Ali Boyle
@aliboyle.bsky.social
Philosopher of science. Thinking about nonhuman minds, memory, living things. Cat person.
Reposted by Ali Boyle
David Attenborough [whispering]:
“Like a grain of sand in a vast desert, the predator blends seamlessly into its environment, nearly imperceptible to the naked eye.”
“Like a grain of sand in a vast desert, the predator blends seamlessly into its environment, nearly imperceptible to the naked eye.”
December 28, 2025 at 3:38 PM
David Attenborough [whispering]:
“Like a grain of sand in a vast desert, the predator blends seamlessly into its environment, nearly imperceptible to the naked eye.”
“Like a grain of sand in a vast desert, the predator blends seamlessly into its environment, nearly imperceptible to the naked eye.”
Reposted by Ali Boyle
December 15, 2025 at 1:52 AM
Reposted by Ali Boyle
I once had an anaesthesiologist reply ‘nothing philosophical about this [anaesthesia]; it’s pure science’. Sadly he said this just as he was giving me a general anaesthetic, so I only got as far as ‘um, actually -‘ before losing consciousness. When I came to he was nowhere to be seen, the coward.
December 11, 2025 at 5:27 PM
I once had an anaesthesiologist reply ‘nothing philosophical about this [anaesthesia]; it’s pure science’. Sadly he said this just as he was giving me a general anaesthetic, so I only got as far as ‘um, actually -‘ before losing consciousness. When I came to he was nowhere to be seen, the coward.
Reposted by Ali Boyle
my favorite thing about the benoit blanc movies is that they aren't really about benoit blanc. he is not grappling with demons from his past. we are not getting flashbacks to the husband whose murder he never solved. he just shows up and does his job like mary poppins for homicides
December 14, 2025 at 1:24 PM
my favorite thing about the benoit blanc movies is that they aren't really about benoit blanc. he is not grappling with demons from his past. we are not getting flashbacks to the husband whose murder he never solved. he just shows up and does his job like mary poppins for homicides
Reposted by Ali Boyle
Learned today that “Galápagos” comes from a Spanish word for tortoise, meaning that “Galápagos Tortoise” is,
in fact,
a tortology
in fact,
a tortology
December 13, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Learned today that “Galápagos” comes from a Spanish word for tortoise, meaning that “Galápagos Tortoise” is,
in fact,
a tortology
in fact,
a tortology
Reposted by Ali Boyle
me to grad students: share your work with each other, talk, exchange ideas!
me to me: no one can ever see this draft it's garbage and they'll think i'm garbage and then i'll have to move into a dumpster where i belong
me to me: no one can ever see this draft it's garbage and they'll think i'm garbage and then i'll have to move into a dumpster where i belong
December 11, 2025 at 9:58 PM
me to grad students: share your work with each other, talk, exchange ideas!
me to me: no one can ever see this draft it's garbage and they'll think i'm garbage and then i'll have to move into a dumpster where i belong
me to me: no one can ever see this draft it's garbage and they'll think i'm garbage and then i'll have to move into a dumpster where i belong
Reposted by Ali Boyle
Loved the @manymindspod.bsky.social on the function of memory, with @aliboyle.bsky.social and @jomahr.bsky.social. Highly recommended if you didn't listen to it (yet)!
December 10, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Loved the @manymindspod.bsky.social on the function of memory, with @aliboyle.bsky.social and @jomahr.bsky.social. Highly recommended if you didn't listen to it (yet)!
Reposted by Ali Boyle
As usual, I am late to the party, but I just finished listening to the fantastic episode on episodic memory from @manymindspod.bsky.social. Super informative interview to @aliboyle.bsky.social and @jomahr.bsky.social by @kensycoop.bsky.social. Cheers to the Many Minds Team! Highly recommend!
December 9, 2025 at 5:21 PM
As usual, I am late to the party, but I just finished listening to the fantastic episode on episodic memory from @manymindspod.bsky.social. Super informative interview to @aliboyle.bsky.social and @jomahr.bsky.social by @kensycoop.bsky.social. Cheers to the Many Minds Team! Highly recommend!
Reposted by Ali Boyle
the moral circle is now available in paperback for the low price of $12! an excellent holiday gift for all the near-future insect and AI welfare advocates in your life :)
December 3, 2025 at 4:27 PM
the moral circle is now available in paperback for the low price of $12! an excellent holiday gift for all the near-future insect and AI welfare advocates in your life :)
Reposted by Ali Boyle
If you‘re in London on the 11th December, there’s a great event exploring the role of photography in building empathy towards nonhuman animals. I can really recommend events at this venue, it’s a wonderful space: www.kairos.london/event/why-lo...
