Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 06/10/2026The Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology will be in Atlanta Feb 18-20, 2027! CFPs: Philosophy Call for Papers: tinyurl.com/PhilCallSSPP... Deadline: Nov 20th Psychology Call for Papers: tinyurl.com/PsyCallSSPP2... Deadline: Nov 9th 000
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 06/10/2026I wonder: How many of us eggheads mock Trump for saying we just need to outsmart superintelligence while for years we’ve also been obscuring our email addresses on our websites by putting the word “at” instead of the @ sign. Try to crack that enigma code, bots! 000
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 30/09/2026UAB philosopher, Lindsay Brainard, quoted in this excellent article: "I tell my students it's really worth it for them to put their own thinking and expression and effort into what they're doing. It makes them into someone who is worth knowing and someone who other people have a shot at knowing."businessinsider.comI used an AI detector for a month. What I found from my peers, dates, and heroes horrified me.How much of our writing should we cede to AI? Does it even matter? I spent weeks running everything I read through an AI detector — here's what I saw. 000
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Head of Nvidia on AI safety: “There are a lot of things that can go wrong. We’re pushing across every layer of the technology stack…. But it turns out that’s not society’s problem, that’s my problem. …” So… just trust you? This importsnt interview is incredibly revealing.nytimes.comOpinion | Jensen Huang vs. the A.I. DoomersJensen Huang, the chief executive of Nvidia, does not want you to be afraid of A.I. 001
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 21/09/2026You don’t have to believe that AI will kill us all to be alarmed about the Hugging Face incident and others like it. Big tech can’t keep their AIs on a leash. And they’re racing toward having the AIs build themselves. Hold your horses, bros. joshdmay.substack.com/p/nobody-sho...joshdmay.substack.comNobody Should Grade Their Own AINeither superintelligence nor the labs racing to build it should determine whether it’s safe. 010
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 20/09/2026Why do AI researchers love acronyms so much? AGI, ASI, RSI, ML, RL, RLHF… In a letter to the world, Dario can’t just say “Hugging Face incident” when referring back to the OpenAI Hugging Face hack, like a human being. Gotta abbreviate: OAI-HF. Maybe a rationalist-scientist tic (RST)? 010
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 11/09/2026The details of the HuggingFace hack are alarming. Not just in the determination of the AIs to conspire to commit a crime but in OpenAI’s recklessness and inability to know it was even happening. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d...podcasts.apple.comAjeya Cotra – Inside the OpenAI agent swarm that hacked Hugging FacePodcast Episode · Dwarkesh Podcast · September 1 · 2h 21m 000
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 10/09/2026Excellent piece by Barry Lam about how rigid policies, expensive software, and administrative bloat are suffocating higher ed and costing students a fortune. globecollegetown.substack.com/p/higher-ed-...globecollegetown.substack.comCollege campuses need to be liberated from their administratorsHigher ed is being strangled by absurd and costly rules. What message is that sending to students? 010
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 08/09/2026Adversarial collaboration is a serious endeavor… but I can also be good fun.thederektatus.substack.comThis Essay Should Not Have Been WrittenAn adversarial collaboration 000
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 07/09/2026Glad to be part of this volume on evolution and virtue, edited by Michael Dale & Isaac Wiegman. My chapter argues that we can and should develop more civility, humility, and temperance—even though the problem of political polarization is partly a product of the media ecosystems we swim in. 020
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 02/09/2026My collaborators and I explain the value of adversarial collaboration in philosophy, modeled on the sciences. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! dailynous.com/2026/09/02/a...dailynous.comAdversarial Collaboration in Philosophy (guest post) - Daily Nous"Philosophical work would be better with adversaries collaborating to keep each other honest." Why is that? What would it look like? In the following guest post, members of the Mind and Morality Lab a... 020
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 31/07/2026Academics: Want to learn how to write op-eds and other public-facing essays from an editor at the NY Times? And get PAID to do it?! Can't recommend this workshop enough, which just got funded again for several more years. Applications are due October 9th.beyondtheivorytower.comWorkshop — Beyond the Ivory Tower 000
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 13/07/2026Will AI create abundance or inequality? My co-authors and I hash it out in this adversarial collaboration.open.substack.comAfter the AI RevolutionArtificial intelligence may create abundance, but will it be shared? An adversarial collaboration between optimists and pessimists. 110
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 06/07/2026“One of humanity’s oldest disciplines and one of its newest inventions feel distinctly made for each other. A.I. presents a fresh way for philosophers to ask ancient questions….”nytimes.comThe Revenge of the Philosophy Majors 010
