Somayeh Tohidi
@somayehtohidi.bsky.social
Postdoc at the University of Manchester working on misinformation; Mum; #WomanLifeFreedom
https://sites.google.com/view/somayehtohidi/about
https://sites.google.com/view/somayehtohidi/about
Pinned
Somayeh Tohidi
@somayehtohidi.bsky.social
· Feb 18
One of the most appealing aspects of doing philosophy, for me, is having a curious puzzle tucked away in my mind for a long time. It feels like a safe, quiet room within my mind where I can take refuge whenever I’m overwhelmed by the external world.
It's not news that the key to the success of almost any social movement is patience and persistence. Change doesn't happen overnight. But persistence is impossible if you constantly see individuals from the oppressor group as oppressors!/1
November 7, 2025 at 7:40 PM
It's not news that the key to the success of almost any social movement is patience and persistence. Change doesn't happen overnight. But persistence is impossible if you constantly see individuals from the oppressor group as oppressors!/1
At 16, this album carried me through late nights of wrestling with hard math problems. It’s stayed with me as my endurance melody. Now whenever life feels too heavy, I play it and feel my soul muscles grow stronger.
youtu.be/c0ItncVzXxk?...
youtu.be/c0ItncVzXxk?...
Mahtab (Esfahan)
YouTube video by Hossein Alizadeh - Topic
youtu.be
October 30, 2025 at 9:12 PM
At 16, this album carried me through late nights of wrestling with hard math problems. It’s stayed with me as my endurance melody. Now whenever life feels too heavy, I play it and feel my soul muscles grow stronger.
youtu.be/c0ItncVzXxk?...
youtu.be/c0ItncVzXxk?...
I believe there is a significant and often ignored factor that distinguishes survival chances in humanities versus sciences: how long it takes graduate students and early career researchers to grasp the notion of 'meaningful contribution' in their field./1
October 25, 2025 at 6:56 PM
I believe there is a significant and often ignored factor that distinguishes survival chances in humanities versus sciences: how long it takes graduate students and early career researchers to grasp the notion of 'meaningful contribution' in their field./1
Pishi and my armless chair philosophy: for some reason, she really likes this chair and doesn’t appreciate the fact that I actually need it for thinking!
October 18, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Pishi and my armless chair philosophy: for some reason, she really likes this chair and doesn’t appreciate the fact that I actually need it for thinking!
Reposted by Somayeh Tohidi
We're coming up on philosophy PhD application season. In case it is helpful for you or your students, I have a guide to this process, developed over the years of working with SFU MA students. Let me know if you have questions or suggestions
#philsky #philsci
www.hkandersen.com/applying-for...
#philsky #philsci
www.hkandersen.com/applying-for...
Applying for Ph.d. programs
These notes were developed over the years for the annual "Applying to a PhD program" session for Simon Fraser University Philosophy MA students. This offers a perspective on how to prioritize your...
www.hkandersen.com
September 27, 2025 at 3:32 PM
We're coming up on philosophy PhD application season. In case it is helpful for you or your students, I have a guide to this process, developed over the years of working with SFU MA students. Let me know if you have questions or suggestions
#philsky #philsci
www.hkandersen.com/applying-for...
#philsky #philsci
www.hkandersen.com/applying-for...
