iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Fall has arrived on Burnaby Mountain, which means brutalist concrete enveloped in cloud. Pro sem today was Carnap ESO and a chunk of the new book by Cartwright, Munro, and Pemberton. We had a good discussion and also had to turn the lights on because of the gloom. #philsci #sfu

A lone person wearing a red backpack walks towards the edge of the frame in a complicated brutalist concrete set of plateaud stairs with several visible floors. There are a lot of stark horizontal and vertical lines of concrete, with a diagonal of a stairwell above the stairs. Through the far side windows is only the blankness of fog.

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Devastating for Canadian programs too, which also require TOEFL or IELTS. Grad faculty: Talk to admissions, at the University level (often where the requirement is enforced), before deadlines. It would be deeply wrong to just deny Iranians admission when they can't access the test #philsky #philsci

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

This is a major plot event in Vernor Vinge's Book, Rainbows End. It now looks astonishingly prescient. Also, there is a plot 'twist' at the end involving the Geisel Library at UCSD that alone makes it worth reading, if you have ever seen that building. www.news.com.au/technology/o...

news.com.au

AI labs buy, scan, shred millions of rare books

If you have retreated to physical books because the internet is too full of AI slop, bad news — now they’re shredding the books to feed their AI slop machines.

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

About to do the annual Applying for Philosophy PhD Programs session. If you have undergrads or MA students, now is a great time to start thinking about application prep. Guide here: www.hkandersen.com/applying-for... #philsky #philsci

hkandersen.com

Applying for Ph.d. programs

These notes were developed over the years for the annual "Applying to a PhD program" session for Simon Fraser University Philosophy MA students. This offers a perspective on how to prioritize your...

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Writing a food security paper raising issues for techno-optimism about space food tech, with kick-ass co-author Tammara Soma. And citing Alien Clay by Tchaikovsky! It's the first but definitely not the last time I'll find a way to cite his work in a philosophy paper. #philsci #philsky

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Fuck yes. And if you don't like it, move back to whatever shittier state you came from a couple years ago

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Happy #transdayofvisibility! If there is anyone (yourself, friend, family member) who seems bemused by "this whole trans thing", a great book to get them is The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks. It is a fantastic book anyway, and walks through that thinking and out the other side, very effectively

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Eid mubarak! Los Angeles palm trees and moon.

Two palm tree tops are silhouetted against a dark blue sky with a small crescent moon to the right of them. The glowing part of the crescent is the bottom edge of the moon, and the rest of the moon is still slightly visible as lighter than the sky around it.

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

Eldest child drew me this amazing snail blorbo on my notebook cover, had to share

On a rough thick brown paper notebook cover is a line art drawing of a snail. It is sluglike with a lovely curved shell, and lots of great texture details in fine point ink. It has two glorpy eyes on stalks and two mouth tentacles for waving slowly and sighing. It is a handsome boi.

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

Blue hour Academic Quadrangle on the walk home #sfu

Intersecting angles of brutalist concrete quadrangle style buildings, in the twilight with a dark blue sky behind

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Just gotta point out that "Canadian content" got us both Strange Brew and Heated Rivalry which combo is an amazing Canadian taxpayer contribution to society en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadia...

en.wikipedia.org

Canadian content - Wikipedia

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

It takes special bravery in a family game of Apples to Apples for a teen to play the "Your mom" card.

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 25/12/2025

Eldest child made this arcane lore christmas meme. Happy christmas eve!

A meme format with new details filled in. On the left, it reads, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Then a red arrow with text above and below. Above text reads, Kissing a guy's wife is fine if you kiss him too. Below text reads, Everyone is imperfect, but being honest and forthcoming about our mistakes is the path to redemption.

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Preprint for "Foundations of Causation", from my 2024 talk at the Minnesota CPS. I've been saying this offhand for years, so it was good to finally get specific and into the weeds about what it means to branch out a new science of causation. #philsky #philsci philpapers.org/rec/ANDFOC-2

philpapers.org

Holly K. Andersen, Foundations of Causation - PhilPapers

Drawing on historical episodes where new fields of science branch out of philosophy, I offer six distinctive developments involved in such episodes as a template that can be applied to the ...

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

Kid 2 got a plasma ball birthday gift. Here it is in slo mo.

