Simon Brown
@simonabbrown.bsky.social
Philosopher of mind/cog sci studying animal minds, memory,
consciousness, temporal representation, & implications for animal ethics/policy.
Asst. Prof. @ Ashoka University, India. Formerly postdoc @ London School of Economics & Johns Hopkins University
consciousness, temporal representation, & implications for animal ethics/policy.
Asst. Prof. @ Ashoka University, India. Formerly postdoc @ London School of Economics & Johns Hopkins University
Reposted by Simon Brown
PhD project on the evolution of animal memory now available in my research group, through the TREES DLA: www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/evo.... Come and join us if you're interested in the evolution of animal minds and you want to do some cool experimental evolution!
Evolutionary ecology of animal memory | TREES DLA
This project seeks to explore how memory evolves in response to the ecological tasks that animals face in their natural environment. Associative memory exists in some form in almost all animal species...
www.trees-dla.ac.uk
November 6, 2025 at 3:23 PM
PhD project on the evolution of animal memory now available in my research group, through the TREES DLA: www.trees-dla.ac.uk/projects/evo.... Come and join us if you're interested in the evolution of animal minds and you want to do some cool experimental evolution!
Reposted by Simon Brown
Now out in an issue! ~~ www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
November 6, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Now out in an issue! ~~ www.cell.com/trends/cogni...
Reposted by Simon Brown
Ok, just wow. If the content of this article is right, this is depressing. We're slowly reaching the point where ~100% of what I was taught in Social Psych was either innocently wrong or plainly frauded
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Debunking “When Prophecy Fails”
In 1954, Dorothy Martin predicted an apocalyptic flood and promised her followers rescue by flying saucers. When neither arrived, she recanted, her group dissolved, and efforts to proselytize ceased....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 5, 2025 at 11:09 PM
Ok, just wow. If the content of this article is right, this is depressing. We're slowly reaching the point where ~100% of what I was taught in Social Psych was either innocently wrong or plainly frauded
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Reposted by Simon Brown
For any unfamiliar with the quality of journalism at Teen Vogue, it's well known for hard-hitting stories on "politically sensitive" topics including climate.
Then there's CBS: the only major network to increase climate coverage in the last few years. They just axed nearly their whole climate team.
Then there's CBS: the only major network to increase climate coverage in the last few years. They just axed nearly their whole climate team.
I was laid off from Teen Vogue today along with multiple other staffers, and today is my last day.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
certainly more to come from me when the dust has settled more, but to my knowledge, after today, there will be no politics staffers at Teen Vogue.
November 3, 2025 at 8:25 PM
For any unfamiliar with the quality of journalism at Teen Vogue, it's well known for hard-hitting stories on "politically sensitive" topics including climate.
Then there's CBS: the only major network to increase climate coverage in the last few years. They just axed nearly their whole climate team.
Then there's CBS: the only major network to increase climate coverage in the last few years. They just axed nearly their whole climate team.
Reposted by Simon Brown
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
November 3, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
Reposted by Simon Brown
Are humans really the only rational animals? Our NEW PAPER 🎉 out in @science.org suggests otherwise! In a large collaboration led with my joint first author @hanna-schleihauf.bsky.social, we show that “Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs” 🧵
Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs
The selective revision of beliefs in light of new evidence has been considered one of the hallmarks of human-level rationality. However, tests of this ability in other species are lacking. We examined...
