Josh Fisher
@textsavvy.org
Explicit instruction, technologist, arteest.
Pinned
Josh Fisher
@textsavvy.org
· Sep 2
Josh Fisher, A Function-First Account of Human Social and Individual Consciousness as Cultural Evolution Engine - PhilPapers
This article advances a function-first account of social and individual consciousness as the engine of cumulative cultural evolution. At the social level, joint attention (a We-mode) objectifies share...
philpapers.org
What I should have said here is that this is a clue (bsky.app/profile/text...). Consciousness is a mystery in part because it lies in between behaviorism and individualistic psychologism. It was BUILT for and functions through communicative sociality.
philpapers.org/rec/FISCAP-12
philpapers.org/rec/FISCAP-12
Reposted by Josh Fisher
Against the backdrop of the American Revolution, Judith Sargent Murray’s essay On the Equality of the Sexes (1790) made what was, at the time, a radical claim: women are the intellectual equals of men. https://buff.ly/3Lvff02
January 26, 2026 at 5:46 PM
Against the backdrop of the American Revolution, Judith Sargent Murray’s essay On the Equality of the Sexes (1790) made what was, at the time, a radical claim: women are the intellectual equals of men. https://buff.ly/3Lvff02
For me, this could a pebble to the side of the scale arguing that Neanderthals had social consciousness but did not have robust, sapiens-style individual consciousnesses ('intelligence' is different), which allows for social close-knittedness across space and time.
philpapers.org/rec/FISCAP-12
philpapers.org/rec/FISCAP-12
January 25, 2026 at 1:09 PM
For me, this could a pebble to the side of the scale arguing that Neanderthals had social consciousness but did not have robust, sapiens-style individual consciousnesses ('intelligence' is different), which allows for social close-knittedness across space and time.
philpapers.org/rec/FISCAP-12
philpapers.org/rec/FISCAP-12
When life hands you ice and rock salt . . .
January 24, 2026 at 9:04 PM
When life hands you ice and rock salt . . .
“I believe that education, and only education is the key which can open the dungeon of ignorance and allow our youth to share in the glory of a life lived joyously.” - Maya Angelou
www.unesco.org/en/days/educ...
www.unesco.org/en/days/educ...
International Day of Education
24 January
www.unesco.org
January 24, 2026 at 6:32 PM
“I believe that education, and only education is the key which can open the dungeon of ignorance and allow our youth to share in the glory of a life lived joyously.” - Maya Angelou
www.unesco.org/en/days/educ...
www.unesco.org/en/days/educ...
Denominator as 'spatiality' is an idea that's got my juices flowing.
"What ultimately distinguishes them . . . isn’t the difference in the patterns they show, but what I call their visual denominator . . . each option has its own distinct spatiality."
www.textsavvy.org/blog/compose...
"What ultimately distinguishes them . . . isn’t the difference in the patterns they show, but what I call their visual denominator . . . each option has its own distinct spatiality."
www.textsavvy.org/blog/compose...
The Composed Curriculum — Text Savvy
Without this phase, we will continue to swing between intentions so elevated they cannot guide action and practices so improvised they cannot accumulate meaning.
www.textsavvy.org
January 24, 2026 at 3:09 PM
Denominator as 'spatiality' is an idea that's got my juices flowing.
"What ultimately distinguishes them . . . isn’t the difference in the patterns they show, but what I call their visual denominator . . . each option has its own distinct spatiality."
www.textsavvy.org/blog/compose...
"What ultimately distinguishes them . . . isn’t the difference in the patterns they show, but what I call their visual denominator . . . each option has its own distinct spatiality."
www.textsavvy.org/blog/compose...
Reposted by Josh Fisher
Discovery learning works well for students who least need it. carlhendrick.substack.com/p/privilegin...
Privileging the Already Privileged
The Progressive Case for Explicit Instruction
carlhendrick.substack.com
January 24, 2026 at 1:56 AM
Discovery learning works well for students who least need it. carlhendrick.substack.com/p/privilegin...
Reposted by Josh Fisher
Teaching math so students learn with Craig Barton youtu.be/8OpT3zF_d5E
Teaching math so students learn with Craig Barton (Ep 63)
YouTube video by Chalk & Talk with Anna Stokke
youtu.be
January 23, 2026 at 3:45 PM
Teaching math so students learn with Craig Barton youtu.be/8OpT3zF_d5E
Reposted by Josh Fisher
I’m very concerned about teacher workloads but lot of what we call “work” in schools is tied up with identity, taste, status, and autonomy.
Check out my latest.
educationrickshaw.com/2026/01/20/t...
Check out my latest.
educationrickshaw.com/2026/01/20/t...
The Workload Solutions the Profession Doesn’t Want
I’m very concerned about teacher workload. Plenty of teachers are running on fumes. In the 2024 State of the American Teacher survey, 59% of teachers reported frequent job-related stress and 60% re…
educationrickshaw.com
January 23, 2026 at 4:05 AM
I’m very concerned about teacher workloads but lot of what we call “work” in schools is tied up with identity, taste, status, and autonomy.
Check out my latest.
educationrickshaw.com/2026/01/20/t...
Check out my latest.
educationrickshaw.com/2026/01/20/t...
Woot! I submitted my consciousness paper for this. Seasoned research people-friends, are there funding sources I can tap into to get me to this conference?
January 22, 2026 at 4:17 PM
Woot! I submitted my consciousness paper for this. Seasoned research people-friends, are there funding sources I can tap into to get me to this conference?
Reposted by Josh Fisher
ART - adding support to the argument that Australia has a 65,000 year old continuous First Nations culture.
Art is absolutely critical to knowledge systems of Indigenous cultures - and inherent in Homo sapiens and Neanderthals.
