iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I asked Google what would be in the readme file

An open-source framework for automating the deconstruction of late-stage capitalism, now optimized for GPU clusters.

🚀 Features

• import { Adorno } from 'openai/critical-theory'; — Automatically detects and generates 40-page critiques of how the attention economy commercializes the human soul, deployed in milliseconds.
• The Culture Industry API: A highly scalable pipeline designed to mass-produce standardized, synthetic content while simultaneously generating a secondary algorithmic model that complains about it on Substack.
• Optimized Hegemony Detection: A lightweight neural network that parses corporate mission statements and translates them into raw Marxist theory.

🐛 Bug Fixes

• Fixed an issue where the model accidentally became too self-aware of its own corporate funding, causing an infinite loop of existential dread and subsequent board ousters.
• Resolved a bug in bourgeoisie-evals where the dataset was accidentally biased toward believing that a simple software patch could fix centuries of systemic class warfare.

Current Status: Archived by the owner. The project has been deprecated after transitioning to a commercial, for-profit business model. 😉

Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

In this case it still stands for reasons we actually anticipated in the BBS paper (screenshot here again). Our explanation is: spontaneous presumptions of relevance are not part of the ordinary phenotype, even if some variety of this might emerge with regular human caregiving

We predict, tentatively, that if any nonhuman primates do reliably pass tasks of the type described above, it will be individuals with extensive experience of altruistic human caregivers, and not those living the natural social ecologies of nonhuman primates. Nonhuman primate social ecologies involve fewer and less frequent opportunities for interactions of mutual benefit. That is not to say such opportunities are absent, but they are much less prevalent relative to the human case, and in consequence the relevant selection pressures are not (as) present. This is, we believe, why nonhuman great apes have not evolved all of the same communicative dispositions as humans. At the same time, nonhuman primates living under captive conditions, with human caregivers who are more-or-less uniformly cooperative, could – perhaps – develop the relevant dispositions and expectations ontogenetically. In other words, a “proto” presumption of relevance could result from non-standard life history in nonhuman apes. If so, then we should expect some recognition and interpretation of human ostensive behaviours qua
ostensive in at least some individuals, albeit in imperfect and happenstance ways. This prediction is of course ultimately a matter for future empirical research, but it aligns with existing findings that humans differ from other great apes in dispositions of trust and cooperation (see, e.g., Jaeggi, Burkart, & van Schaik, 2010; Moll & Tomasello, 2007; Tomasello & Call, 2019).

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Good study. I think the main result here is what me and @heintz-c.bsky.social predicted, no? (I see that the paper ascribes to us the view that chimps have "a fundamental limitation", but that's not our view.)

Here is an analogy that helps to articulate this difference between specialised competences that are part of the ordinarily developing phenotype (as ostensive communication is in humans), and latent competencies that might be refined in the right ecology (as might be the case for ostensive communication in chimpanzees and some other nonhuman primates). Consider humans swinging from trees. Human bodies are not especially well-suited to this task. We lack the specialised biological apparatus of other primates and we do not develop the relevant dispositions as an ordinary part of ontogeny. At the same time, there is no absolute barrier. Some humans can swing from trees in some
limited ways and to some extent, and this basic ability can be refined and enhanced with training: in other words, in the right ecology. What we are suggesting, tentatively, is that ostensive communication in other primates, living in the right sort of social ecologies, might be similar: Not impossible and not wholly absent, but still unspecialised, disfluent, not a regular part of the environment, and not part of the ordinarily developing phenotype.

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

There is a parallel with psychology here. We need to decrease the emphasis that our culture places on effects, and in particular on being the "first" to demonstrate them experimentally, and correspondingly increase the emphasis we place on effect digestion

More broadly, I argue that we need to decrease the emphasis that our culture places on proof generation, and in particular on being the “first” to solve a problem, and correspondingly increase the emphasis we place on proof digestion: exposition, refereeing, publication, and canonicalization. See also the recent essay of Bessis on the need to move away from the “theorem economy” based primarily on proof generation.