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Heads up to PhD letter writers and to programs using My Liason system for grad letter submissions. I am not receiving any emails from Liason to my SFU address, even to reset my password. IT Services can't find anything; this happened last year also. You might need to go looking! #philsky #philsci

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Giving a talk today! I am excited to be working out how to structure this overall argument, lots of moving pieces and not in any final form yet. And definitely longer than 1 paper. In the meantime, here's the bit I am focusing on now. #philsci #philsky philosophy.ubc.ca/events/event...

philosophy.ubc.ca

UBC

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

I got myself a neuron scarf for my talk in Bloomington at IU HPS and it is so awesome. Bringing to attention of philosophers of science if you want to support small biz artists #philsci

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Eldest child discussing queer characters in lit is 🔥👍. Described Sir Gawain as "sadboy rizz". Still wonders why Moby Dick doesn't get the "oh no, queer!" ban in the US. We wondered how many creatives might've counted as aro-ace (Eldest: "they'd be more locked in") and I realized...KANT

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 09/11/2025

One upside of the week's news is that I am reading cool historical stuff on Rosalind Franklin and her work #philsci

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

The crows in Bloomington do the same evening commute through the sky together as they do in Burnaby. A river of flying crows at sunset. View from @jordicat.bsky.social 's office: there were dozens to hundreds per tree.

sunset colours with silhouettes of about twenty crows sitting at the very top of a tree or flying just above the trees

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Bloomington is a very lovely place in the fall. Had some fantastic philosophy of science discussions today and set up for even more tomorrow

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Flying out of Vancouver is pretty much always some flavour of gorgeous

A view of a ridge of very rocky sharp mountains with the tops covered in snow, fading into a far horizon of even more mountains, seen over the wing of an airplane

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

Spent my extra hour last night watching the finale of The Residence, had to know whodunnit. Great show, exactly the right kind clever funny escapism. In contrast, have been watching The Foundation series while cooking, and keep thinking, can't Harry Seldon just die and stay dead already please

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Can't help but laugh at the idea that anyone is taking seriously this "but is she REALLY your aunt" and the fact that this is the only straw they could grasp. If you spell out the details for how you are related to your aunty you sound like Merry and Pippin

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Reposted by H.K. Andersen

Alan Richardson @alanrichardson.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Call for Papers for the Society for Exact Philosophy conference in Vancouver in May 2026. @hkandersen.bsky.social is one of the keynotes! meta.phil.ufl.edu/host/sep/mee... #philsky

meta.phil.ufl.edu

Conference Page

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

I accidentally Gettier'd someone today. Person: I knew you were married to a a Norwegian! Me: How could you possibly have known that P: Your last name, it's the Norwegian spelling. Me: But mine is Danish. And his last name is completely different. Yes, though, married to a norwegian. #philsky

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

This is fantastic context for the protests. I remember this way back in the 90's. I graduated high school in 1995 in NW Montana and you could tell so much sometimes by the town some picked to move to after graduating. Portland was a slightly fringe choice and it was all this attitude

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Heading into the long weekend with some atmosphere. Philosophers: do have a strong, or mild, preference for reading papers when its one paper with that hang together at 14k-ish words, or two shorter papers that each have less in terms of a point but also are only 7-8k each? #philsci #philsky

Dark looming clouds that are slightly out of focus are visible through a window with streaks of rain on it. The streaks are in crisp focus and the little drops are silvery and bright.

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

Happy Mid-autumn harvest festival weekend! I made fusion mooncakes, cookie outside with a paste of dates and four kinds of nuts inside. Metro Vancouver style energy snacks, because I absolutely have to finish this draft today.

View looking down into a tin lined with paper, holding four stacks of mooncakes. Two stacks are round with a flower pattern on top, two stacks have square cookies with a different flower pattern on top. This picture was taken earlier today and already those stacks are half gone.

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

We're coming up on philosophy PhD application season. In case it is helpful for you or your students, I have a guide to this process, developed over the years of working with SFU MA students. Let me know if you have questions or suggestions #philsky #philsci www.hkandersen.com/applying-for...

hkandersen.com

Applying for Ph.d. programs

These notes were developed over the years for the annual "Applying to a PhD program" session for Simon Fraser University Philosophy MA students. This offers a perspective on how to prioritize your...