Why Look at Animals? with Jo-Anne McArthur and Zed Nelson - Kairos
Thursday December 11th, 6.30 for 7pm How can contemporary photography, by focussing on our broken bonds with animals and the rest of the natural world, help drive a paradigm shift in our priorities an...
www.kairos.london
December 3, 2025 at 10:19 AM
If you‘re in London on the 11th December, there’s a great event exploring the role of photography in building empathy towards nonhuman animals. I can really recommend events at this venue, it’s a wonderful space: www.kairos.london/event/why-lo...
Reposted by Ali Boyle
🚨Job Alert plz RT!
Johns Hopkins Psych & Brain Sciences is looking for a new colleague using behavioral or computational approaches to study cognition!
We are excited about many areas of (esp higher) cognition in human adults, children, or nonhuman animals
Open-rank
apply.interfolio.com/178146
Johns Hopkins Psych & Brain Sciences is looking for a new colleague using behavioral or computational approaches to study cognition!
We are excited about many areas of (esp higher) cognition in human adults, children, or nonhuman animals
Open-rank
apply.interfolio.com/178146
December 2, 2025 at 2:54 AM
🚨Job Alert plz RT!
Johns Hopkins Psych & Brain Sciences is looking for a new colleague using behavioral or computational approaches to study cognition!
We are excited about many areas of (esp higher) cognition in human adults, children, or nonhuman animals
Open-rank
apply.interfolio.com/178146
Johns Hopkins Psych & Brain Sciences is looking for a new colleague using behavioral or computational approaches to study cognition!
We are excited about many areas of (esp higher) cognition in human adults, children, or nonhuman animals
Open-rank
apply.interfolio.com/178146
Reposted by Ali Boyle
The sound of your uncle's laugh; an ice cream cone you had ten years ago. Why do we hold on to memories like these? Are they more than mere mental clutter?
Just one of the topics discussed in our latest episode, w/ @aliboyle.bsky.social & @jomahr.bsky.social!
Listen: disi.org/what-is-memo...
Just one of the topics discussed in our latest episode, w/ @aliboyle.bsky.social & @jomahr.bsky.social!
Listen: disi.org/what-is-memo...
December 1, 2025 at 6:03 PM
The sound of your uncle's laugh; an ice cream cone you had ten years ago. Why do we hold on to memories like these? Are they more than mere mental clutter?
Just one of the topics discussed in our latest episode, w/ @aliboyle.bsky.social & @jomahr.bsky.social!
Listen: disi.org/what-is-memo...
Just one of the topics discussed in our latest episode, w/ @aliboyle.bsky.social & @jomahr.bsky.social!
Listen: disi.org/what-is-memo...
Reposted by Ali Boyle
If you loved THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE, then you'll love its action-packed sequel, PRINCE CASPIAN! The Pevensie children are back, even Edmund, but what about all your favorite friends: Mr. Tumnus, the Beavers, the friendly giant? Well, they've been dead for a thousand years. Sorry.
November 28, 2025 at 7:02 PM
If you loved THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE, then you'll love its action-packed sequel, PRINCE CASPIAN! The Pevensie children are back, even Edmund, but what about all your favorite friends: Mr. Tumnus, the Beavers, the friendly giant? Well, they've been dead for a thousand years. Sorry.
Reposted by Ali Boyle
To begin with today, happy 117th anniversary to this entirely reasonable cat
November 28, 2025 at 9:13 AM
To begin with today, happy 117th anniversary to this entirely reasonable cat
Reposted by Ali Boyle
"You seem happier"
Thanks, I deleted all my emails and went to look at birds instead.
Thanks, I deleted all my emails and went to look at birds instead.
November 28, 2025 at 9:34 AM
"You seem happier"
Thanks, I deleted all my emails and went to look at birds instead.
Thanks, I deleted all my emails and went to look at birds instead.
Reposted by Ali Boyle
Years ago I sent a review to the editor of a leading journal, very late. I apologised, maybe a bit too profusely. He replied (apparently in all seriousness) ‘it’s ok. We’ve all done things we are ashamed of.’ I often think of this when I need a good laugh.
November 28, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Years ago I sent a review to the editor of a leading journal, very late. I apologised, maybe a bit too profusely. He replied (apparently in all seriousness) ‘it’s ok. We’ve all done things we are ashamed of.’ I often think of this when I need a good laugh.