www.science.org
October 30, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Are humans really the only rational animals? Our NEW PAPER 🎉 out in @science.org suggests otherwise! In a large collaboration led with my joint first author @hanna-schleihauf.bsky.social, we show that “Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs” 🧵
Reposted by Simon Brown
What does postdiction show about the speed of consciousness? In this forth. piece in BBS, I respond to @smfleming.bsky.social + @matthiasmichel.bsky.social's claim that postdiction shows consciousness is slow -- too slow for its purpose to be online action guidance. 1/3 philpapers.org/rec/PHIPAT-14
philpapers.org
September 30, 2025 at 4:11 PM
What does postdiction show about the speed of consciousness? In this forth. piece in BBS, I respond to @smfleming.bsky.social + @matthiasmichel.bsky.social's claim that postdiction shows consciousness is slow -- too slow for its purpose to be online action guidance. 1/3 philpapers.org/rec/PHIPAT-14
Reposted by Simon Brown
What role heuristics play in model organism research? How can the DEKI capture the development of MOs? Is basal cognition introducing novel MOs for neuroscience? This is what I try to explore in the new preprint: philsci-archive.pitt.edu/27054/
Looking for keys in model organisms: Interpreting and keying-up in basal cognition - PhilSci-Archive
philsci-archive.pitt.edu
October 30, 2025 at 1:26 PM
What role heuristics play in model organism research? How can the DEKI capture the development of MOs? Is basal cognition introducing novel MOs for neuroscience? This is what I try to explore in the new preprint: philsci-archive.pitt.edu/27054/
Reposted by Simon Brown
For #MosaicMonday a venator (gladiators who fought wild animals) fighting a bear. Many animals were made to fight for #Roman entertainment, but conclusive evidence for fighting bears has only just been discovered.
(£) doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
📷 Carole Raddato / CC BY-SA 2.0
🏺 #Archaeology
(£) doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
📷 Carole Raddato / CC BY-SA 2.0
🏺 #Archaeology
October 27, 2025 at 10:15 AM
For #MosaicMonday a venator (gladiators who fought wild animals) fighting a bear. Many animals were made to fight for #Roman entertainment, but conclusive evidence for fighting bears has only just been discovered.
(£) doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
📷 Carole Raddato / CC BY-SA 2.0
🏺 #Archaeology
(£) doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
📷 Carole Raddato / CC BY-SA 2.0
🏺 #Archaeology
Reposted by Simon Brown
Sheeeet🤯
"when asked “what proportion of climate scientists think that global warming is caused mostly by human activities?” - only 30% of middle-school & 45% of high-school science teachers selected the correct option of “81 to 100%."
"when asked “what proportion of climate scientists think that global warming is caused mostly by human activities?” - only 30% of middle-school & 45% of high-school science teachers selected the correct option of “81 to 100%."
Climate confusion among U.S. teachers
Teachers' knowledge and values can hinder climate education
www.science.org
October 24, 2025 at 6:46 AM
Sheeeet🤯
"when asked “what proportion of climate scientists think that global warming is caused mostly by human activities?” - only 30% of middle-school & 45% of high-school science teachers selected the correct option of “81 to 100%."
"when asked “what proportion of climate scientists think that global warming is caused mostly by human activities?” - only 30% of middle-school & 45% of high-school science teachers selected the correct option of “81 to 100%."
Reposted by Simon Brown
Excited to announce that Eli Garcia-Pelegrin and I are co-editing a special collection for Animal Cognition on "Social Cognition in a Human World". Do you study how urbanization, pollution, heat stress, fragmentation, ... affects cognition? We want to hear from you! link.springer.com/collections/...
Social Cognition in a Human World
As humanity exploits and reshapes the environment to accommodate for development and population growth demands, animals need to adapt to these human-induced ...
link.springer.com
October 22, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Excited to announce that Eli Garcia-Pelegrin and I are co-editing a special collection for Animal Cognition on "Social Cognition in a Human World". Do you study how urbanization, pollution, heat stress, fragmentation, ... affects cognition? We want to hear from you! link.springer.com/collections/...
Reposted by Simon Brown
PSL political compass
October 17, 2025 at 9:59 PM
PSL political compass
Reposted by Simon Brown
Hey grad students studying animal behavior! Need a little extra research $$? (Don't we all?)
Apply for an ABS Student Research Grant! We award grants up to $2,000 to grad students & give feedback on the proposals. Deadline Dec 15.
More info here: www.animalbehaviorsociety.org/web/awards-s...
Apply for an ABS Student Research Grant! We award grants up to $2,000 to grad students & give feedback on the proposals. Deadline Dec 15.