I have this vivid picture that at each point in time, my present self is an unstable tile between my past self and my future self, and I struggle to balance myself on that present tile. So I keep jumping back and forth until the present self tile breaks apart,/1
September 26, 2025 at 7:45 PM
I have this vivid picture that at each point in time, my present self is an unstable tile between my past self and my future self, and I struggle to balance myself on that present tile. So I keep jumping back and forth until the present self tile breaks apart,/1
I was watching one of Duflo’s lectures and she showed this picture as an example of a beautiful representation of data. It’s a visualization of a Facebook network of 1000+ friends in Somalia. It reminded me of what kept me sane during the social movement in Iran 3 years ago./1
September 4, 2025 at 7:11 PM
I was watching one of Duflo’s lectures and she showed this picture as an example of a beautiful representation of data. It’s a visualization of a Facebook network of 1000+ friends in Somalia. It reminded me of what kept me sane during the social movement in Iran 3 years ago./1
September is coming and it marks the third year of my exile. I don’t even know whether I should call it an exile. Everything in that geography is uncertain…
Sitting in my home, mother, they forced me to fight mother
Capable, mother, I’m not mother, I can’t
Say goodbye for me, I’m opening my door, mother
maybe I won’t return, say goodbye
Tell those who are afraid, my heart’s bullets are sharp/1
Capable, mother, I’m not mother, I can’t
Say goodbye for me, I’m opening my door, mother
maybe I won’t return, say goodbye
Tell those who are afraid, my heart’s bullets are sharp/1
August 29, 2025 at 6:43 PM
September is coming and it marks the third year of my exile. I don’t even know whether I should call it an exile. Everything in that geography is uncertain…
Sitting in my home, mother, they forced me to fight mother
Capable, mother, I’m not mother, I can’t
Say goodbye for me, I’m opening my door, mother
maybe I won’t return, say goodbye
Tell those who are afraid, my heart’s bullets are sharp/1
Capable, mother, I’m not mother, I can’t
Say goodbye for me, I’m opening my door, mother
maybe I won’t return, say goodbye
Tell those who are afraid, my heart’s bullets are sharp/1
August 29, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Sitting in my home, mother, they forced me to fight mother
Capable, mother, I’m not mother, I can’t
Say goodbye for me, I’m opening my door, mother
maybe I won’t return, say goodbye
Tell those who are afraid, my heart’s bullets are sharp/1
Capable, mother, I’m not mother, I can’t
Say goodbye for me, I’m opening my door, mother
maybe I won’t return, say goodbye
Tell those who are afraid, my heart’s bullets are sharp/1
It's usually assumed that awareness of a cognitive bias is good, like once you know about it, it'll affect your decisions less and you'll get better at avoiding it over time. But is there any solid evidence for either of these claims?/1
August 28, 2025 at 5:37 PM
It's usually assumed that awareness of a cognitive bias is good, like once you know about it, it'll affect your decisions less and you'll get better at avoiding it over time. But is there any solid evidence for either of these claims?/1
Peder Balke - "The North Cape by Moonlight" (1848)
August 22, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Peder Balke - "The North Cape by Moonlight" (1848)
You have theories (a whole book of them) about history and enlightenment! TY for sharing your ideas. But I wonder how one could get themselves to record a video from their ivory tower addressing people in ME to tell them the world is improving.The rage I felt watching Pinker’s video is indescribable
August 21, 2025 at 11:56 AM
You have theories (a whole book of them) about history and enlightenment! TY for sharing your ideas. But I wonder how one could get themselves to record a video from their ivory tower addressing people in ME to tell them the world is improving.The rage I felt watching Pinker’s video is indescribable
Growth is such a misleading metaphor for what life experience does to people. I feel like I’m shrinking as I go through life, and I don’t feel bad about it. It actually feels so good to think that someday I may shrink so much that I become invisible…I would have infinite density of consciousness! :)
August 18, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Growth is such a misleading metaphor for what life experience does to people. I feel like I’m shrinking as I go through life, and I don’t feel bad about it. It actually feels so good to think that someday I may shrink so much that I become invisible…I would have infinite density of consciousness! :)
Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld the final death sentence against activist Sharifeh Mohammadi. The Islamic Republic is an irreformable and brutal state whose evil character cannot be excused even when facing genuinely evil enemies.
August 17, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Iran’s Supreme Court has upheld the final death sentence against activist Sharifeh Mohammadi. The Islamic Republic is an irreformable and brutal state whose evil character cannot be excused even when facing genuinely evil enemies.
‘Natoori’ by Shima Davoodpour.
(It’s a Kurdish song)
(It’s a Kurdish song)
August 13, 2025 at 5:43 PM
‘Natoori’ by Shima Davoodpour.
