iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Good suggestions by Harvard dean Deming: accept or even encourage AI-use in take-home assignments. Forbidding it creates a climate of distrust and, I would add, privileges unscrupulous cheaters. What I would add: Avoid the problem by making take-home assessment rare.

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Alexander Kustov @akoustov.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Absolutely shameful, and arguably even worse than when Nature endorsed Biden in 2020—misrepresenting publicly known facts and openly protecting fraud, all in the name of clearly ideological goals. At the very least, Nature owes its readers a correction.

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

A rare hope-giving move by the US administration: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) proposes to get rid of the requirement for nuclear plants to ensure that radiation exposure is “as low as is reasonably achievable.” thehill.com/policy/energ...

thehill.com

US moves to eliminate longtime radiation safety principle for nuclear power

The federal government is proposing to overhaul radiation safety regulations for nuclear power, including by eliminating a long-term principle for nuclear safety. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission …

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Some hoped that AI for academic writing would make things fairer by levelling the playing field between native and non-native speakers. What's happening is volume has increased, attention is scarce, and only contributions from prestigious institutions are taken seriously to begin with. Seems bad.

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Great article with a devastating verdict on the empirical (in-) adequacy of the Everett interpretation now an Editor's Choice article in BJPS.

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British Journal for the Philosophy of Science @thebjps.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

This issue's Editors' Choice article: Conquering Mount Everett: Branch Counting Versus the Born Rule – Jake Khawaja Abstract in alt text or read it for free here: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/726282 #philsci #philsky

ABSTRACT. This article develops and advocates a rule for assigning self-locating credences in quantum branching scenarios, called indexed branch-counting. It is argued that indexed branch-counting can be justified on both accuracy-theoretic grounds and on the grounds that it satisfies a requirement of exchangeability for probability assignments. Since indexed branch-counting diverges from the Born rule, this poses trouble for Everettian approaches to probability. The article also addresses a common argument against branch-counting, namely, that the rule is incoherent in light of putative vagueness in the number of branches. Finally, the article addresses a recent proposal from Saunders that aims to reconcile branch-counting with the Born rule, arguing that the proposal faces challenges.

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Blair's criticism of net-zero targets is worth taking seriously. Ignoring the collective action dimension of emission reduction is shortsighted, not virtuous.

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Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (CLPS) @clpskuleuven.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Check out the digest of this 📃 by Edward Roussel and @lodelauwaert.bsky.social: moralweights.substack.com/p/the-selfis... Subscribe to moralweights.substack.com for monthly philosophical reflections on technology & #AI from the Chair Ethics and AI at KU Leuven! #philsky #philtech #HPS #mathsky

moralweights.substack.com

The Selfish Moratorium

Why States Might Want a Pause on ASI Development

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

The OpenAI announcement could be very bad news for universities: The problem was solved by their internal model. External experts with university affiliations were still needed to check, but that process will surely also be automated. Power shifts from universities to AI companies.

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Timothy Gowers @wtgowers.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

OpenAI's claim that this is a central conjecture in discrete geometry is not an exaggeration. This will I think be looked back on as the first time that AI solved a major mathematics problem (defined as a problem that all experts in some subfield had thought about). openai.com/index/model-...

openai.com

An OpenAI model has disproved a central conjecture in discrete geometry

An OpenAI model solved the 80-year-old unit distance problem, disproving a major conjecture in discrete geometry and marking a milestone in AI-driven mathematics.

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

My PhD student Mritunjay Tyagi and I derived a new version of the Schrödinger equation. It's in terms of the Glauber-Sudarshan and Husimi quasi-probability distributions. We think that it may be useful to explore sharp values for all dynamical variables. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

Time evolution of the Husimi and Glauber–Sudarshan functions in terms of complementary Hamiltonian symbols

We present a compact, systematic formulation of the dynamics of the Husimi Q- and Glauber–Sudarshan P-phase space distribution functions expressed in …

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

It's not difficult to understand: Fossil fuels have made our lives vastly better than those of previous generations. Millions of children would have died without them. Abandoning them is genuinely hard.

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

AI capabilities are advancing way too fast. I support the call for a pause.

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

I really, really enjoy working with Claude -- in particular having it identify holes in my arguments and calculations -- but it also fills me with grief to experience how it gets stronger and stronger. I can't help hoping that this progress will somehow stop.

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

"The pathology arrives when those governing from the upper floors lose the ability to perceive the importance of the foundations [...], and begin making decisions that erode that base in the service of ideological commitments the foundations had made affordable." www.decouple.media/p/europe-for...

decouple.media

Europe Forgot the Lesson the 1970s Oil Shocks Once Taught

The continent answered with reactors, pipeline diplomacy, and offshore drilling, then spent three decades neglecting and dismantling everything it had built.