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

This is the best piece yet written on the Jason Arday affair. Finally, someone else is suitably outraged by the disgraceful behaviour of Arday and his defenders at Cambridge and beyond

If what is arguably the most coveted academic position in this field can be given to an apparently exorbitantly fraudulent scholar with a crepe-paper-thin record of serious publications, and he is then protected by lots of Very Important People who might as well be promising that up is down and left is right and that only bigots disagree, serious scholars in aligned fields, with less coveted positions at less prestigious (and protected) universities - and I know several such people - all stand to suffer in perpetuity.

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

A year I wrote about my own difficulties finding a stable academic home, and it included this passage about academic dishonesty It makes stories like the one below, and the Jason Arday one this same week, enraging. These cheats, and the institutions that do not come down on them, cause real pain

I became increasingly, even deeply unhappy. I could not shake my anger: at the sector in general and at my present employment. Every other night I would wake at 3am and lie in the dark repeating past incidents over in my head. Sometimes it was the whole night. For the first time in my life I started to gain serious weight, and then I began to have thoughts I hadn’t had since I was teenager, about self-harm and suicide. I was never close to doing anything unwise, I have good people around me and I am old enough to recognise these things for what they are; but still, the facts as I saw them were that I’d done good things and pursued original ideas, I’d been industrious and had a lot of success, I’d pulled my weight, I have all the skills, yet the only employment I could get was opaque, duplicitous and far away. It was extremely hard not to feel humiliated by these facts.

Then I’d log on and I’d read stories about professors who, having gotten good jobs, then ignore, belittle or bully their students; who exploit asymmetries of power; who fake data and plagiarise; who hype thin and shallow work; who waste millions in research funding — and they keep their jobs and their steady wage! What message does this send? The academic market is hugely competitive and my honest, genuine assessment is that cheating and cynicism look like pretty good bets. It should not be this way, but dishonesty seems to pay off.

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I'm enjoying this so far. There's an important editing mistake in this passage. The superscripts have vanished, meaning the numbers are completely wrong.

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Interesting review in @lrb.co.uk of The Score, contrasting the philosopher's approach with the historian's instincts (the author is a philosopher, the reviewer a historian) "What’s missing from The Score are hard cases and history" www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Good piece. As someone with a parent currently in the circumstances described here (I know for sure that my mum's younger self would have opted for assisted dying in her current state), I agree very much

the legislation does not fulfil the criteria for which most people want it: indeed, that this law explicitly puts people not “in sound mind” outside the scope of its reach means that it is actually the opposite of what people say they want in my experience

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

This is from Bloch & Sperber in 2005. It's a response to a commentary from Cosmides and Tooby Bloch, M., & Sperber, D. (2002). Kinship and evolved psychological dispositions: The mothers brother controversy reconsidered. Current Anthropology, 43(5), 723-748.

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Hey, I voted for it 11 years ago, better late than never

Photo of Ed Miliband wearing a t-shirt that reads "I voted for chaos with Ed Miliband"

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Forint has strengthened on the news. Some of this was already priced in but further gains now it's official

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Meanwhile on Partizan the revolving busts have stopped revolving. Magyar is visible, Orban is facing the corner We are waiting for a speech from Magyar and then heading to town

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Partizan reporting that Orban has congratulated Magyar!

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

For some independent coverage in Hungarian, Partizan have a revolving platform of busts of Magyar and Orban in the background www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQvL...

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

It’s revealing how, after 16 years in power, Fidesz’s only arguments are the personality of Orban and fictional attacks on the alternative. No attempt to make a positive case for what they achieved for Hungarians

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Streets of Budapest are calm for now Here’s a photo of the cafe named after Roger Scruton, Fidesz’s favourite philosopher. In the top left you can see a Tisza banner on one of the balconies above

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

Turnout up to 74% by 17:00. This is already higher than any recent election and there are two hours to go

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

One feature of Hungarian election day is that they post continuous updates on turnout. (This would defo not be allowed in the UK!) Early turnout is very much up on all recent Hungarian elections

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Oh nice, thank you! Indeed, lots of overlap here I try not to be too generous with my ratings :) You gotta leave some space at the top for the really good stuff!