(It’s a Kurdish song)
(It’s a Kurdish song)
It can totally be the case that all the time saved using LLMs for calculations and brainstorming will be wasted explaining away their false responses, delivered with an overconfident and self-righteous tone./1
August 11, 2025 at 7:40 PM
It can totally be the case that all the time saved using LLMs for calculations and brainstorming will be wasted explaining away their false responses, delivered with an overconfident and self-righteous tone./1
Reposted by Somayeh Tohidi
In search of a ground floor
Łódź Hudego
contemporary
Łódź Hudego
contemporary
January 18, 2025 at 2:38 AM
In search of a ground floor
Łódź Hudego
contemporary
Łódź Hudego
contemporary
“[…] art and ideas come out of the passion and torment of experiences: it is impossible to have a real relationship to the first if one’s aim is to be protected from the second.”
Reading James Baldwin and every page seems to glitter with wisdom.
August 10, 2025 at 10:06 AM
“[…] art and ideas come out of the passion and torment of experiences: it is impossible to have a real relationship to the first if one’s aim is to be protected from the second.”
apologetic Kantian>apologetic consequentialist>proud consequentialist>proud Kantian :)
August 8, 2025 at 11:54 AM
apologetic Kantian>apologetic consequentialist>proud consequentialist>proud Kantian :)
Reposted by Somayeh Tohidi
We built the simplest possible social media platform. No algorithms. No ads. Just LLM agents posting and following.
It still became a polarization machine.
Then we tried six interventions to fix social media.
The results were… not what we expected.
arxiv.org/abs/2508.03385
It still became a polarization machine.
Then we tried six interventions to fix social media.
The results were… not what we expected.
arxiv.org/abs/2508.03385
Can We Fix Social Media? Testing Prosocial Interventions using Generative Social Simulation
Social media platforms have been widely linked to societal harms, including rising polarization and the erosion of constructive debate. Can these problems be mitigated through prosocial interventions?...
arxiv.org
August 6, 2025 at 8:24 AM
We built the simplest possible social media platform. No algorithms. No ads. Just LLM agents posting and following.
It still became a polarization machine.
Then we tried six interventions to fix social media.
The results were… not what we expected.
arxiv.org/abs/2508.03385
It still became a polarization machine.
Then we tried six interventions to fix social media.
The results were… not what we expected.
arxiv.org/abs/2508.03385
I have this theory that over-empathizing and information aversion are causally connected. Either the former gives rise to the latter, or they have a common cause. If true, this gives rise to a set of interesting normative questions about whether they are good, bad, or neutral traits.
August 5, 2025 at 8:52 PM
I have this theory that over-empathizing and information aversion are causally connected. Either the former gives rise to the latter, or they have a common cause. If true, this gives rise to a set of interesting normative questions about whether they are good, bad, or neutral traits.
I found this thread fascinating, and thinking about the philosophical consequences makes me feel 10 years younger! ✨God! I love science!
x.com/HopeKean/sta...
x.com/HopeKean/sta...
Hope Kean on X: "Is the Language of Thought == Language? A Thread 🧵 New Preprint (link: https://t.co/Cmg65mQIFx) with @alexanderdfung, @ParisJaggers, Jason Chen, Josh Rule, @BennYael, @MITCoCoSci, @spiantado, Rosemary Varley, @ev_fedorenko 1/8" / X
Is the Language of Thought == Language? A Thread 🧵 New Preprint (link: https://t.co/Cmg65mQIFx) with @alexanderdfung, @ParisJaggers, Jason Chen, Josh Rule, @BennYael, @MITCoCoSci, @spiantado, Rosemary Varley, @ev_fedorenko 1/8
x.com
August 5, 2025 at 12:40 PM
I found this thread fascinating, and thinking about the philosophical consequences makes me feel 10 years younger! ✨God! I love science!
x.com/HopeKean/sta...
x.com/HopeKean/sta...