iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

More than soft skills, they are the real skills. I'm currently writing this up in depth as part of my new book. Indicated some of it in my previous book: www.cambridge.org/core/element...

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Because what people say is, of course, what they think and intend and how they act. "Nobody has any intention of building a wall." Walter Ulbricht

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Progressive ideas are at the margins, indeed, where we find women + BIPOC. Ages later, guys are lauded for a sanitized version of said ideas. Proof of principle: Those unnamed gender scholars where Clark encountered this idea once/twice before? (So hard to recall.) Donna Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto.

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

You can do it, every day in your own way. Don't let social posturing distract you. Most people struggle behind the shiny veneer. You got this.

Comic about different ways of thinking about progress, with "filled" circles that ebb and flow in various ways.

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I remember calling out another panel announcement for the same kind of, er, setup just *checks notes* two months ago. And I was lambasted on this site for pointing out the obvious. I know, I know, who'd see this coming... just singular happenings. Here. And there. And just a bit more over there.

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

"Consistently maintains dog care supplies Selects vibrant hair color products Regularly replenishes caffeinated beverages Likely prioritizes high-caffeine content in beverages Likely favors international food products" I am very... mysterious. (That's what you'd know also after meeting me. Once.)

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Altman does not see the future. Stop assisting him in selling and building this bullshit myth. Want to know who saw the future? It was not "Aw, shucks" marketing boy. It was a woman with an intellectual backbone.

Book cover of Hannah Arendt's Human Condition

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Meanwhile, in Cambridge. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztKp...

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Meanwhile, in Cambridge. Mood: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd_O...

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

No gatekeeping? "But is this (really/still) philosophy?" has entered the chat. 😶‍🌫️

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Annual reviews at university science depts assess "merit" heavily based on these grants. Early/mid-career scholars (eps. those who don't sell their soul to 'the current thing') are beaten by aggressive restructuring of academic infrastructure, as executive power rests with those often unaffected.

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

“And if you go and stare at a live turkey for an hour or two, you will find by the end of it that the enigma has rather increased than diminished.” Gilbert K. Chesterton

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

*Becoming* middle-aged, aka adopting the salient advice from @berondam.bsky.social (who said it much more elegantly, but hey, it's been a long day): Stop bending yourself into a self-denying shape in the hope of getting paid in praise by people you don't really like (and who give a toss about you)

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Easy to design and produce studies for fast-tracking career success in the publication mill industry, pumping and humming that impact factor!

Scene from the movie Pumping Iron with two bodybuilders (one being Arnold Schwarzenegger) posing and flexing muscles.

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Depends on your departmental and institutional affiliation.

Doctor Who Meme ("Depends on the Context"): Top left: "Is it acceptable to have 'legitimate concerns' about AI?" | Top right: "Depends on your academic affiliation." | Bottom left: "In a History Department, yes." | Bottom right: "At a place that equates merit with bringing in external money, any means justifying the ends, no."

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

"Some of my colleagues in the board have come out publically in support of academic freedom. Others favor the other side." Hm. Don't think people came out to "favor the other side of academic freedom" of research, but critics noted racist statements for political punditry that were not research.

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

More Q.E.D. Paper, Open Access: www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Oh, we were there! (Just without the jazzy attention that Chalmers et al. got. Maybe it's the hair. Probably the hair.) www.cambridge.org/core/element...

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

There is a point of no return in a middle-aged German's life. It's the white tennis socks. In Adidas slippers. Today, when I looked down, I knew. It had... begun...

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Tell me you are German without telling me you are German. Today's episode. My everlasting unmet desire in the land that has all kinds of flavored chips. Even fucken pickles and dill. BUT NO PAPRIKA.

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Read that with Maggie Smith in mind. And you know.

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

US academia can be highly political (political not with respect to the federal government but within its own disciplinary communities and institutional structures). It is very keen on displays of eager positivity and fawning. This then fosters mistrust when little starts to feel authentic.

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

This constant, multiple-times-a-week force-updating of systems and apps on my university laptop (purchased with a grant, not the university) has become a major frustration and a real hindrance to getting shit done.

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

"Sniffing, Physiology, and Search: Odor Navigation in Embodied Neural Networks" Extended paper published; soon Open Access. In the meantime, contact the principal scientist @gjseverino.bsky.social - who is on the market, btw- for access to his study. LINK TO PAPER: direct.mit.edu/artl/article...

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

But but... that might mean that writers/academics in New York shmoozing amongst themselves might not be better writers than writers/academics in the Midwest!

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Duch developed arthritis in recent months. So walks are sloooooooow motion, rabbits are no longer of interest, and a mood is a mood. There doesn't need to be a sufficient reason. If she has the grump, she has the grump. And it's all your fault.

Picture of my dog, Duch, lying on the grass in her striped sweater, her back turned—giving me the cold shoulder/attitude.

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Hardback... what are you planning to do...?

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Indiana University's virtual infrastructure isn't updating FERPA and other certificates (sending me automated outdated warning emails) while reducing the staff who keep it all running... Noting this to the system to have a paper trail. Was asked to define the business impact of my inquiry. So I did.

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Meanwhile, at Indiana University, IU President Whitten meets Trump. To discuss car racing.

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

She has no concept of personal space.

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

The Edge of Space Time by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein ( @chanda.blacksky.app ) arrived. Late to the game, and really looking forward to it! Or in the author's mother's words: "Without joy, what the fuck is the point?”

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

What a bullshit take. Newton edged out Leibniz for the credit for inventing calculus, with the political help of his buddies in the Royal Society. (Oh he was very intellectually pure, very demure, very mindful.) On that WAPO piece: They just want a cloister of bros. www.wsj.com/opinion/free...

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Panel talk titles sound meh, btw. Like, meh on arthritis meds.

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Sarah Robbins Jackie Sullivan Zina Ward Lauren Ross Zoe Drayson Nedah Nemati ... To name a few women (Some are on this platform @sarahrobins.bsky.social @jackiesullivan.bsky.social @zoedrayson.bsky.social @laurennross.bsky.social) aeon.co/essays/why-a...

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Has your syllabus been censored because it features Plato? Have you been accused of witchcraft? Has there been a sniper monitoring a meadow w students? Has the state ensured that unis close/merge more than 250 degree programs (incl statistics) in one year? For wild times, change state! ;-)

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Obviously, I would never say that this is the 21st-century version of mesmerism. No no, obviously, I would never. This is high-quality throughout scIAncE.

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Are AI-generated papers getting scarily good, or, hear me out, are most journal papers remarkably bad but fit a formula?

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Ann-Sophie Barwich @smellosopher.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Intelligence. Smarter intelligence. Superintelligence. Water.

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