Reposted by Ali Boyle
oh Americans may not understand this, but a 'magistrate' in the UK is a local volunteer with typically no legal background. But it's ok, they receive about 10 days of training. And now they can send you to jail for two years without a jury!
what the fuck
November 25, 2025 at 7:53 PM
oh Americans may not understand this, but a 'magistrate' in the UK is a local volunteer with typically no legal background. But it's ok, they receive about 10 days of training. And now they can send you to jail for two years without a jury!
Reposted by Ali Boyle
Whomst among us hasn't felt a little vacuum about snackie all done
November 18, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Whomst among us hasn't felt a little vacuum about snackie all done
Reposted by Ali Boyle
My student Arlene Lo has a paper on the philosophical underpinnings of Canada's attempts to integrate Indigenous groups into its environmental impact assessments. It's now out in (appropriately enough!) the Canadian journal of philosophy. It's good, check it out!
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
November 26, 2025 at 8:06 AM
My student Arlene Lo has a paper on the philosophical underpinnings of Canada's attempts to integrate Indigenous groups into its environmental impact assessments. It's now out in (appropriately enough!) the Canadian journal of philosophy. It's good, check it out!
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Reposted by Ali Boyle
New episode!! 🎉🎙️
A conversation with @aliboyle.bsky.social & @jomahr.bsky.social about the functions of memory.
We may not immediately think of memory as an evolutionary puzzle. But in certain respects—and from certain angles—it is quite puzzling indeed.
Listen: disi.org/what-is-memo...
A conversation with @aliboyle.bsky.social & @jomahr.bsky.social about the functions of memory.
We may not immediately think of memory as an evolutionary puzzle. But in certain respects—and from certain angles—it is quite puzzling indeed.
Listen: disi.org/what-is-memo...
November 24, 2025 at 6:26 PM
New episode!! 🎉🎙️
A conversation with @aliboyle.bsky.social & @jomahr.bsky.social about the functions of memory.
We may not immediately think of memory as an evolutionary puzzle. But in certain respects—and from certain angles—it is quite puzzling indeed.
Listen: disi.org/what-is-memo...
A conversation with @aliboyle.bsky.social & @jomahr.bsky.social about the functions of memory.
We may not immediately think of memory as an evolutionary puzzle. But in certain respects—and from certain angles—it is quite puzzling indeed.
Listen: disi.org/what-is-memo...
Reposted by Ali Boyle
This thread is utterly extraordinary. I both have a new respect for Home Alone and am laughing my ass off
But the wet bandits are also gods. They take fatal injury after fatal injury and they just dust themselves off and continue their relentless pursuit of Kevin. It should be horrifying, but
Kevin’s innocence obscures this.
Kevin’s innocence obscures this.
November 23, 2025 at 3:23 PM
This thread is utterly extraordinary. I both have a new respect for Home Alone and am laughing my ass off
Reposted by Ali Boyle
The wet bandits are Sisyphus and Kevin is their boulder
November 23, 2025 at 2:57 PM
The wet bandits are Sisyphus and Kevin is their boulder
Reposted by Ali Boyle
Gonna spend the entire month thinking about this philosophical discussion of Die Hard vs Home Alone.
But the wet bandits are also gods. They take fatal injury after fatal injury and they just dust themselves off and continue their relentless pursuit of Kevin. It should be horrifying, but
Kevin’s innocence obscures this.
Kevin’s innocence obscures this.
November 23, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Gonna spend the entire month thinking about this philosophical discussion of Die Hard vs Home Alone.
Reposted by Ali Boyle
I thought it's very clear: the pigeons are a symbol of peace, succeeding where concussion and thermal injury did not.
The whole thing is about nuclear disarmament
The whole thing is about nuclear disarmament
November 23, 2025 at 12:01 PM
I thought it's very clear: the pigeons are a symbol of peace, succeeding where concussion and thermal injury did not.
The whole thing is about nuclear disarmament
The whole thing is about nuclear disarmament
Reposted by Ali Boyle
Debate at The Federation Society for Medieval Earth History, Stardate 912365.68. Topic "What was the Cult of Kevin actually about?" Vulcan opener:
But the wet bandits are also gods. They take fatal injury after fatal injury and they just dust themselves off and continue their relentless pursuit of Kevin. It should be horrifying, but
Kevin’s innocence obscures this.
Kevin’s innocence obscures this.
November 23, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Debate at The Federation Society for Medieval Earth History, Stardate 912365.68. Topic "What was the Cult of Kevin actually about?" Vulcan opener: