Paul Franco | Lightnews

Paul L. Franco

@loadofbunk.bsky.social

1.6K followers 310 following 360 posts

Philosophy Professor // New Mexican 🛸 🌶️ in Washington ⛰️ 🌲

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Paul N. Franco is a professor of government at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, and a leading authority on the British political philosopher Michael Oakeshott.

Source: Wikipedia

Philosophy 57%

Political science 16%

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Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · 4d

Is Brian Leiter or Justin Weinberg academic philosophy's Shams?

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · 5d

If you're teaching Hume on induction, here's a relevant reddit post for you to use.

www.reddit.com/r/billiards/...

From the billiards community on Reddit: The ball exploded when I broke

Explore this post and more from the billiards community

www.reddit.com

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · 6d

Important wisdom about hedging your predictions from the guy who just said AI agents will be legally recognized as persons in some countries within five years and will also soon control all language-based systems like finance and religion.

Yuval Noah Harari Historian
This is the first time in history nobody has any idea what the world will look like in 10 years — what the job market will look like, what social relations will look like, et cetera. So hedge your bets. Don’t focus on a narrow subject like coding. Give equal importance to your head (intellectual skills), your heart (social skills) and your hands (motor skills). It is in the combination of these three that humans still have a large advantage over A.I.

Also, try to enjoy the ride.

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · 6d

Sorry, but AI is more like the invention of farming, and probably even more disruptive than Homo sapiens coming into existence.

Ajeya Cotra A.I. risk researcher: I think A.I. will eventually be more transformative than the invention of agriculture — as transformative as the emergence of Homo sapiens as a species.

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · 6d

AI, the biggest deal since cavepeople started grunting to mean things, will soon control finance and religion.

What’s a technology that had a transformational impact similar to A.I.?
Melanie Mitchell Computer scientist: Social media.

Yuval Noah Harari Historian:
The evolution of language in the Stone Age. A.I. is the first technology that is an agent rather than a tool. And A.I. is the first entity on the planet that is going to master language better than humans, and in that way gain control of all language-based systems humans have created since the Stone Age, from finance to religion.

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · 6d

Okay.

Yuval Noah Harari Historian

Within five years, A.I. agents are likely to become legal persons in at least some countries.

Reposted by Paul Franco

Chicago Journals @chicagojournals.bsky.social · 6d

This article from HOPOS looks at the case of epistemological scientism in the history of philosophy of science and discusses the implications of epistemological scientism for the practice and value of philosophy. Read more https://ow.ly/z0yo50Y56s9 The HOPOS Journal

Reposted by Paul Franco

Bradford Pearson @bradfordpearson.bsky.social · 11d

I know I’m a homer but this was the most quintessentially McQuade story. Perfect idea, perfect execution. Dan was the only person on Earth who could’ve written this.

How Far Did Rocky Go in His Training Run in 'Rocky II'?

Rocky wasn't just a boxer. He was a marathoner.

www.phillymag.com

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · 13d

Instead of retreating to a stove-heated room, maybe Descartes should've left his epistemic bubble for a bit by listening to more Aristotelian podcasts.

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · 14d

You hear a lot about how first-year college students don't or can't read or write anymore, but I've mainly noticed that none of them know how to Dougie as if top-notch Dougie-related pedagogy hasn't been around for a decade and a half now.

Reposted by Paul Franco

Defector @defector.com · 15d

Federal agents kill again; gunmen still at large: defector.com/federal-agen...

Federal Agents Kill Again; Gunmen Still At Large | Defector

On Saturday in Minneapolis, federal agents surrounded 37-year-old Veterans Affairs intensive care nurse Alex Jeffrey Pretti, who’d been filming them in the street with his phone camera as they conduct...

defector.com

Reposted by Anders Nilsson, David S. Cohen, Robert C. Richards , and 3 more Anders Nilsson, David S. Cohen, Robert C. Richards, Christina Pagel, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Paul Franco

Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · 16d

We owe an incredible debt to the Minnesotans who are on the streets protesting and documenting what is happening.

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · 16d

Here's a call for abstracts for a graduate conference at the University of Washington on Climate Change and Global Justice. (I'm biased, but the last few conferences our grads have put on have been great.) Please share with anyone who is interested!

philevents.org/event/show/1...

Climate Change and Global Justice

The Department of Philosophy at the University of Washington, Seattle is proud to announce a graduate conference titled Climate Change and Global Justice to be held on the UW Seattle campus on April 1...

philevents.org

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · 21d

Sometimes I get down on my job and how it's all emails and whatnot, but I also find it pretty neat that I get to tell people things like: "Substance is some fundamental type of independently existing stuff in which properties inhere."

Reposted by Stephen D. Murphy, Cailin O’Connor, Kate Starbird , and 7 more Stephen D. Murphy, Cailin O’Connor, Kate Starbird, Brian Weatherson, Johannes Breuer, Greg Linden, Ryan Calo, Mick Smith, Salla-Maaria Laaksonen, Paul Franco

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 23d

Do you study disinformation or want to start working in that area?

Come to the DSI June 15-18th with @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @katestarbird.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social, @rcalo.bsky.social, @naomioreskes.bsky.social, @emmaspiro.bsky.social, and many more.

disinfoinstitute.org

Disinformation Summer Institute (DSI) - Disinformation Summer Institute

Disinformation Disinformation is false or misleading information created and spread to advance policy, political, economic or ideological goals. It is sometimes used by industries, governments, and ot...

disinfoinstitute.org

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · 24d

If anyone who has a Philosopher's Annual Prize wants to give it to me in honor of all my papers that I haven't submitted but might have won, I will humbly accept.

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · Jan 8

Is Descartes' Discourse the greatest grant application ever written?

Descartes used the Discourse to introduce his program of scienti c
work to the public, to sketch some metaphysical results, and to
ask for money to support the empirical observations needed to
decide among his own rival scienti c hypotheses (6:65).

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · Jan 8

One of history's greatest philosophical/mathematical meet-cutes.

(From Gary Hatfield's Guidebook to Descartes' Meditations.)

While garrisoned outside Breda, Descartes met the Dutch natural
philosopher Isaac Beeckman, an event that changed his life. The
two first conversed on 10 November 1618 in front of a placard
stating a mathematical problem. Descartes was already interested
in applied mathematics and military architecture. Both men were
happy to find someone else who spoke Latin and knew mathematics

Reposted by Paul Franco

Albert Burneko @albertburneko.bsky.social · Jan 7

ICE agent kills woman, DHS tells obvious, insane lies about it: defector.com/ice-agent-ki...

The topline factual description of the event overwhelms any frame-by-frame analysis. ICE agents surrounded a woman's stationary vehicle on a Minneapolis street, pointed a gun at her, and tried to yank her out. When the car moved, one of them shot her in the head.

Reposted by Brian Weatherson, Paul Franco

Pablo Torre @pablo.show · Jan 6

I needed to start the new year with this conversation with the remarkable philosopher C. Thi Nguyen (@add-hawk.bsky.social) about scoring systems; outsourcing values; and the game that you — and me — shouldn't be playing: youtu.be/7AdbePyGS2M?...

Why Data Doesn't Always Win, with a Philosopher of Art | PTFO

YouTube video by PABLO TORRE FINDS OUT

youtu.be

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · Dec 31

An extrinsically truth-conducive aim scientists have that philosophers of science don't talk enough about is proving the haters wrong.

CNN @cnn.com · Dec 24

The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.” https://cnn.it/4b6g3rd

Oklahoma instructor removed from teaching for failing a Bible-based gender essay | CNN

cnn.it

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · Dec 23

If I were a reviewer on the ATLAS Collaboration paper purporting to show the existence of the Higgs boson, I would've pointed out that they didn't even prove their own existence as a thinking subject and then the existence of God, which all good methodologists know is required to prove anything.

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · Dec 23

Descartes's method of hyperbolic doubt sets a higher standard for belief than particle physics' five-sigma thereby showing that first philosophy is way harder than particle physics.

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · Dec 21

I like this cover, but I'm not sure the math at the bottom checks out.

archive.org/details/vali...

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · Dec 20

All the takes about fake LLM citations reminded me of this very good paper, "Academic urban legends" about how "a decimal point error appears to have misled millions into believing that spinach is a good nutritional source of iron."

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

Reposted by Paul Franco

Lindsay Gibbs @lindsaygibbs.bsky.social · Dec 18

Help this is the funniest thing I’ve ever seen I can’t stop watching Kyrie Irving vs the robot 😭😭😭

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · Dec 16

I think academics should start doing availability reports for conference attendees:

-- X is questionable for the 5:30 (17:30) keynote due to jet lag.
-- Y is out for the 8:30 session due to hangover.
-- Z is probable for the 12:30 symposium due to tentative lunch plans with senior scholar.

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · Dec 16

A+ local advertising. Amazing synergy. No notes.

Smiling Cal Raleigh with anthropomorphic plumbing tools, e.g. a smiling plunger with googly eyes.

Copy reads: Bob Oates presents Big Dumper & Friends. Enjoy $60 off all services to celebrate Cal's record-breaking homeruns.

Paul L. Franco @loadofbunk.bsky.social · Dec 13

Also, before the unofficial groveling, you could have official interviews in that very same giant room earlier in the day with a bunch of other people also interviewing at nearby tables.

Kevin Zollman @kevinzollman.com · Dec 13

We could get a giant room and fill it with cigarette smoke. Each university gets a table where famous people sit and get drunk. Then have the candidates wander around and grovel for jobs

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