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Time lapse cloud drama looking northward. Fresh breeze through the window makes this stage of writing less sloggish. #sfu

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Working on a paper where I swear every day I am making progress but am coming to suspect it is more like Pachelbel's Canon progress because damn it is no closer to being done

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

A lovely moment shared with Ebeneezer Murderbeak on the walk in. They played with that mallard decoy! Pushing it around like a toy duck. And they coo'd at me! You can hear them make little cozy sounds if you listen closely. Definitely improved my day to be counted as birdfriend. #sfu #heron

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Reposted by H.K. Andersen

Eugene Y. S. Chua @eugenechua.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Very happy to announce that the CFP is now open for APSA26: The Inaugural Biennial Conference of the Asian Philosophy of Science Association! It will be held at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The keynote will be Craig Callender. Submission deadline: 31 Dec 2025. URL: tinyurl.com/APSA26

tinyurl.com

Asian Philosophy of Science Association (APSA) Conference 2026

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

Feels like I am doing something right enough in life that when I die, no one will think, thank god the trolley got em, whoever redirected that trolley thereby spared so many other people.

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

Youngest Child just wrapped up a long think about the best ever books for kids younger than him. Results: When the Robbers Came to Cardamom Town, and The Monster Under the Hill.

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Ebeneezer Murderbeak is back! Just in time for the start of Fall term. Here he is atop the AQ, admiring some brutalist Arthur Erickson architecture in the morning light filtered through wildfire smoke. Waiting for his moment to lecture some students and snack on some koi. #sfu

A grey heron sits atop a concrete brutalist building. The building has regular lines but they are somewhat distorted because of the angle at which the photo was taken. The light is weirdly sepia coloured, a result of all the smoke.

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

Oh summer garden drama. Stolen rhubarb-weird? but whatever. Then stolen tomatoes, which is pure sacrilege. After 8 years w/out a single apple, our little tree did so well! Kids were proud. Till a bear sat on it and squashed the whole thing, trellis and tree. Still a great garden year, though

The wreckage of an espaliered apple tree trellis, broken into pieces and pushed over, with trees branches through it. There are a lot of apples on the tree, still rather small and green but also delicious.

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

Great triple header topic! I wish I could join in person, and am also very glad for all the discussions that Zoom enables instead. Looking forward to meeting participants

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Reposted by H.K. Andersen

Eran Tal @erantal.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

University teachers, we may very well be next. No one will pay us for sabbaticals and prep time if our right to strike lasts 12 hours. If your flight is delayed, please remember it's because someone else is doing your civil disobedience for you. #cdnpoli #canadasky www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

cbc.ca

Air Canada flight attendants to stay on the picket lines after strike deemed illegal | CBC News

The union representing thousands of striking Air Canada flight attendants says it will risk jail time and fees but will not order its members back to work, despite the federal labour relations board c...

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

Head canoning: if you crack open an Infinite Improbability Drive from the Hitchhiker's Guide, what you will find powering it is a Lucky Day plot hole #LuckyDay by Chuck Tingle is a great read, especially if you are a "cuddling with numbers to reassure myself" type of queerdo

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

A fantastic discussion last night about climate change, how nice it is to NOT be at war, found & built family & community, queer culture & robot culture, for Automatic Noodle @annaleen.bsky.social Already planning the next Phil&Scifi syllabus, feeling lucky to live in hopepunkville AKA Vancouver

A hand holds up a book, Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz. The cover is very colourful, with teal and purplish reds shading into bright orange and yellow

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

Got the new Chuck Tingle novel on release day, cracking it open to start tonight 💀🎲🗡️🏳️‍🌈

Inside cover page of Lucky Day by Chuck Tingle

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Reposted by H.K. Andersen

Annalee Newitz @annaleen.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Vancouver, BC, friends! Tomorrow, 8/12, I'll be talking about Automatic Noodle with @hishamzerriffi.bsky.social at Iron Dog Books, 7pm! Come for the robots and noodles; stay for a discussion about rebuilding our infrastructure! irondogbooks.com/events/30790...

irondogbooks.com

Book Launch: Automatic Noodle with Author Annalee Newitz | Iron Dog Books

Indigenous-owned bookshop serving metro Vancouver

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 11/08/2025

Short pet peeve rant! When people push back against "scifi got too woke/too many women these days" by saying that scifi was invented by a woman, AND THEN give the credit to Mary Shelley. It goes at least back to natural philosopher Margaret Cavendish, The Blazing World, 1666. #philsky #sff

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

Bad news is I found a wasp nest. Good news is somehow it looks very cozy and homey? I kinda want to crawl inside with some tea and a blanket and book and take a nap?

A paper wasp nest hangs nestled in the fronds of a cedar tree, viewed from the same height as the nest. The surface of the nest is whorled and woody, like an old but well maintained wooden cabin on a stormy pacific beach.

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