Reposted by jb manchakJim Weatherall @jamesowenweatherall.com · 16/09/2026Just launched! LPS is running a new certificate program on Science for Policy and the Public. It's an introduction to modern philosophy of science aimed at people who communicate about and advise on science. Check it out! ce.uci.edu/programs/soc... #philsci #philsky #academicskyce.uci.eduScience for Policy and the Public | UC Irvine DCEThe Science for Policy and the Public Certificate is an interdisciplinary certificate program designed to provide learners with foundational knowledge in... 0146
Reposted by jb manchakHourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Glare - From Gordan Ugarković (ugordan.bsky.social) - flic.kr/p/hdKCPZ 014132
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 05/09/2026From today’s trail run to Crystal Cove… #running #trailrunning 091
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 18/07/2026From today's trail run in Bommer Canyon... #trailrunning #running 0111
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 30/06/2026from today's trail run to crystal cove... #trailrunning 0100
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 25/06/2026from yesterday's trail run to laguna beach... #trailrunning 0120
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 12/06/2026any other philosophers out there who are first generation college grads? (i am also one!) 130
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 29/05/2026Let's say a *Buddha spacetime* (impermanence at every event) is one with no local Killing fields. A *Heraclitus spacetime* (can't step into the same river twice) is one with no local isometries between any distinct points. Theorem. Every Heraclitus spacetime is Buddha but not the other way around. 151
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 24/05/2026Not sure who needs to hear this today but determinism is not a mysterious metaphysical notion. If you or a loved one are struggling with haecceities, hang in there and read this paper. You got this! (new work with Hans Halvorson and @jamesowenweatherall.com) onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...onlinelibrary.wiley.comDeterministic TheoriesDeterminism is (roughly) the thesis that the past determines the future. But efforts to define it precisely have exposed deep methodological disagreements. Standard possible-worlds formulations of de... 081
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 19/05/2026There is a new interview with David Malament that was just posted to the AIP website. Check it out! repository.aip.org/node/151302repository.aip.org 111
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 29/04/2026my new bumper sticker: leibnizian spacetime+heraclitus matter is more deterministic than leibnizian spacetime itself. 030
Reposted by jb manchakOpen Culture @openculture.bsky.social · 17/04/2026A Newly Discovered Recording Lets You Hear Delta Blues Legend Robert Johnson in Stunning Clarityopenculture.comA Newly Discovered Recording Lets You Hear Delta Blues Legend Robert Johnson in Stunning ClarityGreat swathes of rock music since the nineteen-sixties would never have existed, we're sometimes told, were it not for the recordings of Robert Johnson. Certainly the likes of Keith Richards, Eric Cla... 8440641273
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 16/03/2026Had a lovely time on the "Theories of Everything" podcast! #philsci #philsky #physics www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGOG...youtube.comTime Travel in Physics: “We Still Don't Know”YouTube video by Curt Jaimungal 1133
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 19/02/2026I wrote a Galilean dialogue w James Read on the hole argument and determinism. It is essentially a fruitful email exchange we had after we each had published papers diametrically opposed to each other. It was a fun project! philosophyofphysics.lse.ac.uk/articles/10....philosophyofphysics.lse.ac.ukDialogue Concerning the Two Chief Views on Spacetime Rigidity | Philosophy of Physics 060
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 27/11/2025New piece on "Heraclitus spacetime" out today! #physics #philsky #philsci iai.tv/articles/the...iai.tvThe universe is a puzzle that fits together only one way<p><em>Heraclitus famously argued that you can't step into the same river twice. Here, philosopher JB Manchak argues that the whole universe is like that – and that such a universe has some interestin... 1134
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 28/10/2025What happens when you remove a carefully chosen Cantor set from time-rolled Minkowski spacetime? You settle a extendibility question posed by Bob Geroch 55 years ago! 063
