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Ivan Flis

@iflis.bsky.social

525 followers 647 following 523 posts

Psychologist turncoat | history of science, history of psychology, philosophy of science | PhD from Utrecht University | Assistant Professor at University of Rijeka, Croatia: cogsci.uniri.hr

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Ivan Flis @iflis.bsky.social · 23h

I do think that the role of the editor as a node and passage point (I purposefully avoid gatekeeper) is fundamentally changed when the primary place where the journal exists is online and in a database (instead of at a conference and a department),

Quote from Baldwin's conclusion: "One of the most persuasive defenses of peer review I’vemread in recent months came, in fact, from the referee reports on this book manuscript. In their comments on my conclusion, Reviewer #3 argued that what peer review can provide is “mutuality among scientists,” a commitment to reading and engaging with each others’ work. At its best, peer review provides a mechanism for researchers to evaluate new findings and give honest feedback on a project’s weaknesses and strengths. It helps spread word of forthcoming papers and recent achievements, creates shared intellectual investment in projects, and reminds us that the goal of research is not only individual advancement—it is to contribute to knowledge and to our research communities."

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Ivan Flis @iflis.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Kradem od @ivanrosko.bsky.social, Tuđmanov opis znanstvenih institucija koji je čini se primjenjiv već šezdesetak godina. Što se više stvari mijenjaju, to više ostaju iste.

Quote from administrative minutes in Croatian. Translation.

Franjo Tuđman: You must understand that the funding system is so harrowing, it requires a bewildering bureaucracy, and every scientific worker runs from bureaucracy because it is burdensome. So I ask for less bureaucracy.

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Ivan Flis @iflis.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

For illustration of a rando, see: (relevant both in the state of unkemptness and the twerpy expression)

Mugshot of our dog Lando, his curly brown mutness holding the expression of a mildly confused but interested twerp.

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Ivan Flis @iflis.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

I spent yesterday and today morning in sunny Pula in Istria. Took this on the way from the bus station to the public library.

Green bushes and a tree in the foreground with white stone arches of a Roman ruin in the background, with blue sky peeking under the arches and a white stone belltower. Taken in Pula, Croatia.

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Ivan Flis @iflis.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Basically Space Merchants, but worse. Imagine Mad Men, but with no aesthetics and all the sexism.

This is the front cover art for the book The Space Merchants written by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth. On the left it shows a big black space rocket on a yellowiah background, on the righr it says in a one word per line column “a novel of the future when the advertising agencies take over” and below “by Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth”

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Ivan Flis @iflis.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

From the train:

A view of the Sava river from a train window. Bottom right a two lane road, above it the river and the green hills with a small red roofed house.

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Ivan Flis @iflis.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

A black and white poster from Mussolini's reign in Italy, which means he is watching everyone, in Italian it says "yes" many times, and the dictator's face is drawn. It covers the front of a three story building, the Palazzo Braschi in Rome.

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Ivan Flis @iflis.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

And so far I haven’t run into examples of paradigm shifting applications, just impressive solutions to constrained problems that deal with complexity (which is impressive, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a far cry from a knowledge making machine). From the article:

“In fact, it’s been slightly disheartening. It gives him a nagging feeling about AI that he just can’t shake. If we can predict how proteins fold without understanding how they do it, “are we even legitimately doing science anymore, or is it something different?” AlQuraishi muses. “In the past, what drove us was understanding. With this wave of AI, we’re maybe losing some of that. We’re able to get the practical benefits, but we’re not necessarily gaining intellectual benefits”

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Ivan Flis @iflis.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

This one time somebody called something chauvinist in conversation and another person said: “Chauvinist, I am not familiar with his work.” Spotify reminded me of that beautiful conversation The world we live in is fascinating.

A Spotify notification that says “Johann Sebastian Bach started the countdown on Spotify. Pre-save no…”

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Ivan Flis @iflis.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

I hear you, I was prompted by this

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Ivan Flis @iflis.bsky.social · 28/12/2024

We had to put our dog Floki down a few weeks ago. It has been touch and go for months, us trying to make the difficult decision when to help him not to suffer any more. Finally, when the decision was made, it came so glaringly lightly. There was nothing much more than suffering left.

A white fluffy dog named Floki standing in a forest, green around him and tree roots under his paws.

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Ivan Flis @iflis.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

This is a picture from a 1950s pamphlet that promised to sell functioning flying saucers (with perpetuum mobile and antigravity generators) to individuals. "It is as if plans for the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria were made available to model builders before Columbus ever sailed."

The picture shows a 1950s black and white flying saucer (middle) with the words "NOW! NEW! Build this AUTHENTIC MODEL of the REVOLUTIONARY" in upper right, continued in lower right "OTC-X1 SPACE CRAFT; Detailed Engineering Plans now Available at Popular Prices! ANIMATE IT! SEE IT WORK! EVEN FLY IT YOURSELF! (under proper qualification, of course)

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Ivan Flis @iflis.bsky.social · 15/03/2024

Zoran Milanovic namontiran na naslovnicu knjige God Emperor of Dune

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Ivan Flis @iflis.bsky.social · 29/02/2024

So, wtf Sage, is this now considered normal?

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Ivan Flis @iflis.bsky.social · 23/01/2024

How does one forget a Mexican Empress in Belgium, and why on Earth would one even ask such a question? Our project's blog has a new post, written by one of our PhD candidates about his visit to the Meise Botanic Garden. You might find the answer to that question there: revenant.uniri.hr?p=1176

Two masks on sticks above grass, with some trees and gray sky in the background. Artwork by Marina Roggeman, featured as part of the exhibition Face to Face set in the Botanical Garden.

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Ivan Flis @iflis.bsky.social · 18/01/2024

Our Master's program in the Cognitive Sciences at the University of Rijeka has opened the call for our second generation of students! You can find more information here: cogsci.uniri.hr/admissions/

The snippet says: "Applications are now open for Admission in 2024/2025" with students and faculty sitting on a lawn in front of a faculty building.

The snippet says, in vertical order: "Application Deadline 6 March; Shortlisting by 15 March; Interviews 25-27 March; Results 5 April" next to a photo of the Adriatic coast.

The snippet says in vertical bullet points: "Apply now if - you want to be considered for a Scholarship - you require an entrance visa for Croatia" next to a photo of a sign in the wild that says UNIRI.

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