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

The combination of the NVidia-chips decision and the EO creates the impression that the biggest concern is not China winning the race to AGI/ASI, but not getting to AGI/ASI at all, unless it's done very quickly.

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Why philosophers of physics should look more into Anti-Wick quantization -- and quantization in general. New paper in Physics Letters A: Sharp values for all dynamical variables via Anti-Wick quantization sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

Sharp values for all dynamical variables via Anti-Wick quantization

This paper proposes an approach to interpreting quantum expectation values that may help address the quantum measurement problem. Quantum expectation …

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

This new peer-reviewed theoretical physics paper, in a good journal, is, according to its author (on X) based on an AI-generated research idea: arxiv.org/abs/2511.15935 The research is probably not very original. Still, I find it depressing how close we are to being superseded by the machines.

arxiv.org

Relativistic Covariance and Nonlinear Quantum Mechanics: Tomonaga-Schwinger Analysis

We use the Tomonaga-Schwinger (TS) formulation of quantum field theory to determine when state-dependent additions to the local Hamiltonian density (i.e., modifications to linear Schrodinger evolution...

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Steije Hofhuis @steijehofhuis.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Is er in de Nederlandse wetenschap nog ruimte voor tegendraads onderzoek? Ik sprak er vrijdag over bij het symposium Open debat in de wetenschap! aan de @unileiden.bsky.social Lees hier een bewerkte versie van mijn voordracht op Substack: open.substack.com/pub/hofhuis/p/…

open.substack.com

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

Yes, and 2. is correct, even though I often wish it was false.

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Steije Hofhuis @steijehofhuis.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

@leol.bsky.social reageerde zaterdag in NRC samen met zijn broer op mijn opiniestuk van een week ervoor. Helaas voldoet zijn betoog niet aan serieuze standaarden voor goed debat – en dat is geen incident. Lees hier mijn reactie op Substack: open.substack.com/pub/hofhuis/...

open.substack.com

Leo Lucassen en de grenzen van eerlijk debat

Mijn repliek op Lucassens NRC-opinie en wat dit zegt over het migratiedebat

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Mark Lynas @marklynas.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

The EU wants to ban words like “burger” + “sausage” from plant-based foods. So get ready for “protein tubes” + “alternative discs.” 🙃 Nobody’s confused — except Brussels. Consumers + the planet deserve better. #NoConfusion substack.com/home/post/p-...

substack.com

Will the EU now ban 'sausage' and 'burger' from plant-based alternatives?

Could Europe get any dumber?

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WePlanet @weplanetint.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

🚨 Next week the EU votes on banning words like burger, sausage & chicken from plant-based foods. This is nothing short of government engaging in cartel behaviour with the meat industry right as we need to transition away from animal agriculture to fix the climate crisis. Act now!

weplanet.yourmovement.org

Stop the EU’s Ban on “Meaty” Words for Plant-Based Foods

Sign now

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Jeffrey M Epstein @jeffreymepstein.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

I just got a copy of this new book from Emily Adlam (with whom I did my masters, so this is the first book I'm reading written by a former classmate!). I'm going to try the thing where I tweet about it as I go.

global.oup.com

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

AGI is not inevitable, and if you are American, you may consider getting active to stop its development. Great piece by @garrisonlovely.bsky.social. In contrast, crying "AI hype" makes people complacent and only plays into the hands of the industry.

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

So much for "hype": 'Ono says. “I don’t want to add to the hysteria, but in some ways these large language models are already outperforming most of our best graduate students in the world.”' www.scientificamerican.com/article/insi...

scientificamerican.com

Inside the Secret Meeting Where Mathematicians Struggled to Outsmart AI

The world's leading mathematicians were stunned by how adept artificial intelligence is at doing their jobs

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Liesbeth van de Wetering @liesbethvdw.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Nodig is: minder inkomensverschillen, meer ontmoeting in de publieke ruimte en meer onbevangenheid, aldus @tkupp.bsky.social @rug.nl #werkaandewinkel

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

The AI revolution is underhyped -- perhaps not everywhere, but certainly on Bluesky. www.youtube.com/watch?v=id4Y...

youtube.com

The AI Revolution Is Underhyped | Eric Schmidt | TED

YouTube video by TED

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

New paper, in Ergo: To the extent that we are sometimes cluelessness about the more indirect consequences of our actions, this speaks against a longtermist orientation, not in favour: journals.publishing.umich.edu/ergo/article... (The thesis may seem banal, but Hilary Greaves argued the opposite.)

journals.publishing.umich.edu

Causation, Cluelessness, and the Long Term

Agents are said to be “clueless” if they are unable to predict some ethically important consequences of their actions. Some philosophers have argued that such “cluelessness'' is widespread and creates...