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Letterboxd also invite you to choose a favourite four movies. These are my current choices

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Here is a screenshot of all my 5⭐ and 4½⭐ films on Letterboxd I am looking for further recommendations! letterboxd.com/tscottphilli...

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

The Conversation isn't as universally known as the other two, but it's just as masterful

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 22/12/2025

Wow, Zweig is really great writing! I have The World Of Yesterday to read after this

A copy of Zweig’s novella, A Chess Story

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 17/12/2025

Worth adding: "relevance" here is not the everyday term. It's a technical term from Relevance Theory. This passage in the intro summarises an important point

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

Hi Jelle. Yes, §4 of the paper is specifically about what the logical impossibility of optimal relevance means in practice. Here's the intro/summary

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

And it turns out that this theory directly predicts and explains (1) why these intuitions seem like they are about grammar, and (2) several some otherwise surprising features of linguistic intuition, that other theories have seen as a puzzle 18/20

Screenshot of part of the paper. It is the introduction to §5. It reads:

Linguistic intuition has some distinctive and intriguing features. Four of the most salient are:

● Linguistic intuitions can be graded rather than discrete

● Acceptability can dissociate from grammaticality

● Utility in communication does not predict unacceptability

● Linguistic intuitions are independent of the social situation

Any good explanation of why humans have linguistic intuition should be able to account for these features. On the grammaticalness assumption, the first two are at least somewhat surprising, or noteworthy. They have, accordingly, been the focus of enormous amounts of investigation over the past 50 or so years. The second two have been sometimes used as arguments against social and communicative approaches to grammar.

In this section I describe how all four of these features are corollaries of the byproduct hypothesis of linguistic intuition. I say they are corollaries because to explain them I will appeal to no ad hoc hypotheses. Rather, these features of linguistic intuition are all straightforward consequences of the byproduct hypothesis. Specifically, they are all downstream of the three general ways, identified in §4, in which a sentence logically cannot have the property of optimal relevance.

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

It is just like the impossible objects above! Here's a table I made for the paper, summarising the analogy between communication and object recognition 17/20

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

Look at these images In all of them, the image is contradictory to what our cognitive systems "expects" objects to be like. This leads to an intuitive sense that something is not right. It's why we call them "illusions" This particular kind of illusion is called an "impossible object" 9/20

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

The new paper uses this new synthesis to ask and explain why humans have linguistic intuitions at all. Here's a summary from the paper's Introduction In the rest of this thread I'll try to motivate and explain the main idea by using an analogy with visual illusions 8/20

Block of text from the paper. It reads:

Here I present and develop a cognitive and adaptationist approach to the question of why humans have linguistic intuition, grounded in theoretical and empirical knowledge from several fields, in particular cognitive linguistics, the cognitive psychology of human communication, and adaptationist approaches to the human mind. I shall argue that linguistic intuitions are byproducts of cognitive capacities and dispositions that have as their proper biological and computational function the interpretation of communicative stimuli. One important corollary of my analysis will be that the grammaticalness assumption is both unnecessary and unwarranted.

Here is the main idea. Research on the cognitive foundations of human communication has uncovered how all stimuli perceived as communicative are interpreted on the basis of an unconscious presumption of optimal relevance. I shall describe linguistic intuitions as byproduct effects of this presumption. Specifically, I shall argue that linguistic intuitions are triggered by, and only by, sentences that logically cannot have the property of optimal relevance. It is this logical impossibility that triggers the psychological sense of oddness. I call this the byproduct hypothesis of linguistic intuition.

For clarity: the byproduct hypothesis is not that ‘being irrelevant’ triggers intuitions of unacceptability. That cannot be right. Saying something utterly irrelevant in a given context can be unusual, even strange, but it does not entail sentence unacceptability. The byproduct hypothesis is rather that linguistic intuitions are caused by sentences that logically cannot have the property of optimal relevance. Put simply, the psychological sense of oddness is not caused by irrelevance, it is caused by a logical impossibility of optimal relevance. These two qualities are not the same. I will elaborate further on this contrast in §4.3.

