Mark Fisher
@markfisher.bsky.social
Asst Prof at Georgetown // Ancient Greek Political Thought // History of Democratic Theory // Humanistic Perspectives on AI
Happy pub day for "The Autocratic Interpretation of Athens: Rethinking Regime Theory in Thucydides' 'Archaeology'," which appears in Polis 42,3 @dgb-ancientstudies.bsky.social
You can find a preprint on my academia page or access the article here: doi.org/10.1163/20512996-12340479
You can find a preprint on my academia page or access the article here: doi.org/10.1163/20512996-12340479
September 4, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Happy pub day for "The Autocratic Interpretation of Athens: Rethinking Regime Theory in Thucydides' 'Archaeology'," which appears in Polis 42,3 @dgb-ancientstudies.bsky.social
You can find a preprint on my academia page or access the article here: doi.org/10.1163/20512996-12340479
You can find a preprint on my academia page or access the article here: doi.org/10.1163/20512996-12340479
Reposted by Mark Fisher
New issue of Polis Vol. 42, No. 3 (2025) brill.com/view/journal... @dgb-philosophy.bsky.social @markfisher.bsky.social @dgb-ancientstudies.bsky.social
September 4, 2025 at 2:59 PM
New issue of Polis Vol. 42, No. 3 (2025) brill.com/view/journal... @dgb-philosophy.bsky.social @markfisher.bsky.social @dgb-ancientstudies.bsky.social
Reposted by Mark Fisher
Congrats to Stefan Eich @stefeich.bsky.social on winning the 2024 David and Elaine Spitz Prize from the International Conference for the Study of Political Thought (CSPT)!
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
The Currency of Politics
Money in the history of political thought, from ancient Greece to the Great Inflation of the 1970s
press.princeton.edu
May 23, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Congrats to Stefan Eich @stefeich.bsky.social on winning the 2024 David and Elaine Spitz Prize from the International Conference for the Study of Political Thought (CSPT)!
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
What would we need to know to conclude that AGI was inevitable?
We argue that the answer has more to do with the philosophy of social science than the tech itself.
Grateful to have this piece included in the inaugural batch of Oxford Intersections: AI in Society.
academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
We argue that the answer has more to do with the philosophy of social science than the tech itself.
Grateful to have this piece included in the inaugural batch of Oxford Intersections: AI in Society.
academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
March 25, 2025 at 6:38 PM
What would we need to know to conclude that AGI was inevitable?
We argue that the answer has more to do with the philosophy of social science than the tech itself.
Grateful to have this piece included in the inaugural batch of Oxford Intersections: AI in Society.
academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
We argue that the answer has more to do with the philosophy of social science than the tech itself.
Grateful to have this piece included in the inaugural batch of Oxford Intersections: AI in Society.
academic.oup.com/edited-volum...
Annual reminder that the quote is, in fact, "Kai su, teknon?"
March 15, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Annual reminder that the quote is, in fact, "Kai su, teknon?"
This is very good
What if the Attention Crisis Is All a Distraction?
From the pianoforte to the smartphone, each wave of tech has sparked fears of brain rot. But the problem isn’t our ability to focus—it’s what we’re focussing on.
www.newyorker.com
January 25, 2025 at 4:30 PM
This is very good
Reposted by Mark Fisher
Word of the day is ‘catch-fart’ (17th century: an obsequious individual who will always follow the political wind.
January 20, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Word of the day is ‘catch-fart’ (17th century: an obsequious individual who will always follow the political wind.
We’re two weeks in, and I’m ready to cast my vote for genuflection as the word of the year
January 16, 2025 at 1:54 PM
We’re two weeks in, and I’m ready to cast my vote for genuflection as the word of the year
Reposted by Mark Fisher
Cleon Peterson is an extraordinary artist who updates classical forms to comment on contemporary political violence. His house and studio were destroyed in the fires, and he's selling a special set of prints to help his family of five (plus dog!) stay afloat. Please consider buying if you can.
CLEON PETERSON | STORE
Cleon Peterson is an LA based artist whose chaotic and violent paintings show clashing figures symbolizing a struggle between power and ...
store.cleonpeterson.com
January 15, 2025 at 4:12 AM
Cleon Peterson is an extraordinary artist who updates classical forms to comment on contemporary political violence. His house and studio were destroyed in the fires, and he's selling a special set of prints to help his family of five (plus dog!) stay afloat. Please consider buying if you can.
Cleon Peterson is an extraordinary artist who updates classical forms to comment on contemporary political violence. His house and studio were destroyed in the fires, and he's selling a special set of prints to help his family of five (plus dog!) stay afloat. Please consider buying if you can.
CLEON PETERSON | STORE
Cleon Peterson is an LA based artist whose chaotic and violent paintings show clashing figures symbolizing a struggle between power and ...
store.cleonpeterson.com
January 15, 2025 at 4:12 AM
Cleon Peterson is an extraordinary artist who updates classical forms to comment on contemporary political violence. His house and studio were destroyed in the fires, and he's selling a special set of prints to help his family of five (plus dog!) stay afloat. Please consider buying if you can.
TIL that a UT undergrad started a nationwide campaign and got the 27th Amendment passed *out of sheer spite* when his prof refused to raise his poli sci paper grade.