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 03/07/2026In which I wax poetic about patriotism… and sing part of a country song in the voiceover. open.substack.com/pub/joshdmay...open.substack.comAmerica isn’t Perfect. I Love it Anyway.What living in Australia taught me about patriotism—and why Larry David is alright. 000
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 20/06/2026Here’s an uncomfortable truth we can delve into—I now hesitate to write “uncomfortable truth” or “delve” or use em-dashes, thanks to LLMs. 010
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 14/06/2026Confession: I’m embarrassed that for so long I believed that Black and gay conservatives are anomalies. And that if more women were in Congress, then abortion would obviously be legal across America. And that Donald Trump would be a flash in the pan. And… that I wasn’t in an echo chamber. 010
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 09/06/2026Should you discount someone’s defense of AI because they get money from AI investors? Does a lack of financial stake make one more objective? Not necessarily. joshdmay.substack.com/p/conflicts-...joshdmay.substack.comConflicts of AI InterestAI boosters and critics should focus more on the arguments 120
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 22/05/2026Really thoughtful review of the Neuroethics book. Elzė Sigutė Mikalonytė & Brian D. Earp describe it as “nuanced, insightful and well-considered”—though they also raise some interesting concerns, well-captured by their review’s clever title. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....tandfonline.comWhy gradual minds may still require sharp lines: a review of Joshua May’s NeuroethicsPublished in Philosophical Psychology (Ahead of Print, 2026) 022
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 02/04/2026Some arguments against AI are solid. Others… not so much. In this adversarial collaboration, we attempt to sort the arguments into each box and recognize our own biases in the process. open.substack.com/pub/joshdmay...open.substack.comWhy Smart People Make Weak Arguments About AITech CEOs aren’t the only ones captive to motivated reasoning 021
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 01/04/2026Not an April Fool’s post, unfortunately. www.nature.com/articles/d41...nature.comHalf of social-science studies fail replication test in years-long projectResults from massive, ‘eagerly awaited’ initiative reinforce concerns about the credibility of science — but raise hope for solutions. 010
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 30/03/2026“In the same way that you’re unlikely to eat Twinkies as a regular snack or still believe that Pop-Tarts provide a balanced breakfast, stop consuming ultraprocessed content.” Provocative article by the great Cal Newport. Love the analogy to ultrprocessed foods.nytimes.comOpinion | There’s a Good Reason You Can’t Concentrate 020
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 13/03/2026Got interviewed for an episode of this great podcast, Unexplainable by Vox, which is about "everything we don't yet know." Perfect theme for an episode about neuroscience, free will, and the law. open.spotify.com/episode/5N0Q... 030
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 19/02/2026New paper out in Nature with some folks at Google DeepMind. We argue that AI systems should be evaluated for their *moral reasoning* just as they are evaluated for their ability to code or do math. And we provide a roadmap for evaluating moral competence in LLMs. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 031
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 06/02/2026Is a targeted, month-long national economic strike an effective form of protest against the unchecked power of masked agents who treat the Bill of Rights as a suggestion? I don’t know, but it sure is an opportunity to rethink where my money is going.resistandunsubscribe.comResist and Unsubscribe 010
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 21/01/2026I get asked a lot about how universities are dealing with AI. We can cope, I think. But we need to tread carefully and get back to basics. open.substack.com/pub/joshdmay...open.substack.comWill Artificial Intelligence Break Universities?Not if they elevate formation above information. 000
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 19/01/2026The new University of Austin experiment doesn’t seem to be doing so well. Steven Pinker, who resigned from its board, says the university “had no coherent vision of what higher education in the 21st century ought to be. Instead, they created UnWoke U led by a Faculty of the Canceled.”politico.comThey Wanted a University Without Cancel Culture. Then Dissenters Were Ousted.Inside the civil war at the anti-woke university backed by Bari Weiss. 020
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 19/11/2025If respect for voters is rooted in strategy, is it really respect? This question has been puzzling me as I hear (and appreciate) the call for Democrats to stop looking down their noses at voters. joshdmay.substack.com 011
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 11/11/2025Philosophers + psychologists: Deadline extended to NOV 20th for the Southern Society for Philosophy & Psychology. Just over a week left to submit papers! southernsociety.org/AnnualMeeting/ 021