More info here: www.animalbehaviorsociety.org/web/awards-s...
October 9, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Hey grad students studying animal behavior! Need a little extra research $$? (Don't we all?)
Apply for an ABS Student Research Grant! We award grants up to $2,000 to grad students & give feedback on the proposals. Deadline Dec 15.
More info here: www.animalbehaviorsociety.org/web/awards-s...
Apply for an ABS Student Research Grant! We award grants up to $2,000 to grad students & give feedback on the proposals. Deadline Dec 15.
More info here: www.animalbehaviorsociety.org/web/awards-s...
Reposted by Simon Brown
📣 BIG NEWS EVERYONE. I am so excited to announce…
🎉 I’m moving to University College London @ucl.ac.uk to join the Experimental Psychology department in @uclpals.bsky.social! 🎉
The big move happens in spring/summer. So I’m already exploring recruiting staff & students at UCL for fall 2026!
🎉 I’m moving to University College London @ucl.ac.uk to join the Experimental Psychology department in @uclpals.bsky.social! 🎉
The big move happens in spring/summer. So I’m already exploring recruiting staff & students at UCL for fall 2026!
October 13, 2025 at 4:29 PM
📣 BIG NEWS EVERYONE. I am so excited to announce…
🎉 I’m moving to University College London @ucl.ac.uk to join the Experimental Psychology department in @uclpals.bsky.social! 🎉
The big move happens in spring/summer. So I’m already exploring recruiting staff & students at UCL for fall 2026!
🎉 I’m moving to University College London @ucl.ac.uk to join the Experimental Psychology department in @uclpals.bsky.social! 🎉
The big move happens in spring/summer. So I’m already exploring recruiting staff & students at UCL for fall 2026!
Reposted by Simon Brown
This just happened again and it really drives home the extent to which scholarly orgs could build great bridges with museums/historical sites by figuring out how to help them get access to scholarly materials. Those places might, in turn, help support those orgs with people and money.
Working at a museum without access to a university library means spending 6 years thinking about/reading Mark Twain & his reception and then every time I think I had an original thought it turns out @mattseybold.bsky.social tweeted it out in the form of a peer-reviewed article a decade ago.
October 13, 2025 at 3:58 PM
This just happened again and it really drives home the extent to which scholarly orgs could build great bridges with museums/historical sites by figuring out how to help them get access to scholarly materials. Those places might, in turn, help support those orgs with people and money.
Interesting scheme. It would be good to see more philosophers advising on environmental ethics and policy, and correspondingly a greater role for environmental ethics within philosophy
The clinical ethicist brings bioethics to the medical care context. That model could be employed in other domains for other kinds of philosophy. Here's how a pair of philosophers are developing it for work on environmental justice...
Expanding the Range of Professional Philosophical Opportunities via Environmental Ethics - Daily Nous
"One of the most visible and impactful ways that philosophers demonstrate their practical value," says Matthew Kisner, professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina, is by having ethicis...
dailynous.com
October 11, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Interesting scheme. It would be good to see more philosophers advising on environmental ethics and policy, and correspondingly a greater role for environmental ethics within philosophy
Reposted by Simon Brown
Can Only Meat Machines be Conscious? New paper in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, free download until November 26 with this URL: authors.elsevier.com/a/1luwh4sIRv...
authors.elsevier.com
October 8, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Can Only Meat Machines be Conscious? New paper in Trends in Cognitive Sciences, free download until November 26 with this URL: authors.elsevier.com/a/1luwh4sIRv...
Reposted by Simon Brown
4000 people have signed up to sue poultry producers.
River Wye pollution prompts UK's largest environmental lawsuit
Livestock and water companies are accused of “extensive” pollution in the Wye, Lugg and Usk rivers.
www.bbc.com
October 8, 2025 at 7:34 AM
4000 people have signed up to sue poultry producers.
