Alasdair Craig
@alasdaircraig.bsky.social
Philosophy/Consciousness/History/Books
Editor, Institute of Art & Ideas – @iai.tv
Freelance for Hurst Pub – @hurstpublishers.bsky.social
Instructor, Philosophy of Mind – Horizoninspires.com
DPhil, Philosophy, University of Oxford
📍Edinburgh, Scotland
Editor, Institute of Art & Ideas – @iai.tv
Freelance for Hurst Pub – @hurstpublishers.bsky.social
Instructor, Philosophy of Mind – Horizoninspires.com
DPhil, Philosophy, University of Oxford
📍Edinburgh, Scotland
Use-case for AI as a writer. A quick way to exorcise cliche and small-c conservatism: after you've written your first draft, ask AI to write something on the same topic; compare your draft to the AI piece, and cut everything from your draft that appears in the AI piece. #writing #books #AI
October 31, 2025 at 1:06 PM
We often caricature Chinese Confucianism as prizing conformism & obedience to tradition. But Justin Tiwald shows that independence of thought has long been central to Confucian ethics - iai.tv/articles/the... #philsky #ethics #China #Confucianism #philosophy @iai.tv
The radical independent thinking in Chinese philosophy | Justin Tiwald
iai.tv
October 29, 2025 at 12:59 PM
We often caricature Chinese Confucianism as prizing conformism & obedience to tradition. But Justin Tiwald shows that independence of thought has long been central to Confucian ethics - iai.tv/articles/the... #philsky #ethics #China #Confucianism #philosophy @iai.tv
The key to quantum gravity may lie in understanding the fundamental limits of observation argues Berkeley National Lab physicist Daniel Carney today for @iai.tv - iai.tv/articles/if-... #physics #philsci #quantum
If we look too hard for reality, we’ll fall into a black hole | Daniel Carney
iai.tv
October 28, 2025 at 11:48 AM
The key to quantum gravity may lie in understanding the fundamental limits of observation argues Berkeley National Lab physicist Daniel Carney today for @iai.tv - iai.tv/articles/if-... #physics #philsci #quantum
We like to think belief & emotion belong in different boxes – one ruled by evidence & truth, the other by feelings and moods. This is a mistake argues philosopher Miriam McCormick for @iai.tv today: Belief is an emotion – iai.tv/articles/the... #philsky #philmind #psychology
The divide between belief and emotion is an illusion | Miriam McCormick
iai.tv
October 21, 2025 at 9:45 AM
We like to think belief & emotion belong in different boxes – one ruled by evidence & truth, the other by feelings and moods. This is a mistake argues philosopher Miriam McCormick for @iai.tv today: Belief is an emotion – iai.tv/articles/the... #philsky #philmind #psychology
John Heil on why talk of "emergence" by scientists and philosophers is unhelpful – iai.tv/articles/eme... #philsky #philsci #physics #biology #philmind
Emergence explains nothing and is bad science | John Heil
iai.tv
October 14, 2025 at 9:30 AM
I edit many public-facing science articles & I've learned that it's much harder to present biology in an accessible way to non-specialists than physics. It always seems to involve way more hard-to-paraphrase specialist vocabulary & complex details that can't be omitted #philsci #physics #biology
October 9, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Ooh, just found this beautiful Robert Louis Stevenson edition by Edinburgh’s own @typewronger.bsky.social. I grew up at Murrayfield, so the contents are enticing #booksky #books #Scotland
October 8, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Ooh, just found this beautiful Robert Louis Stevenson edition by Edinburgh’s own @typewronger.bsky.social. I grew up at Murrayfield, so the contents are enticing #booksky #books #Scotland
Werner Heisenberg meets William Blake in Mark Vernon's new article for @iai.tv – Physicist & poet alike warn of the danger of viewing the world only through idealising models, losing the vitality of direct encounters with reality. bit.ly/47eI8u3 #philsky #physics #poetry #philsci
Heisenberg meets William Blake: The danger of science's "single vision" | Mark Vernon
bit.ly
October 8, 2025 at 9:24 AM
A write-up of my interview with Karl Friston can be read here. Dreaming, selfhood, Markov blankets, consciousness, known illusions, and ofc perception all discussed - iai.tv/articles/rea... #philsky #psychology #neuroscience #cogsci #perception
Reality is a creation of consciousness | Karl Friston
iai.tv
September 18, 2025 at 11:59 AM
A write-up of my interview with Karl Friston can be read here. Dreaming, selfhood, Markov blankets, consciousness, known illusions, and ofc perception all discussed - iai.tv/articles/rea... #philsky #psychology #neuroscience #cogsci #perception
Panpsychism, Bergson, and renovating our concepts of the environment (it's made of processes rather than objects) – my interview with Wahida Khandker is up at @iai.tv now. iai.tv/video/organi... #philsky #environment
Organisms are processes, not things, with Wahida Khandker
We tend to think of the world as divided into bits and things. From microscopic atoms to massive stars to everyday objects like books and chairs, the view that the world is carved up is deeply embedde...
