iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

My wife works in a building that was emancipated from AI research via kicking in windows. Great stuff.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Is the 10% chance humanity dies in ten years priced into current stock prices?

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Attention Span. ‘My daughter was reading Plato yesterday. But I looked and it’s a new word every few centimeters. Just a dopamine dispenser. No more. Now she just reads one long word for hours. For instance: Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd.’

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

‘Allow me to shoot my fish in a barrel,’ does something ‘constructing a straw man’ does not. ‘Let me shoot my fish,’ means ‘many people do believe this easily defeated position; I haven’t invented it in order to win.’ It’s intellectually silly but politically bad to do this: they’re all dummies.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

1) AI is brilliant and 2) it’s costing us jobs and doing other unlikeable things. Surely AI, brilliant, is doing what’s best.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Consider rule candidate-nominationalism. For you the benefit is that you’ll have a good place to stand on when the other party nominates a charismatic jerk. For us the benefit is that we might bootstrap ourselves out of ‘it’s fine to run on insults and beloved conspiracy tales.’

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

I wish someone would describe like, folding the laundry with the horror and precision they use to describe social media addiction. ‘The dopamine hit of the seam pulling in leads us to fold once more…The washing *machine* literally addicts us to…’

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Soccer: each match is nearly a coin flip, but everyone act as if heads was excellent when it showed over tails. Hockey: each match is slightly less of a coin flip and everyone acts like we’ll need to perform the flip many more times before declaring heads better than tails. Each is good.

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Reposted by Ryan Griffiths

Cassandra in the 305 @cassandrasaidso.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

"It really has come to this in America. Censorship is real," said Kelly. "America needs to stand up. Scientists, stand up. Physicians, stand up."

The editorial, which was co-authored by John Buse, MD, PhD, and others, is titled: "Misguided Brushes of a Pen Continue to Dismantle and Destroy Biomedical Research in the United States: We Can No Longer Afford Complacency and Fear. We Must All Act Now!"

It criticizes the Trump administration's requested 2027 budget that seeks a $5 billion reduction to NIH, along with the numerous changes to HHS and the NIH made since January 2025. It also details the many impacts to diabetes research funding since that time.

"There is an urgent need for all of us to bring attention to these destructive processes and halt them before the ongoing and proposed dissolution and destruction of critical components of our biomedical research infrastructure are completed. Enough is enough!" the editorial stated.

"It is no longer enough to stand idly by or work behind the scenes with lawmakers. Moreover, it is no longer appropriate to fret about political backlash," it continued. "Now is the time to recognize and fight to reverse the spiraling fall of the United States of America's status as the foremost nation in health care innovation."

A video taken by MedPage Today shows Kelly, a pediatric obesity expert from Minnesota, being shoved by an officer wearing a badge of a local Constable's office, with Louisiana State Police following close behind. A plainclothes security agent rips the editorials from Kahn's hands.

Kahn is then asked to step outside with the officers and security detail.

In a separate video provided to MedPage Today, Kahn and Ryder were shown outside of the convention center talking with police after they were escorted outside. Kelly, who was also outside taking the video, said they were "threatened to be arrested for handing out the editorial."

"They physically grabbed us, forced us out of the conference center, and now are telling us we can no longer attend this meeting. They're taking our lanyards," Kelly said.

"It really has come to this in America. Censorship is real," said Kelly. "America needs to stand up. Scientists, stand up. Physicians, stand up."

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Like, I kinda know these people.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

One of my girls is Canadian and the other is Canadian and American. This is…the non-American. A goddamned Alex Colville painting.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

The problem with AI replacing the university is that powerful people could just unplug it.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Read a profound paper on AI and consciousness etc. it was written by an AI thing. The whole paper was just this: ‘I refute it thus: I think.’

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Guy walks into his Marxist and his Hegelian psychologists’ office says ‘docs, I think I’m a wolf’. Hegelian Doc says ‘you’re not a wolf.’ Marx doc says ‘what’s the problem?’ Guy says ‘people tell me that I’m not a wolf, I’m crazy.’ Marx Doc says ‘you’ll be a wolf soon.’ Working on it.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Rain on pajama day. The allusion to Alannis memes is ironic (I think).

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Welfare fraud is so vast and so annoying that taking steps to end it could glorify and enrich me and my friends enormously. If you wish to join the fight against fraud you must apply to get a Fraud Fighter license from Me University.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

I haven’t travelled. I don’t ski (haha, imagine skiing). I’m nursing a sunburn on my chest underneath the winter coat i’m wearing today.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

(Perhaps this performs a joke on me, but) I’ve never hear it put that way. It is design with a designer i just spell designer etc

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Human pleasure derived from direct evil is worthless…pleasure derived from indirect not-niceness is worth something…Flora and Fauna don’t do evil, but do experience pleasure. W/o humans the earth would be… Therefore, stop being directly evil and everything is fine.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

If this right, then to save the earth we should make smartphones super cheap and addictive. Reduce, reuse, recycle and rivet your iPhone to your mind in the smithy of your soul. (Habs game nerves making me think loopily)

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Young people: ‘omg (they still say this), when you get what you want you want more. That’s so bad.’ Old people: ‘True, but it’s great.’