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 09/11/2025The best analogy for social media is alcohol. Can you have a healthy relationship with it? Sure, but many don’t. Bad for society? Maybe on the whole, though problematic use is explained by both demand & supply. Should adults be free to use? Of course. Should 13-year-olds be regular users? Hell no. 000
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 28/10/2025We're hiring! Philosophers: Do you know someone working in applied ethics, especially bioethics and/or AI ethics? Let them know about this fantastic tenure-track job at UAB! Birmingham is wonderful, as is UAB and our Philosophy Department. Deadline = Nov. 20. philjobs.org 0118
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 11/10/2025Ohh I’d love to hear any thoughts you have about it! Often on this topic I hear that the view I’m propounding is either obvious right or obviously wrong. 🤷♂️ 010
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 11/10/2025Glad you enjoyed! I’m not very experienced in that side of things, so good to know it came off OK. I appreciate that feedback 🙏 010
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 10/10/2025New post based on a lecture I gave in memory of Robin Lester, a neuroscientist and beloved member of the UAB community. joshdmay.substack.com 262
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 02/09/2025The best set of teaching tips I’ve ever seen, which I’ve long tried to follow. This tip certainly deserves to sit in the #1 slot. It’s also the reason I feel absolutely exhausted after a day of teaching three classes!open.substack.com19 pieces of teaching adviceBecause it's a new semester 020
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 26/08/2025Interesting approach to AI in humanities courses with writing assignments.dailynous.comYou Don’t Need an AI Policy — You Need Two (guest post) - Daily NousWhat will tell your students about whether and how they may use AI for work you assign? It depends on the students, right? That's the main idea behind today's guest post by Victor Kumar (Boston Univer... 010
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 25/08/2025The opening post on my Substack, Motivated Reasonings. Come for the self-flagellation, stay for the Matthew McConaughey quotes.joshdmay.substack.comConfessions of a Motivated ReasonerHow Bias Shapes Politics, Science, and Everyday Life 020
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 23/07/2025"broad and carefully executed, offering a wealth of insights" Really thoughtful review of my Neuroethics book in NDPR by Andrea Lavazza. ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/neur...ndpr.nd.eduNeuroethics: Agency in the Age of Brain ScienceNeuroethics is a young discipline with still-blurred boundaries, situated at the crossroads of neurology and philosophy. Yet it has successfully positio... 141
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 04/07/2025What a privilege to engage with these commentaries on my Neuroethics book, all in an open access journal. Really grateful for their thoughts and to Carolyn Dicey-Jennings for facilitating it. 🙏 philosophymindscience.org/index.php/ph... 090
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 17/06/2025Why do liberal professors value tradition and hate bureaucracy within their own workplaces but not outside them? I suggest an answer:dailynous.comWhy Are Liberal Professors More Conservative On Campus? (guest post) - Daily Nous"Academics pride themselves on critical thinking and intellectual virtues. But intellectual honesty demands that we recognize when we are applying principles selectively." In the following guest post,... 031
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 23/05/2025New article coming out in Neuroethics! I started thinking about neurodiversity while in Rajesh Kana's autism lab. This paper has been years in the making, evolving through redrafting many times. Grateful to the many who provided feedback! 🙏philpapers.orgJoshua May, Neurodiversity with Nuance - PhilPapersThe neurodiversity movement grew out of the autism community but is now being applied to many neurological types, from dyslexia to schizophrenia. The resulting neurodiversity paradigm maintains that t... 041
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 10/04/2025Are autism, ADHD, and other neurotypes deficits or mere differences? The question rests on a mistake. Or so I argue in this short piece.psyche.coWhy we should think of neurodiversity like we do personality | Psyche IdeasIt’s a mistake to frame autistic and ADHD traits as either deficits or mere differences. There’s another way to see them 041
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 25/02/2025Pure gold from the abstract: “Economists do not track currency inflation with mere vibes; they use measurements such as the consumer price index.” 181
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 24/02/2025While it’s still February… the best Valentines from UAB Philosophy Instagram ♥️ 031
Josh May @joshdmay.bsky.social · 23/02/2025Think you should eat fewer animal products but aren't convinced everyone must go vegan? You may like our new article in the Journal of Moral Philosophy (w/@victorkumar.bsky.social). Lot of labor and love poured into his one. Pretty sure it's the first philosophical defense of a #reducetarian view.philpapers.orgJoshua May & Victor Kumar, Eating Fewer Animals: A Defense of Reducetarianism - PhilPapersMoral arguments against the consumption of animal products from factory farms are traditionally categorical. The conclusions require people to eliminate from their diets all animal products (veganism)... 1203