iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I forgot you are on here, I would have tagged you!

H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Shout out to recent SFU grad Fengyuan Liu, whose work stemming from his MA pro paper was accepted for the UPSS session at #PSA2026! Really interesring case study about local knowledge, involving measurement, agriculture, and conflicting explanatory systems #sfu

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

cats, cakes, time - this post has all the good stuff

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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

If your school does not alteady accept the Duolingo one, consider making a case for that or another alternative, on the basis of fairness and academic freedom for Iranian scholars

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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 · 18/09/2026

yes, feb 2009! we are starting the university application process now. I was big when Obama was elected, and he was sworn in weeks before I gave birth. it really seemed so hopeful and new, this better world I thought this baby was entering. now I can't coax US schools onto the application list

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

that is a lovely way to mark such an occasion. I remember a cozy dinner with you and R in Pgh when you were pregnant with him, it seems like both not that long ago and also such a different time. sending a hug

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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 · 13/07/2026

did not know this was a thing! And today is e's first proper day of summer relaxation, we will celebrate with a visit to the very awesome local rock shop

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

And your application then drowns in a sea of indistinguishable applications. This covers more of the higher level considerations around applications

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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 · 27/05/2026

That is James' cosplay picture!

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

! every time I am out there, I think, this is such a campus-y campus, it is so nice to get a break from labyrinthine brutalist 3D mazes

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Fair, it is a lot of unknowns. I am from a maybe similar background and can have a zoom chat with anyone who wants to know more about what that might look like. Always happy to email or chat online, plz let them know

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

We have funding, too. Is not great compared to PhD packages but covers tuition and living expenses. Wish it was more, but honestly, it is better that what I was making at a coffee shop or the mill or waiting tables, and much better QOL. A good way to see what this life path looks like

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

you may already know this but Simon Fraser University has an MA program that is great for undergrads like this. a very supportive grad community and good for making the step to a phd program. we aren't always on the radar for US students.

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

yes, there definitely are, that is what the specific extensions build on. the Tobi piece is interesting I think in highlighting a phenomenon that makes sense specifically in the colonial context version of EI, intragroup EI prior to, during, and after colonization

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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 · 16/04/2026

weird local connection - probably the definitive volume on just war theory is Ethics of War volume, edited by Endre Begby and colleagues at the peace research institute of Oslo. There is a decent chance that the only Augustine, or just war theory, that Vance has read is what's in there

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

sounds interesting, please add me

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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 · 31/03/2026

also I am now going to read your piece because that title is fantastic

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

an excellent volume celebrating a wonderful human!

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

I'm not sure if this counts as entry, but a great read is Hasok Chang's Inventing Temperature. The first, fifth, and sixth chapters especially are a good look at the socially situated, still subject to evaluative norms, approach

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

would be nice! But no, surprisingly controversial among many philosophers of science as well

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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 · 18/02/2026

that med school is also super controversial, may end up really making SFU worse off, not better

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Depends on the kid. My just-turned-13 YO saw it. He is sensitive to violence, but telling him the basic plot really helped. At one point there was a lot of tension, he was going to leave, but once he knew "this is the big end battle," he was fine. Closed his eyes for a few explicit bits. Loved 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 · 25/01/2026

what we should really be debating, is banana flavour and blue raspberry

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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 · 23/01/2026

on the other hand, my mom drank a 12 pack of Diet Coke every day for years. She is now a mid 70's woman with stage 3 stomach cancer. statistical generalizations, eh

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Tell him Obama has a lower Bacon-Erdos number

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

argh thanks for noticing, I will email them about fixing that tomorrow

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H.K. Andersen @hkandersen.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

yes, should be fun! Though I have to note, it's AndersEn. So much email goes astray when people use the O

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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

as a professional philosopher who works in/on pragmatism I firmly endorse this!

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

I am working on this but it is unwieldy, getting long, also unsure where to publish it. Cambridge elements is a good idea, though I will confess that I really dislike that cover they use for the phil sci ones. Maybe I could convince them it belongs in a different topic area and get a different cover

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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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