iai.tv
September 4, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Panpsychism, Bergson, and renovating our concepts of the environment (it's made of processes rather than objects) – my interview with Wahida Khandker is up at @iai.tv now. iai.tv/video/organi... #philsky #environment
Consciousness can't be uploaded and digital immortality is a metaphysical mirage – so argues Bill Egginton today for @iai.tv iai.tv/articles/con... #philsky #consciousness #philmind
Consciousness can't be uploaded: Why digital immortality is a metaphysical mirage | William Egginton
iai.tv
September 1, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Consciousness can't be uploaded and digital immortality is a metaphysical mirage – so argues Bill Egginton today for @iai.tv iai.tv/articles/con... #philsky #consciousness #philmind
"When language is utilized solely for the purpose of communication, speakers often do not perceive 'languages' or 'dialects' as distinct entities at all." Vuk Vukotić today for @iai.tv, on the artificiality of distinctions between languages - iai.tv/articles/lan... #Linguistics #philsky
Languages are social tools, not windows onto reality | Vuk Vukotić
iai.tv
August 27, 2025 at 2:07 PM
"When language is utilized solely for the purpose of communication, speakers often do not perceive 'languages' or 'dialects' as distinct entities at all." Vuk Vukotić today for @iai.tv, on the artificiality of distinctions between languages - iai.tv/articles/lan... #Linguistics #philsky
Forget free will as it’s defined in the Western philosophical tradition. Philosopher Brian Bruya turns to Daoist classics like the Zhuangzi to argue that the most profound human action happens without rational reflection or deliberation bit.ly/41DWAsl #philsky #mindsky
China’s radical philosophy of action and the self | Brian Bruya
Explore how Chinese philosophy redefines human action as a spontaneous process in harmony with nature, challenging Western ideals of rational choice.
bit.ly
August 14, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Forget free will as it’s defined in the Western philosophical tradition. Philosopher Brian Bruya turns to Daoist classics like the Zhuangzi to argue that the most profound human action happens without rational reflection or deliberation bit.ly/41DWAsl #philsky #mindsky
Neuroscientist @nicolecrust.bsky.social argues here that by treating brains as complex systems, neuroscientists are finally making progress on mental health treatment, including utilising psychedelics to enhance brain plasticity as part of therapy - bit.ly/4lkS0pR #philmind #neuroskyence #NeuroSky
Neuroscience needs a new paradigm: the brain is not a machine | Nicolee Rust
bit.ly
August 12, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Neuroscientist @nicolecrust.bsky.social argues here that by treating brains as complex systems, neuroscientists are finally making progress on mental health treatment, including utilising psychedelics to enhance brain plasticity as part of therapy - bit.ly/4lkS0pR #philmind #neuroskyence #NeuroSky
My interview with Jessica Frazier, professor of theology at Oxford University and fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, is now available. We discuss Indian philosophy, monism, and the nature of the self, among other things - iai.tv/video/indian... #philsky #theology #Indianphilosophy
Indian philosophy and the search for unity with Jessica Frazier
In our everyday lives we act as though we are all separate individuals, but is this really the case? Jessica Frazer argues reality is ultimately unified. She argues this philosophy can change the way ...
iai.tv
August 4, 2025 at 10:58 AM
My interview with Jessica Frazier, professor of theology at Oxford University and fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, is now available. We discuss Indian philosophy, monism, and the nature of the self, among other things - iai.tv/video/indian... #philsky #theology #Indianphilosophy
ANY theory of consciousness will have bizarre implications that contravene our commonsense picture of the world, argues @eschwitz.bsky.social for @iai.tv: bit.ly/3U3pVbF #philsky #psychsky #philmind #philosophyofmind
Consciousness, cosmology, and the collapse of common sense | Eric Schwitzgebel
bit.ly
July 31, 2025 at 2:58 PM
ANY theory of consciousness will have bizarre implications that contravene our commonsense picture of the world, argues @eschwitz.bsky.social for @iai.tv: bit.ly/3U3pVbF #philsky #psychsky #philmind #philosophyofmind
My grandpa had a story about how the first time some of his friends ate a banana, they ate the skin, not realising you could peel it. I just read the same story in a book about an early-20th C. Greek immigrant to the US, presented with a banana for the 1st time. I wonder how common this mistake was!