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 23/10/2025Had an absolute blast writing this paper with Thomas, Hans, and @jamesowenweatherall.com! GR turns out to be way more deterministic than previously appreciated. The past determines the future not only up to isomorphism but up to *unique* isomorphism! 🤯 171
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 18/09/2025Oxford talk on Spacetime Asymmetry just uploaded...youtube.comJB Manchak: Spacetime asymmetryYouTube video by Oxford Philosophy of Physics 130
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 05/08/2025It is sometimes claimed that the "privileged coordinates" of geometric model (e.g. a relativistic spacetime) encode its "structure". In a paper just out in Philosophy of Science (open access), Thomas Barrett and I explore the limitations of this idea... www.cambridge.org/core/journal...cambridge.orgWhat Do Privileged Coordinates Tell Us about Structure? | Philosophy of Science | Cambridge CoreWhat Do Privileged Coordinates Tell Us about Structure? - Volume 92 Issue 3 120
Reposted by jb manchakBritish Journal for the Philosophy of Science @thebjps.bsky.social · 16/06/2025New issue out now! Featuring evolutionary transitions and cumulative culture, hole arguments and jury theorems, Galileo’s ship and best laid plans, distinguishing the indistinguishable, and so much more… Read it here: www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/bjps/202... #philsci #philsky #hps 1205
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 10/03/2025Two new papers out today on "determinism" co-authored with the foundations of (a)symmetries dream team: @jimweatherall.bsky.social, Hans Halvorson, and Thomas Barrett. #philsci #philsky philsci-archive.pitt.edu/24881/ philsci-archive.pitt.edu/24883/philsci-archive.pitt.edu Determinism and Asymmetry in General Relativity - PhilSci-Archive 071
Reposted by jb manchakJim Weatherall @jamesowenweatherall.com · 07/03/2025#philsky #philsci Videos from the workshop on Symmetry and Structure that Clara Bradley and I organized in Irvine in September 2023 are now available online. Some very interesting stuff there! Enjoy! jamesowenweatherall.com/symmetry-and... youtube.com/playlist?lis...youtube.comSymmetry and Structure, UCI Workshop October 2023 - YouTubeTalks from the workshop "Symmetry and Structure", hosted by the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science at the University of California, Irvine. 27-28 ... 072
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 24/01/2025"The universe is unknowable even if one were given an all-access pass to every possible observation at every possible place and time -- here, there, past, present, and future." #physics #philsky #philsci iai.tv/articles/the...iai.tvThe universe is unknowable from within it | JB Manchak 6277
Reposted by jb manchakUC Irvine School of Social Sciences @ucisocsci.bsky.social · 14/01/2025UC Irvine's Department of Logic & Philosophy of Science earns top spots in latest faculty rankings | Philosophical Gourmet Report’s 2024-25 update places @ucirvine.bsky.social faculty among the top in the English-speaking world for faculty excellence www.socsci.uci.edu/newsevents/n...socsci.uci.eduUC Irvine’s Department of Logic & Philosophy of Science earns top spots in latest faculty rankings 011
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 17/12/2024New paper "On Privileged Coordinates and Kleinian Methods" just published online at Erkenntnis (joint work with Thomas Barrett). We investigate senses in which the "privileged coordinates" of a geometric space might have significance. link.springer.com/article/10.1...link.springer.comOn Privileged Coordinates and Kleinian Methods - ErkenntnisThis paper examines two ways in which the ‘privileged coordinates’ of a geometric space might have significance. First, the structure of the space might be ‘determined by its privileged coordinates’. ... 050
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 15/12/2024"Heraclitus-Maximal Worlds" was just published in the Journal of Philosophical Logic (joint work with Thomas Barrett). Bumper sticker version: Einstein spacetime + Heraclitus asymmetry + Leibniz maximality = no empirical underdeterminationlink.springer.comJournal of Philosophical Logic | Volume 53, issue 6Volume 53, issue 6 articles listing for Journal of Philosophical Logic 030
jb manchak @manchak.bsky.social · 10/12/2024"The Malament-Manchak theorem shows that we can’t know how time began – or even if it began." #physics #philsky #philsciaeon.coScientists are no longer sure the Universe began with a bang | Aeon EssaysIt was thought that science could tell us about the origins of the Universe. Today that great endeavour is in serious doubt 23111