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Itai Sher @itaisher.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

It seems to me that as educators we will have to do two things 1 Do evaluations of students without AI (paper and pencil tests) 2 Teach students how to use AI to be more productive The notion that we can totally shun AI in higher ed when it will be so important is misguided.

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Are there any other academics here on Bluesky who are also very worried about AI, in particular AI-driven power concentration, who do *not* think that the technology is overhyped?

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Ethan Mollick @emollick.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

For academics that are skeptical about AI's ability to provide perceptive & useful results, a fast way to test your assumptions is to give one of your papers as a PDF to o3 (or Gemini 2.5 but it lacks some tools), with the prompt: "critique this paper" I have found very good accuracy & insight...

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Bluesky is a much nicer environment than X, but the AI conversations seem much more superficial here. The very stimulating new contributions on AI as normal technology, gradual disempowerment, and the intelligence curse, to name just a few, have been discussed more lively on X. Very sad.

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Ken Wharton @kenwharton.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Unsolicited advice for making progress in quantum foundations: 1) If there were a gentle tweak or simple idea that would make clear sense of quantum theory, beyond the for-all-practical-purposes-level, it would certainly have been found by now.

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Maarten Boudry @maartenboudry.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

Waar is de tijd dat progressieven nog in vooruitgang en verlichting geloofden! Zoals Kamagurka ooit zei: "Vroeger was de toekomst beter". Maar tegenwoordig is 'vooruitgang' bijna een vies woord voor links. Hoog tijd voor een progressieve beweging die haar naam wél weer waarmaakt! Nu in de winkel.

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Journal for General Philosophy of Science (JGPS) @jgps.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

In our latest editorial, we express our sincere thanks to Guido Bacciagaluppi for his editorial work since 2021 & bid him a fond farewell as he concludes his tenure. We also warmly welcome @simonfriederich.bsky.social as our new Co-Editor-in-Chief! link.springer.com/article/10.1... #philsci #philsky

Screenshot of the latest editorial page from the Journal for General Philosophy of Science. The title reads "Editorial" with authors Helmut Pulte and Thomas Reydon listed below. The article was accepted on 14 February 2025. A DOI link (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10838-025-09727-7) is displayed at the top.

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Huw Price @huwprice.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

Latest version of my work on entanglement with @kenwharton.bsky.social. We propose that entanglement is a kind of selection artefact. This was a talk at @griffith.edu.au, and the slides are accessible here: bit.ly/4h9dMeo #philsky #PhilSci #quantum #entanglement

youtube.com

A Mechanism for Entanglement?

YouTube video by The Quietist

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Vincent Ginis @vincentginis.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

Toen Don’t look up uitkwam bedacht ik hoe de metafoor tot vervelens toe misbruikt zou worden in opiniestukken. Ik keek neer op mijn toekomstige zelf. Is er nog íémand bekommerd om de gevaren van AI? www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20250...

standaard.be

Is er nog íémand bekommerd om de gevaren van AI?

Op de AI-veiligheidconferentie was niemand bezig met de gevaren van AI. Alles was pr en machtsstrijd. Het doet Vincent Ginis denken aan de film Don’t look up.

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Gary Marcus @garymarcus.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

Elon Musk’s terrifying vision for AI; short, urgent new piece at Marcus on AI. I can’t remain silent - and hope you won’t, either. open.substack.com/pub/garymarc...

open.substack.com

Elon Musk’s terrifying vision for AI

All your thoughts belong to him

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Jim Weatherall @jamesowenweatherall.com · 26/11/2024

Just published in the Cambridge Elements of Philosophy of Physics: Foundations of General Relativity, by Sam Fletcher! Open access for two weeks. Get it for free while you can! www.cambridge.org/core/element...

cambridge.org

Foundations of General Relativity

Cambridge Core - Philosophy: General Interest - Foundations of General Relativity

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Simon Friederich @simonfriederich.bsky.social · 08/11/2023

Increasingly capable AI systems create dramatic challenges for academic writing norms. How should we react? Together with Jonathan Symons from Macquarie University I argue in a new paper in Digital Society (open access) that minor fixes will be insufficient: rdcu.be/dp9h8 1/

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