringla and the Irish annals tell this story. Muirchertach Ua Briain was a crafty fella.

The Irish national epic is about how you shouldn’t steal a cow from an Ulsterman and long-story-short Magnus Olafsson is now buried outside Downpatrick in Co. Down, the last Norwegian king to die abroad on a raid.

Picture of Magnus Barefoots grave in Ireland

This was after Magnus Olafsson had positioned himself to become high king of Ireland (showing up with an army in Dublin). Muirchertach Ua Briain had said he’d recognise his kingship and, if he wanted, he should feel free to help himself to any of the cattle in Ulster on his way back to Norway.

Fintan Mallory @fintanmallory.com · 26/08/2026

It’s not unprecedented for an Irish guy to show up in Norway, insist that he was a secret son of the previous king, and successfully seize power: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_...

en.wikipedia.org

Harald Gille - Wikipedia

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This is a classic philosophical question to be fair

Question: What should I do when I am too nervous to work?

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Fintan Mallory @fintanmallory.com · 26/08/2026

They just highlight that he uses the English word for milkshake

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Fintan Mallory @fintanmallory.com · 26/08/2026

The new edition of Kurt Gödel’s Philosophical Notebooks is full of useful advice.

Remark: Ways to come into contact with people:
1. strong exhaustion, 2. say something stupid (in general, do not pretend to be anything that you are not), 3. milkshake (fill your stomach).

Maxim: Decline all parties outright (maybe let a doctor attest that parties are harmful).

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Fintan Mallory @fintanmallory.com · 25/08/2026

Tried to start my talk with some prop-based comedy. Only myself to blame.

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Fintan Mallory @fintanmallory.com · 24/08/2026

Went to a seminar on metasemantics and metametasemantics and, well, I just love this stuff. It’s just so much fun to think about.

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Fintan Mallory @fintanmallory.com · 24/08/2026

Well we’re looking at our feet. So does feet count?