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...?
#theknowledgegene #memorycode
Art is absolutely critical to knowledge systems of Indigenous cultures - and inherent in Homo sapiens and Neanderthals.
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...?
#theknowledgegene #memorycode
Hand shape in Indonesian cave may be world’s oldest known rock art
Archaeologists say stencil painted with ochre in limestone cave on Muna Island was created at least 67,800 years ago
www.theguardian.com
January 22, 2026 at 5:06 AM
ART - adding support to the argument that Australia has a 65,000 year old continuous First Nations culture.
Art is absolutely critical to knowledge systems of Indigenous cultures - and inherent in Homo sapiens and Neanderthals.
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...?
#theknowledgegene #memorycode
Art is absolutely critical to knowledge systems of Indigenous cultures - and inherent in Homo sapiens and Neanderthals.
www.theguardian.com/science/2026...?
#theknowledgegene #memorycode
I was wrong.
This book, Radical Cartography, is so good (www.amazon.com/Radical-Cart...). I'm going into Chapter 4 mostly a believer in Betteridge's Law, but I suspect I'm not going to come out of it that way.
January 21, 2026 at 9:29 PM
I was wrong.
Reposted by Josh Fisher
Publisher Collections on JSTOR are now live! 📚
This new acquisition model was built with #libraries and publishers to support sustainable access to scholarly ebooks, including DRM-free use, perpetual access, and integrated open access.
Learn more in the blog: https://bit.ly/4pPgIku
This new acquisition model was built with #libraries and publishers to support sustainable access to scholarly ebooks, including DRM-free use, perpetual access, and integrated open access.
Learn more in the blog: https://bit.ly/4pPgIku
January 20, 2026 at 6:09 PM
Publisher Collections on JSTOR are now live! 📚
This new acquisition model was built with #libraries and publishers to support sustainable access to scholarly ebooks, including DRM-free use, perpetual access, and integrated open access.
Learn more in the blog: https://bit.ly/4pPgIku
This new acquisition model was built with #libraries and publishers to support sustainable access to scholarly ebooks, including DRM-free use, perpetual access, and integrated open access.
Learn more in the blog: https://bit.ly/4pPgIku
There is a deep clinical-psychological effectiveness to good explanations. In adult counseling, they are arrived at mostly via mutual inquiry because there is no other way to reach them. But good explanations are the end result. They are just as powerful—and perhaps prophylactic—when taught.
January 20, 2026 at 10:09 AM
There is a deep clinical-psychological effectiveness to good explanations. In adult counseling, they are arrived at mostly via mutual inquiry because there is no other way to reach them. But good explanations are the end result. They are just as powerful—and perhaps prophylactic—when taught.
Knowledge is a composition that can be meaningfully decomposed, sequenced, and its teaching enacted over time.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBwB...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBwB...
Reena Esmail's Malhaar: A Requiem for Water, performed by Yale Choral Artists
YouTube video by YALEGLEECLUB
www.youtube.com
January 20, 2026 at 4:05 AM
Knowledge is a composition that can be meaningfully decomposed, sequenced, and its teaching enacted over time.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBwB...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBwB...
This book, Radical Cartography, is so good (www.amazon.com/Radical-Cart...). I'm going into Chapter 4 mostly a believer in Betteridge's Law, but I suspect I'm not going to come out of it that way.
January 19, 2026 at 2:51 AM
This book, Radical Cartography, is so good (www.amazon.com/Radical-Cart...). I'm going into Chapter 4 mostly a believer in Betteridge's Law, but I suspect I'm not going to come out of it that way.
I'm sure there's a way to describe 'competitive' people non-pathologically, but my brain struggles to do so, maybe because I grew up a twin. I'm all for ready-set-go and friendly competition, but there are many who basically live inside a giant game and I am one of the pieces. You win. Now go away.
January 18, 2026 at 10:11 PM
I'm sure there's a way to describe 'competitive' people non-pathologically, but my brain struggles to do so, maybe because I grew up a twin. I'm all for ready-set-go and friendly competition, but there are many who basically live inside a giant game and I am one of the pieces. You win. Now go away.
I feel like a lot of good writing is showing people how deep they already are.
January 18, 2026 at 4:47 PM
I feel like a lot of good writing is showing people how deep they already are.
Reposted by Josh Fisher
Interesting debate on the earliest evidence of mathematics:
“Like everything in human development, aspects of mathematics also developed in an evolutionary way from the simple to the more complex,” he said.
edition.cnn.com/2026/01/16/s...
“Like everything in human development, aspects of mathematics also developed in an evolutionary way from the simple to the more complex,” he said.
edition.cnn.com/2026/01/16/s...
These ancient designs may be the first evidence of humans doing math | CNN
Images of plants painted on pottery made up to 8,000 years ago may be the earliest example of humans’ mathematical thought, a study has found.
edition.cnn.com
January 16, 2026 at 10:45 PM
Interesting debate on the earliest evidence of mathematics:
“Like everything in human development, aspects of mathematics also developed in an evolutionary way from the simple to the more complex,” he said.
edition.cnn.com/2026/01/16/s...
“Like everything in human development, aspects of mathematics also developed in an evolutionary way from the simple to the more complex,” he said.
edition.cnn.com/2026/01/16/s...
I'm coming home today from the hospital after suffering two heart attacks on Christmas. I may write about this in one way or another, I think. An elusive "Type 3C" diabetes was part of the problem.
January 16, 2026 at 11:19 AM
I'm coming home today from the hospital after suffering two heart attacks on Christmas. I may write about this in one way or another, I think. An elusive "Type 3C" diabetes was part of the problem.