Reposted by Simon Brown
Bureaucratic delays and chronic underfunding are hallmarks of doing science in Global South countries. And we hear about such challenges often. New report documenting how scientists in countries like Kenya and India navigate such challenges. Lots of tips here and a vision for a collaborative future
October 8, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Bureaucratic delays and chronic underfunding are hallmarks of doing science in Global South countries. And we hear about such challenges often. New report documenting how scientists in countries like Kenya and India navigate such challenges. Lots of tips here and a vision for a collaborative future
Reposted by Simon Brown
A team I am a part of is hiring an India-based part time research assistant to help us with textual analysis of government forestry documents related to forest restoration and pastoral livelihoods in Himachal Pradesh. Information and application instructions here: forms.gle/4D6aVqtDU7FY...
forms.gle
October 3, 2025 at 6:17 PM
A team I am a part of is hiring an India-based part time research assistant to help us with textual analysis of government forestry documents related to forest restoration and pastoral livelihoods in Himachal Pradesh. Information and application instructions here: forms.gle/4D6aVqtDU7FY...
Reposted by Simon Brown
October 6, 2025 at 6:22 AM
Reposted by Simon Brown
Jane Goodall died today at 91. Her death is a blow to all life on Earth, particularly at a time of ecological collapse and authoritarism. Nonetheless, we can and must celebrate her courage, her originality, and her accomplishments on behalf of nonhuman animals.
October 1, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Jane Goodall died today at 91. Her death is a blow to all life on Earth, particularly at a time of ecological collapse and authoritarism. Nonetheless, we can and must celebrate her courage, her originality, and her accomplishments on behalf of nonhuman animals.
Reposted by Simon Brown
Imagine an apple 🍎. Is your mental image more like a picture or more like a thought? In a new preprint led by Morgan McCarty—our lab's wonderful RA—we develop a new approach to this old cognitive science question and find that LLMs excel at tasks thought to be solvable only via visual imagery. 🧵
Artificial Phantasia: Evidence for Propositional Reasoning-Based Mental Imagery in Large Language Models
This study offers a novel approach for benchmarking complex cognitive behavior in artificial systems. Almost universally, Large Language Models (LLMs) perform best on tasks which may be included in th...
arxiv.org
October 1, 2025 at 1:27 AM
Imagine an apple 🍎. Is your mental image more like a picture or more like a thought? In a new preprint led by Morgan McCarty—our lab's wonderful RA—we develop a new approach to this old cognitive science question and find that LLMs excel at tasks thought to be solvable only via visual imagery. 🧵
Having spent the day writing law school recommendations for former students, my official ranking of JDs now goes:
J Dilla
JD Sports
Jack Daniel's
JD Wetherspoons
JD from Scrubs
Juris Doctor degrees
VP Vance
J Dilla
JD Sports
Jack Daniel's
JD Wetherspoons
JD from Scrubs
Juris Doctor degrees
VP Vance
October 1, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Having spent the day writing law school recommendations for former students, my official ranking of JDs now goes:
J Dilla
JD Sports
Jack Daniel's
JD Wetherspoons
JD from Scrubs
Juris Doctor degrees
VP Vance
J Dilla
JD Sports
Jack Daniel's
JD Wetherspoons
JD from Scrubs
Juris Doctor degrees
VP Vance
Reposted by Simon Brown
ICYMI 💡 Late last week, #NIH made a second meaningful move for animals in labs: grant funds can now be used for their retirement or rehoming.
This change goes beyond the obvious—check out the graphic to see why it matters so much.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
#AnimalResearch #SciPol
This change goes beyond the obvious—check out the graphic to see why it matters so much.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
#AnimalResearch #SciPol
September 29, 2025 at 12:20 PM
ICYMI 💡 Late last week, #NIH made a second meaningful move for animals in labs: grant funds can now be used for their retirement or rehoming.
This change goes beyond the obvious—check out the graphic to see why it matters so much.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
#AnimalResearch #SciPol
This change goes beyond the obvious—check out the graphic to see why it matters so much.
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
#AnimalResearch #SciPol