iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Kevin Zollman

lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 10h

I think on most accounts of the decreasing marginal utility of money this would come out justified, we stan an effective altruist king 🤴

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 3h

One consequences of the left's hostility to economics is that they rally behind solutions that will probably make things worse. Economics is not the enemy of the left, and hasn't been for nearly half a century

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John Burn-Murdoch @jburnmurdoch.ft.com · 4h

Doesn’t mean rent controls never have any place in housing policy at all, but they have many proven downsides and unless they’re accompanied by big increases in supply they risk making the overall housing situation worse.

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Matt Darling @besttrousers.bsky.social · 4h

People keep analogizing rent control to the minimum wage, suggesting that maybe empirical work will refute the theoretical work. But the empirical work is generally showing what theory would predict.

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 4h

I would be all over drunk-talking about philosophy at a bar. Pittsburgh-sky, who should host this? East End, maybe?

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 4h

That's odd. Here in the US they've been available for months. In fact, I worry that a lot of people I know got flu too early

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Alan Richardson @alanrichardson.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

SBE was the branch of NSF that provided grants for history and philosophy of science and STS.

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Antigone @antigoneinthebes.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

People don’t realize how serious the situation is.

A graph showing number of Germanies over time. Losing one on October 3rd 1990 means by projection we are only decades before reaching -1 Germany in 2072

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Willard @climateball.bsky.social · 23h

imgflip.com/i/b2mrik

Kevin James shrugs and says "It's all gavagaï to me"

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 03/10/2026

I don't know enough about this debate to know whether I agree with Sean. The phenomena he describes seem quite real to me. I think philosophers oftentimes get distracted by the less relevant parts of their subject and congregate at the more obscure parts.

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Sean Carroll @seanmcarroll.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I do think philosophy as a discipline has dramatically underperformed at answering the question “When would an artificial system qualify as conscious?” Should have nailed that one long before it became a practical issue.

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 03/10/2026

Me, whenever someone explains Kant to me

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 03/10/2026

@lastpositivist.bsky.social I always felt like your white psychodrama paper didn't really fit the CMU brand. But I was wrong

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Alisa Bokulich @alisabokulich.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

History Dept @ University of Texas Austin invites applications for a TT assistant professor, specializing in modern history of science, technology, & medicine. Committee will consider applicants who specialize in any scientific practice in any part of the world since 1600. Deadline Nov 30 #HPS

networks.h-net.org

The University of Texas at Austin - Assistant Professor (TT) – History of Science, Technology, and Medicine | H-Net

Preferred qualifications include research and teaching records that will complement one or more of the department’s strengths including: African History, Asian History, British History, Digital Humanities, Latin American History, U.S. History, and related fields.

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pixelatedboat aka “mr bluesky” @pixelatedboat.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Sad news everyone. Our beloved friend the computer has now become a hated enemy

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 02/10/2026

Jesus was into phrenology apparently.

You called the "New Testament the History of the Imposter Christ, and affirming him to have learned magic in Egypt, and that coming from Egypt into Judea, he picked up a few ignorant blockish fellows, whom he knew by his skill and physiognomy, had strong imaginations, and that by the help of exalted imagination, he played his pranks as you blasphemously termed the working of his miracles".

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roland00 / Matthew @roland00.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

David Hume attended the same university a few decades later and started said school at age 12 and had major opinions about religion in his teens and twenties. Many historians have pointed out that if Hume was a few decades earlier he would be dead. Times and cultures change.

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 02/10/2026

The pirates finished this season above .500, so...

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Tim Carmody @tcarmody.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This is the funniest thing I've seen today, possibly ever

A tweet by SarahStarberry that says "oh god read the vertical axis" on top of a chart measuring AI models' release dates and model numbers rather than any real capabilities

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Dan Levenstein @dlevenstein.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Broke: all models are wrong but some are useful Woke: models are useful because they are wrong

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 01/10/2026

How many moral licks does it take to get to the center of a trolley problem?

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 01/10/2026

Can you be phil twitter emeritus?

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 01/10/2026

Professors: leftists in the streets but authoritarian in the sheets?

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 01/10/2026

This is super common, and not just in social media. It's amazing to me how many champions of the working class are shitty to the staff in their own department. Or how many people who talk about the importance of understanding power are shitty to grad students. Or...

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 01/10/2026

Never explain with a specific cause, that which can be explained by a more general one

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 01/10/2026

Both lifestyle and infrastructure. I went to the same university as my mother. When she was there, she didn't have a car (she couldn't afford one). There was a grocery store within walking distance of campus. When I went there, the closest grocery store was an hour walk away.

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 01/10/2026

"Affordability" is a combination of two things: prices and expectations. Certain activities can become less "affordable" even when prices go down because our expectations about what we "need" goes up. This thread is a great illustration

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Emily Hugan @changeurbanlife.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Saw a comment on research why people aren't hosting friends for dinner anymore vs the 1970s. The commentator said the researcher should consider how people can't afford larger houses that have a dining room.

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 01/10/2026

If you see this, post a vampire that isn't Dracula

A picture of a vampire bat thinking that you have especially delicious blood

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Julia M. Rohrer @dingdingpeng.the100.ci · 01/10/2026

Hey, your grad student just reached out to me — they are wondering:

Glamour.com style section:
I dress better than my boss. Is this a problem? By Morgan Sullivan

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 30/09/2026

"Really?!??! You think that *this* would count as *knowledge*?!?! [eyebrows raised high enough to disrupt air travel]" I think there is a lot of "if you want to join our crowd, you'd better rethink your feelings" social pressure.

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 30/09/2026

I have a similar view, but one where beliefs are actively being shaped. I definitely recall in some undergrad courses finding people who didn't have the same intuitions being "persuaded" to change their intuitions by the faculty instructor.

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Experimental Philosophy @handle.invalid · 30/09/2026

There has been a huge amount of experimental philosophy research on the concept of KNOWLEDGE This research finds that the ordinary concept doesn’t work at all the way philosophers said it does A thread with some examples: 🧵

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Nvidie @dervine7.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

active listening (normal person): *maintains eye contact* active listening (philosopher): *stares with great intensity at the ground, or has eyes completely closed*

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 30/09/2026

A question I mumble to myself from October-February every year.

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 30/09/2026

It has its upsides and downsides. It means the US is more subject to whims of billionaires, but less subject to the whims of the government.

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 30/09/2026

In all seriousness, we've had this conversation about the PSA. It's interesting how different the two cultures are surrounding private philanthropy for academia.

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 30/09/2026

Just spit-balling here, but have you considered moving the UK to Florida?

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 30/09/2026

Let's see if we can round up enough money for you to be the Jackalope Professor in the Yeti Department in the Griffin school

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 30/09/2026

I'm not sure my students know who Billy Joel is

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 30/09/2026

As someone who has taught both causation and logic: if "understands causation and logic" is what distinguishes humans from machines, we're cooked.

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Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · 30/09/2026

I don't think a 3b unrestricted gift was something that was feasible, but I don't know.

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