David Spurrett
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doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett
@doctorspurt.bsky.social
2K followers 1.4K following 670 posts

Philosopher, working on evolution of mechanisms of action selection, and their variously situated subversion. https://davidspurrett.com/

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doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · Oct 20
Hello new followers. I'm a philosopher of cognitive science working on a book called 'Engines of Hostility'. Recent papers that inform the book are:
(1) "Hostile Scaffolding" (Timms & Spurrett)
(2) "Fashioning Affordances" (Spurrett & Brancazio)
(3) "On Hostile and Oppressive Affective Technology."

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 7h
Those are cool. I like the "we're all in this together" one especially.

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 3d
The Importance of Being Earnest.

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 3d
I read that this year too. 2 out of 3.

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 3d
I read that this year too, and liked it a lot!

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 3d
I loved Piranesi! (Read it last year, I think.)

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 3d
Best: Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels ("My Brilliant Friend" etc.)

Most fun: "Golden Hill" by Francis Spufford

Best non-fiction: Shaun Gallagher's "Action and Interaction"

Reposted by Naomi Klein, Håvard Kauserud, Juan Cole , and 3 more

zackpolanski.bsky.social
Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 3d
Greta Thunberg arrested for holding a sign opposing genocide.

When peaceful protest is a crime, democracy is in deep trouble.

Happening under a Labour Government.
thecanaryuk.bsky.social The Canary @thecanaryuk.bsky.social · 3d
🚨BREAKING: GRETA THUNBERG ARRESTED UNDER TERRORISM ACT FOR SUPPORTING 'PALESTINE ACTION PRISONERS'

Reposted by Juli G. Pausas, Håvard Kauserud, Patrick Dunleavy , and 3 more

thecanaryuk.bsky.social
The Canary @thecanaryuk.bsky.social · 3d
🚨BREAKING: GRETA THUNBERG ARRESTED UNDER TERRORISM ACT FOR SUPPORTING 'PALESTINE ACTION PRISONERS'

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 4d
So many of us did. Who could afford double blinds as a student?

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 4d
That's a fair point. Although I wonder how well insulated the data about 'real' publications is from the fabrications? (It's cheap to check as long as there's an easily accessible source. Also, that could easily be turned into a tool for fabricators - find the nearest thing in the DB to 'x'.)

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 4d
Well, in the current setup ('free' use) they drive the unit costs of making instances of the problem much lower for those who want the credit of authorship. (In the same way as they make the academic fraud problem worse for written work by students.) Isn't that a reason?

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 6d
Probably not an ideal topic for fragmentary on-line format, though. Happy travels!

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 6d
OK, but I still see a significant overlap (or range of cases where we're not required to choose between them). One reason is that oppression often depends on falsehood (e.g. claims of inferior races/classes/sexes) and hence liberation and truth-seeking research are complementary.

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 6d
I would love to read that!

Reposted by Robert Falkner, Steve Peers, Alistair Munro , and 3 more

marcmorris.bsky.social
Marc Morris @marcmorris.bsky.social · 6d
The complete Bayeux Tapestry has finally been released and proves that Bishop Odo had absolutely nothing to do with the illegal Norman invasion of England.

Reposted by Maksym Polyakov, David Spurrett

yarragadee.bsky.social
Steven McKiernan @yarragadee.bsky.social · 6d
The English cricket team spent this morning visiting the Adelaide Children's Hospital.
"It's heartbreaking to see their sad little faces with absolutely no hope" said Timmy aged 7 #Ashes #AusVsEng

Reposted by Reece Jones, Guntram B. Wolff, Richard S.J. Tol , and 58 more

benpatrickwill.bsky.social
Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 7d
Closing out my year with a journal editor shocker 🧵

Checking new manuscripts today I reviewed a paper attributing 2 papers to me I did not write. A daft thing for an author to do of course. But intrigued I web searched up one of the titles and that's when it got real weird...

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 7d
He's also a nephew of William F. Buckley Jr...

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, Nathan P. Kalmoe, David Spurrett

joshtpm.bsky.social
Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 7d
Trump’s Pick For Ambassador To South Africa Actively Opposed Fight To End Apartheid talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trumps-...
Trump’s Pick For Ambassador To South Africa Actively Opposed Fight To End Apartheid
As Black activists in South Africa fought against their country’s racist apartheid...
talkingpointsmemo.com

Reposted by David Spurrett

themountaingoats.bsky.social
the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 8d
check this shit out. gonna write a song contrasting your guy macheath with a shark. that’s right a fuckin shark. whole compare and contrast deal. ppl gonna be singing this shit for a hundred years. see if I lie
—Bertolt Brecht, to Kurt Weill, over drinks, 1927

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, John R. Hutchinson, David Spurrett

juliet-turner.bsky.social
Juliet Turner @juliet-turner.bsky.social · 8d
Very happy to share that I just published a new paper from my thesis! 🎉

We analysed 546 species of ant to understand how extreme specialisation into reproductive and non-reproductive roles evolved. 

Key discoveries in thread🧵 👇

Full paper here: academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 9d
(Not to say that some political projects haven't gone to war with the facts, but even quite weak instrumental rationality would raise red flags with an insistence on goals that were truth-insensitive...)

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 9d
Are you responding to something specific? The dichotomy seems a bit strained to me. For a start, liberatory projects are often motivated by empirical claims -- e.g. women get paid less than men for the same work -- and demonstrating the truth of the premise is part of the political work.

Reposted by Christian Odendahl, Richard S.J. Tol, Steve Peers , and 4 more

matthewholehouse.bsky.social
Matthew Holehouse @matthewholehouse.bsky.social · 9d
Britain could have joined Erasmus five years ago; an agreement on funding was completed between negotiators but vetoed “at the very last minute” by Boris Johnson. From Stefaan de Rynck’s book

Reposted by Timnit Gebru, Shannon Vallor, Margaret Mitchell , and 14 more

cfiesler.bsky.social
Dr. Casey Fiesler @cfiesler.bsky.social · 9d
The ACM Digital Library, where a LOT of computing-related research is published (I'd say at least 75% of my own publications), is now not only providing (without consent of the authors and without opt-in by readers) AI-generated summaries of papers, but they appear as the *default* over abstracts.
Screenshot of a paper entry: Fictional Failures and Real-World Lessons: Ethical Speculation Through Design Fiction on Emotional Support Conversational AI Authors: Faye Kollig, Jessica Pater, Fayika Farhat Nova, Casey Fiesler (There are tabs with "abstract" and "summary" and "summary" is selected.)

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 10d
That sounds *really* cool. Will definitely take a look.

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 12d
Those fairy-wrens are SUPERB!

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 12d
Yes, it's great!

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 12d
Absolutely! Also some magnificent easter eggs out there. The index to the 16th (1980) edition of "Williams’ Obstetrics" (1102 pages long) has the following entry: “Chauvinism, male, voluminous amounts pg 1 – 1102”

doctorspurt.bsky.social
David Spurrett @doctorspurt.bsky.social · 12d
You might like this one too, then:
Number of pages in the Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Mind that mention zombies: 20+ (not including references to works with 'zombie' in the title, otherwise its closer to 30)
Number of occurrences of the word 'gender' in the same tome: nil.