Latest additions to the Heap of Links…

1. An a priori proof that there’s a super-spreader in your department — from Philosophy Defense Force Chief Roy Sorenson (Texas)
2. Information zombies, idea contagion, and retraction resistance — Cailin O’Connor and James Owen Weatherall (UC Irvine) on the “pandemic of misinformation about COVID-19 spreading on social media sites”
3. “Dr. Fauci is George the chemist” — Laura Nelson on when life imitates philosophy
4. The data regarding COVID-19 is so bad that “none of us would be able to publish a paper in a third-rate econ or poli sci journal” using it — so, asks Jason Brennan (Georgetown), is the government’s reliance on it for issuing policies & orders a sign of delegitimizing incompetence?
5. “I started doubting the reality of everything, even myself. But if I didn’t exist, then how could I already have over a dozen subscribers on Spotify?” — noted philosophers reconsider their key insights after a month of social distancing
6. Influential mathematician John Horton Conway, known for inventing the “game of life,” “surreal numbers,” “the free will theorem,” and more, has died — a memorial for the “magical genius” from Princeton University
7. “Expertise in any field must join technical knowledge in the field with certain virtues” — a brief q&a with Elizabeth Anderson (Michigan) on expertise and democracy (via Anna Alexandrova)

Mini-Heap posts appear when 7 or so new items accumulate in the Heap of Links, the ever-growing collection of items from around the web that may be of interest to philosophers. Discussion welcome.

The Heap of Links consists partly of suggestions from readers; if you find something online that you think would be of interest to the philosophical community, please send it in for consideration for the Heap. Thanks!

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