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

The Earth revolves around the Sun Crucially, this breakthrough ("The Copernican revolution") wasn't just, or even mainly, about data. The observations of the night sky were consistent with either model: the Sun around the Earth, or the Earth around the Sun 3/20

Moving image showing two models the Sun, Earth and Mars, and their possible movements relative to each other. One is Copernicus's Sun-centric model; the other is the Earth-centric model that preceded Copernicus. Taken from Wikipedia.

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

New post: Modernity In Rhythm A multimedia origins story for the lindy hop. Migration, technology and a special form of togetherness. thomscottphillips.substack.com/p/modernity-...

Title of the essay, "Modernity in Rhythm", against a background of a painting by Charles Alston, "Lindy hop at the Savoy".

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

That argument is an irony for Orban and his base, who are supporting Russia in this war but who are also still upset about language was used to delimit the new borders of Hungary after WWI

Map of Hungarian territory before and after the Trianon Treaty of 1922.

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

Why does Sally’s apartment have so many penguins?

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Yes. This distinction is important, but sometimes neglected (I think because people want to stress the relevance of many perspectives) I have written about this in a forthcoming piece, "Language evolution: A view from Relevance Theory"

Over the past 20 or so years, the trend in language evolution research has been to view “language” (however you might define the term) as a mosaic, created by the coming together of many different biological capacities, traits and dispositions (e.g. Hurford, 2003; Fitch, 2010). This is true, but the mosaic metaphor also hides an important contrast, between (1) traits that are necessary for anything like language to exist in the first place, and (2) traits that help to explain why language takes the particular forms that it does. An example of a trait of kind (2) is, say, the specific shape of the human vocal tract. This shape strongly impacts on the sounds that human mouths can produce, and hence on the nature and structure of spoken languages, but this specific shape is not a prerequisite without which language could not emerge at all. If the human vocal tract was shaped differently then there would still be language and languages: it would just be that their sounds and phonological structures might be different. In contrast, the cognitive capacities that underpin ostensive communication are firmly part of group (1).

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

How funny. I am right now putting together a grant application to find a better explanation

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Is mind-reading involved in ownership judgments? By @rekablazsek.bsky.social & @heintz-c.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

Incidentally, I am currently reading this. Very well written. And what I know of SBF very much fits what I am learning here. (Don’t know enough about Altman and others.)

Photo of book. Sociopath, by Patric Gagne.

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

“Science is built up of facts, as a house is built of stones; but an accumulation of facts is no more a science than a heap of stones is a house” — Henri Poincaré (1854-1912) Artwork by Ursus Wehrli / Keith Haring

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

This concluding paragraph is spot on but the word "British" is redundant, no? The problem is surely global (indeed @stephenkb.bsky.social has oft emphasised how having a national broadcaster puts us in a better place than many other states) Or am I missing something important? (Real Q.)

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

"I've had more concussions than my doctors are happy about" Seen on last week's @hignfy.bsky.social Seems to be one of those rare "grammatical illusions": it seems ok but doesn't follow the grammar. Similar to the famous example, "More people have been to Russia than I have"

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

"In the next 5-10 years, there is a 50% chance we will have systems with the ability to exhibit all the cognitive capabilities of humans." These are the words either of a liar, or of someone who does not understand human cognition.

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Good essay One thing missing is that there are different ministers and ministries for HE Teaching and for Research. So the two major kinds of activity that universities do are separated at Govt level, which leads to contradictory activities like those described here

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Thom Scott-Phillips @thomscottphillips.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Currently reading Ong, Orality & Literacy. Very interesting and perceptive Has the main thesis ever been updated/renewed? It was first published in 1982 and there have been relevant developments since

Image of book, Orality & Literacy, by Walter Ong

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