iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 1 August 1816:

000

Nations may war, but in my small community of philosophers of perception we count amongst us philosophers from Iran, Isreal, Lebanon, America, the UK, India... and as we puzzle and argue over perception, I like to think we are in our own small way contributing to peace.

040

Address at the Thirty-sixth Annual Dinner of the War Resisters League by Martin Luther King, Jr., February 2, 1959:

As you know, the establishment of social justice in our nation is of profound concern to me. This great struggle is in the interest of all Americans and I shall not be turned from it. Yet no sane person can afford to work for social justice within the nation unless he simultaneously resists war and clearly declares himself for non-violence in international relations.

What will be the ultimate value of having established social justice in a context where all people, Negro and White, are merely free to face destruction by strontium 90 or atomic war.

If we are to find a new method to avoid such terrible possibilities, it will be based on love not hate; it will be based on reconciliation and not retaliation; it will be based on forgiveness and not on revenge.

000

Uncanny parallels with what Pythia said to Croesus:

Kranti Saran @krantisaran.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

How it ended the last time a Vance negotiated with Iran:

Page of text from Jimmy Carter's account of his time in office, describing the resignation of Cy Vance.

Kranti Saran @krantisaran.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

From the philosopher and soldier J. Glenn Gray’s “The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle” (1959):

000

Kranti Saran @krantisaran.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

This was so much fun -- thanks to Sean Smith and Alex Moran for organising it!

000

Reposted by Kranti Saran

Simon Brown @simonabbrown.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

We're starting a PhD programme in Philosophy at Ashoka! Anyone can apply by April 15 for admission this year, and we will ensure that admitted applicants receive enough funding to support them for the 5 year programme. More info here: www.ashoka.edu.in/programme/ph...

ashoka.edu.in

Ph.D. Programme in Philosophy - Ashoka University

The PhD in Philosophy programme conforms to all Ashoka PhD programme guidelines. Additional guidelines specific to the Philosophy PhD programme […]

23215

Reposted by Kranti Saran

Norm DePlume @normdeplume.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Hannah Arendt did not mince words, did she? 'Totalitarianism replaces all first-rate talents with crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty.' From "The Origins of Totalitarianism" (1951)

7890349

Reposted by Kranti Saran

Keith Raymond Harris @kraymondh.bsky.social · 14/01/2026

Huxley on dictatorial propaganda #philsky

Dictatorial propaganda demands obedience and even considerable financial and other sacrifices; but by way of compensation it assures
the individual that, as a member of a chosen nation, race, or class, he is superior to all other individuals in the world; it dissipates his sense of personal inferiority by investing him with the vicarious glory of the community; it gives him reasons for thinking well of himself; it provides him with enemies whom he may blame for his own shortcomings and upon whom he may vent his latent brutality and love of bullying.

063

Kranti Saran @krantisaran.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

Nobody throws shade like Nabokov:

Kranti Saran @krantisaran.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

“What Can a Global Turn in Philosophy of Science Look Like?”, forthcoming in Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, by former Ashoka philosophy undergrad Kabir S. Bakshi. Congratulations Kabir! philsci-archive.pitt.edu/26382/

philsci-archive.pitt.edu

What Can a Global Turn in Philosophy of Science Look Like? - PhilSci-Archive

0156

Reposted by Kranti Saran

Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

From Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams. Now known as The Trump Defence.

they even exclude one another. The whole plea - for this dream is nothing else - recalls vividly the defence offered by a man who was accused by his neighbour of having returned a kettle in a damaged condition. In the first place, he said, he had returned the kettle undamaged; in the second place it already had holes in it when he borrowed it; and in the third place, he had never borrowed it at all. A complicated defence, but so much the better; if only one of these three lines of defence is recognised as valid, the man must be acquitted.

2206

Kranti Saran @krantisaran.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

A unique, searing voice, and exceptionally good:

Cover of “every one still here” by Liadan Ni Chuinn

052

Kranti Saran @krantisaran.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

Easily the best novel(s) I’ve read all year:

Cover of Edna O’Brien’s The Country Girls Trilogy

Kranti Saran @krantisaran.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

“Boards are accountable to no one – only to themselves, and to some vague set of norms, often unwritten, about their obligations. Accountability is for faculty, administrators, and students.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

theguardian.com

Who actually runs Columbia University? | Arjun Appadurai and Sheldon Pollock

Trustees aren’t academics – and they’re often political wolves in sheep’s clothing. We need reform to save the American university as we know it

Kranti Saran @krantisaran.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

A welcome Luce cannonade: archive.ph/EZ8Ys

000

Kranti Saran @krantisaran.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

Pratap telling it like it is. This truly is the land of Maya.

Kranti Saran @krantisaran.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

Back in the classroom tomorrow. For the first time ever, my elective Intro. to Philosophy course has more students than the required foundation course I taught last semester (139 vs. 132). Go Ashoka philosophy!

0100

Kranti Saran @krantisaran.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

"If the machine can take over everything man can do and do it still better than us, then what is a human being?... What have we left?" Prescient thoughts circa 1981 by Krishnamurti that bear on the AI-revolution: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kut5...

youtube.com

The computer is taking over | J. Krishnamurti

YouTube video by J. Krishnamurti - Official Channel

Tim Crane @timcrane.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Reposted by Kranti Saran

This is brilliant. Best thing I’ve read in 2025 (!) but more seriously, one of the best things the LRB has published in recent years. Fara Dabhoiwala on Francis Williams www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

lrb.co.uk

Fara Dabhoiwala · A Man of Parts and Learning: Francis Williams Gets His Due

The only certainty about the picture is that it shows Francis Williams. No one has ever been able to discover who...

86320

Kranti Saran @krantisaran.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Last swim in the ocean for the year.

040

Kranti Saran @krantisaran.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

The highest quality backlit screen I’ve ever seen at any conference at the Saxena Auditorium at IIT-Bombay. @somakrc.bsky.social we should get one of these!

040

Reposted by Kranti Saran

Mike Levin @drmichaellevin.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

Nic Rouleau & I: checklist to go through when settling on opinions about AI, diverse intelligence, unconventional cognition, consciousness, mind/machine issues, etc. When you read (or write) about these topics, run the perspective through this, to kick the tires. 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s42...

nature.com

Discussions of machine versus living intelligence need more clarity - Nature Machine Intelligence

Sharp distinctions often drawn between machine and biological intelligences have not tracked advances in the fields of developmental biology and hybrid robotics. We call for conceptual clarity driven ...

24114

Kranti Saran @krantisaran.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

IIT-Bombay has pretty sunsets and… unusual signage.

170

Reposted by Kranti Saran

Anna E. Clark @annaeclark.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

This is what's so baffling about so many suggestions for AI in the humanities classroom: they mistake the product for the point. Writing outlines and essays is important not because you need to make outlines and essays but because that's how you learn to think with/through complex ideas.

15272412273

Reposted by Kranti Saran

Yuri Cath @ywcath.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

Going to use my new publication window as an excuse to repost this thing I made in 2019. My portrait of the great David Lewis in vegemite (and a fair bit of ink, as vegemite turns out to be a lousy medium) on toast. Context below of how this connects with my book... #philsky

1243

Kranti Saran @krantisaran.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

“What if we were to build tools that served the needs of society’s most vulnerable members instead of letting entities interested in creating efficient killing machines dictate our scientific and technological futures? Or, to put it more clearly: Who is tech really for?”