I'm going to start linking to this story whenever a student asks for a grade change. This is the new standard.
I'm going to start linking to this story whenever a student asks for a grade change. This is the new standard.
January 14, 2025 at 12:20 AM
TIL that a UT undergrad started a nationwide campaign and got the 27th Amendment passed *out of sheer spite* when his prof refused to raise his poli sci paper grade.
I'm going to start linking to this story whenever a student asks for a grade change. This is the new standard.
I'm going to start linking to this story whenever a student asks for a grade change. This is the new standard.
More like this, please
Eagles receiver A.J. Brown was reading a book on the sidelines of team's playoff win
Brown checked out an inspirational title and flipped through the pages of “Inner Excellence” by Jim Murphy.
www.nbcnews.com
January 13, 2025 at 8:12 PM
More like this, please
This feels a bit on the nose as far as portents go, but here’s to 2025.
1 Dead After a Cybertruck Explodes Outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas
At least seven people were injured, the authorities said. Videos posted to social media appeared to show a vehicle engulfed in flames outside the lobby’s entrance.
www.nytimes.com
January 1, 2025 at 9:27 PM
This feels a bit on the nose as far as portents go, but here’s to 2025.
If your resolution/planned coping mechanism for 2025 is to read more good books, here are some recs I received from friends and colleagues this year that deserve to be paid forward
No summary can do this first one justice. Just read it and you’ll understand.
No summary can do this first one justice. Just read it and you’ll understand.
December 31, 2024 at 5:25 PM
If your resolution/planned coping mechanism for 2025 is to read more good books, here are some recs I received from friends and colleagues this year that deserve to be paid forward
No summary can do this first one justice. Just read it and you’ll understand.
No summary can do this first one justice. Just read it and you’ll understand.
And I will achieve enlightenment when I finally pay off my student loans
An undisclosed 2023 agreement between Microsoft and OpenAI defines achieving AGI as the point when OpenAI develops AI systems that generate $100B+ in profits (Stephanie Palazzolo/The Information)
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
Main Link | Techmeme Permalink
December 26, 2024 at 11:39 PM
And I will achieve enlightenment when I finally pay off my student loans
Enjoying an alliterative Boxing Day
December 26, 2024 at 4:01 PM
Enjoying an alliterative Boxing Day
Merry Christmas from a dog that definitely made it onto the nice list
December 25, 2024 at 8:53 PM
Merry Christmas from a dog that definitely made it onto the nice list
Reminded once again that Love, Actually casually made up an Xmas tradition about telling the truth and we all just played along with it
December 24, 2024 at 9:07 PM
Reminded once again that Love, Actually casually made up an Xmas tradition about telling the truth and we all just played along with it
Reposting my favorite pub from 2024 before winding down for the holidays; a short piece on the temptations and dangers of reading history opportunistically.
If you are in the mood for an alternative take on what made Thucydides such a brilliant political thinker, enjoy!
If you are in the mood for an alternative take on what made Thucydides such a brilliant political thinker, enjoy!
What Thucydides really thought about historical analogies | Aeon Essays
In constantly reaching for past parallels to explain our peculiar times we miss the real lessons of the master historian
aeon.co
December 23, 2024 at 7:16 PM
Reposting my favorite pub from 2024 before winding down for the holidays; a short piece on the temptations and dangers of reading history opportunistically.
If you are in the mood for an alternative take on what made Thucydides such a brilliant political thinker, enjoy!
If you are in the mood for an alternative take on what made Thucydides such a brilliant political thinker, enjoy!
Reposted by Mark Fisher
JOB‼️ 4 years postdoc in Politics at our amazing @homertoncollege.bsky.social www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/junior-resea...
Junior Research Fellow Competition 2025
www.homerton.cam.ac.uk
December 23, 2024 at 2:36 PM
JOB‼️ 4 years postdoc in Politics at our amazing @homertoncollege.bsky.social www.homerton.cam.ac.uk/junior-resea...
The Kennedy Center cleans up well for Christmas
December 21, 2024 at 5:14 PM
The Kennedy Center cleans up well for Christmas
Oakeshott on the diffusion of authority between past, present, and future
From "The Political Economy of Freedom"
From "The Political Economy of Freedom"
December 21, 2024 at 3:26 PM
Oakeshott on the diffusion of authority between past, present, and future
From "The Political Economy of Freedom"
From "The Political Economy of Freedom"
Reposted by Mark Fisher
Just published! My latest article on John Pocock and how history 'inhabits' us aeon.co/essays/histo...
History is always political, and contest over it is a good thing | Aeon Essays
In his work on republicanism as a living idea, J G A Pocock showed that contesting history is part of a robust civic life
aeon.co
December 20, 2024 at 12:54 PM
Just published! My latest article on John Pocock and how history 'inhabits' us aeon.co/essays/histo...
Deep in the Foreign Service Journal archives and spending all my time reading the ads. Here's one from a midtown hotel in 1940 offering translations in Esperanto, rooms for $3.50, and ten-minute rides from Penn Station to Flushing.
December 20, 2024 at 6:10 PM
Deep in the Foreign Service Journal archives and spending all my time reading the ads. Here's one from a midtown hotel in 1940 offering translations in Esperanto, rooms for $3.50, and ten-minute rides from Penn Station to Flushing.