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Something (I don’t know what exactly) deeply bugs me and prompts me to say this: ‘that depends what you mean by X’ is vastly more helpful/worth saying than is generally believed. It’s annoying, sure, but even when it’s merely dilatory it’s useful for putting everyone on the hook.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

I’m ignorant of much about this phrase, but ‘God is no respecter of persons,’ seems to me to capture a lot about liberal neutrality. Why? Bc obviously ‘God,’ and God’s impartiality, is an ideal, not everyone’s, and so ‘God must be defended,’ period, and defended as valuable, period.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 09/05/2026

An ‘allonge’ in Montréal is translated as ‘long espresso,’ but I believe it to be different from a long espresso—it’s longer. It’s also, definitively, not an Americano. I like them. What are they? How are they made?

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

If you come visit me, then you’ll see a clean house. I’m not tidy, but wanted you to think I was. It’s super ordinary to seek to appear approvable, take steps to seem that way, and yet be not so hot in reality. Honesty is either rare, or is super common but less than ‘pure.’

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Ok, an unusual, not ordinary, uncommon event happens, like someone does something rarely done, ok, don’t expect much of the explanation to be ordinary, common, least of all curiosity-satisfying. Also, expect explanations of it to occasionally be fully curiosity-satisfying.

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Reposted by Ryan Griffiths

Shal Marriott @shalmarr.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

My first ever podcast interview, where I discuss how liberalism should be understood as a practice, and the way that television shows help us in this task. Give it a listen! open.spotify.com/episode/5u30...

open.spotify.com

Sitcoms: A Defense with Shal Marriott

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

A year ago I became conscious of what I had been only semi conscious of for 40 years. S’like this: I had, s’pose, arachnophobe behavior w/o being conscious that fear of spiders generated it. Brought root fear to consciousness and my (weak) rational thought vaporized it. Was good and lasting.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

@hasanasharp.bsky.social Hello! (Saw you this morning but recognized you a second after passing you.)

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

We say 18th cent (e.g.) writers were polymaths: strong across subjects known in their time and across more of them in ours. Gotta be. And yet, i’m reading a contemporary ‘polymath’ and it’s like, just write about singing. Don’t do the metaphysics of natural voices.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Pay me and I promise I will not promote your band. Your artistry is safe with me.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

I like this band, but I didn’t realise this band was leading some double life in which it was promoting its music. David Bowie famously paid to have his music suppressed but its quality brought it to light.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Awesome story about me: grade 6 or something. Assigned ‘use these words in a sentence’ and so on. One of the words: errand. I had never seen it spelled. Was tired. Thought how about a cheeky one: ‘Wow, errand!’ (uh-RAND). In class, I thought it would be funny to offer my sentence. It was.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Want to feel old? Trump’s Jesus-is-me tweet is now closer in time to his end-a-civilization tweet than his end-a-civilization tweet is to Pete Hegseth’s Bonnie-Situation homily.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Here’s an unhealthy thing. Researchers, activists, clinicians, often need to use ideal-types. The rest of need not to, or should pause before we do. Like, to make it obvious, activists might well fight for the family with 2.5 kids, but I should not puzzle about whether or not I have 2.5 kids.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

The moon is terra nullius/tabula rasa, as the case may be. You don’t have a claim on it. Perhaps the Nauts do, but I do know that by giving these Nauts naming rights to the moon you give Liz here the chance to tweet this. The Naut’s right is globally maleficent. Disutility. Naut’s right is naught.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations are devoted to ending two ‘particular usages’: slavery and the exposure of children (death of children from poverty) He ended every edition of TMS up to 1790 b/c with these things as outstanding moral problems. WN is the sequel.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Neat parenting thing: kid sent home from school, vaguely sick. Lesson: mom and I will always care for you when you’re sick. Aha! But that includes keeping you from going to your friend’s at night if the school said you were sick in the day. That’s how seriously we take your health.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

Dental health is, to a greater degree than is commonly known, a matter of genetics not behaviour. When dental problems arise dentists yell that this is not genetics, but is due to this patient’s shameful divergence from the daily dental cream routine etc. (I’m a mad dad telling jokes)

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Reposted by Ryan Griffiths

𝙰𝚛𝚊𝚜𝚑 𝙰𝚋𝚒𝚣𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚑 @abizadeh.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

I reviewed Thomas Holden’s excellent new book, _Hobbes’s Philosophy of Religion_, in NDPR. TLDR;: theological expressivism yes, justified theism no, rational piety yes.

ndpr.nd.edu

Hobbes’s Philosophy of Religion

Commentators have traditionally assumed that the key interpretive question concerning Hobbes’s theology is whether he was a theist (as he proclaim...

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

I was humiliated today when my five year old had the gall to suppose she had the right to cry at the needles. My daughter showed the opposite of awe at the dentist’s, nay, saint-cum-artist’s, dremmel multi-tool handiwork. Few have devised a greater, more seamless, racket than they.

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 27/11/2025

Send me your best anti-dentist paper, maybe by an economist, touching on variation in treatment/beliefs by country. Natural experiments where flowers bloomed brighter and fuller after the dentists left.

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Reposted by Ryan Griffiths

Research Group on Constitutional Studies, McGill University @rgcs-mcgill.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

McGill students with interests in the history of political thought/ intellectual history/ international law/ political philosophy. Don't miss this event on Thursday! A student who registers here and attends will win a copy of Lee's book The Right of Sovereignty www.facebook.com/events/25000...

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Ryan Griffiths @rygriff.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Tip: dried fruit? Freeze it for smoothies.

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