July 27, 2025 at 3:45 PM
My grandpa had a story about how the first time some of his friends ate a banana, they ate the skin, not realising you could peel it. I just read the same story in a book about an early-20th C. Greek immigrant to the US, presented with a banana for the 1st time. I wonder how common this mistake was!
Reposted by Alasdair Craig
Utterly unforgivable
Over 120 mRNA cancer trials are now at risk as the Trump admin cuts funding & tells researchers to scrub “mRNA” from grant proposals.
What started as COVID fearmongering is now derailing life-saving cancer research.
Hope remains - but scientists say time is running out.
zurl.co/YBGNy
What started as COVID fearmongering is now derailing life-saving cancer research.
Hope remains - but scientists say time is running out.
zurl.co/YBGNy
‘Tremendous uncertainty’ for cancer research as US officials target mRNA vaccines
Amid Trump cuts and state-level backlash, experts worry that progress in messenger RNA vaccines could stall
zurl.co
July 15, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Utterly unforgivable
You know that thing that happens when you repeat the same word over and over and over to yourself, and it starts to seem unfamiliar and meaningless? I just learned that this is known as 'semantic satiation', and I find that phrase immensely satisfying.
July 10, 2025 at 3:44 PM
You know that thing that happens when you repeat the same word over and over and over to yourself, and it starts to seem unfamiliar and meaningless? I just learned that this is known as 'semantic satiation', and I find that phrase immensely satisfying.
As a Patricia Highsmith fan, I found this memoir of her final days both extremely revealing and extremely disturbing - yalereview.org/article/work... #booksky
My Harrowing Months as Patricia Highsmith’s Assistant
Elena Gosalvez Blanco recalls her time as Patricia Highsmith's assistant in the novelist's final months.
yalereview.org
July 10, 2025 at 2:47 PM
As a Patricia Highsmith fan, I found this memoir of her final days both extremely revealing and extremely disturbing - yalereview.org/article/work... #booksky
On science's broken peer review & funding models: pathbreaking ideas shut out, billions of $ wasted, & scientists' time diverted away from #research. Jamie Shaw suggests a universal research fund &/or lottery system for funding instead – bit.ly/3GDFQtU #philsci #philsky #AcademiaSky #MedSky #science
The high priests of science are holding it hostage
bit.ly
July 8, 2025 at 11:19 AM
On science's broken peer review & funding models: pathbreaking ideas shut out, billions of $ wasted, & scientists' time diverted away from #research. Jamie Shaw suggests a universal research fund &/or lottery system for funding instead – bit.ly/3GDFQtU #philsci #philsky #AcademiaSky #MedSky #science
Something deeper than General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics must be the common explanation of both, and minds play a fundamental role in constructing physical reality from this primordial "pre-physics," argues Dean Rickles for @iai.tv – iai.tv/articles/to-... #philsci #physics #philsky
To solve quantum gravity, we must go beyond the physical | Dean Rickles
iai.tv
June 20, 2025 at 9:45 AM
Something deeper than General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics must be the common explanation of both, and minds play a fundamental role in constructing physical reality from this primordial "pre-physics," argues Dean Rickles for @iai.tv – iai.tv/articles/to-... #philsci #physics #philsky
A fresh #AI critique: Biologists Denis & Ray Noble argue true intelligence requires liquid-based computation, which would be far more flexible than silicon-based AI. Water, they say, is an unbeatable source of stochasticity, which organisms harness at all functional levels: bit.ly/3HLvIzC #philsky
Water, not silicon, has to be the basis of true AI | Denis Noble
bit.ly
June 17, 2025 at 12:00 PM
A fresh #AI critique: Biologists Denis & Ray Noble argue true intelligence requires liquid-based computation, which would be far more flexible than silicon-based AI. Water, they say, is an unbeatable source of stochasticity, which organisms harness at all functional levels: bit.ly/3HLvIzC #philsky
Really interesting to see Alyssa Ney suggesting that we should pursue a sort of combination of Everettian many-worlds and Wheeler's participatory universe interpretations of quantum mechanics here. Not sure I totally follow - www.nature.com/articles/d41... #philsky #philsci
Do our observations make reality happen?
Finally answering the most-vexed question in quantum theory might mean redefining what is real.
www.nature.com
June 12, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Really interesting to see Alyssa Ney suggesting that we should pursue a sort of combination of Everettian many-worlds and Wheeler's participatory universe interpretations of quantum mechanics here. Not sure I totally follow - www.nature.com/articles/d41... #philsky #philsci