New links in the Heap…

1. The philosophical life of plants — a website for research and networking on “the ways in which plants and thinking have been interlinked… within philosophy, the history of ideas, botany, the environmental humanities, the cognitive sciences and literary studies”
2. Sophisticated robots: “Either don’t give them full rights and risk perpetrating grievous moral wrongs against them, or do give them full rights and risk sacrificing real human interests for the sake of empty machines” — a moral dilemma regarding robot rights, from Eric Schwitzgebel (UC Riverside)
3. Sidney Poitier recites excerpts from Plato over jazz composed and conducted by Fred Katz — Plato’s works in their coolest form (via Ian Olasov)
4. “Bayesian theories… at best apply to the mind of God” — but you’ve got to model yourself after someone! Also, says Paul Thagard (Waterloo): “Philosophical thought experiments rank no better as a guide to truth than religious texts and Republican tweets”
5. “The Dean of Faculty once called me into her office to respond to reports that I was discussing problems facing the College with other faculty. Dwell on this for a moment” — reflections on the closure of Yale-NUS and what it was like to be a professor there, from Bryan Van Norden (Vassar)
6. “I see myself as sometimes just embracing fundamental tensions without trying to offer a perfect synthesis” — Amia Srinivasan (Oxford) in a wide ranging conversation with Tyler Cowen (GMU)
7. “If any other problem in social life was occurring at this frequency and at this scale, we would consider it effectively solved” — a look at the case for “cancel culture”

Mini-Heap posts usually appear when 7 or so new items accumulate in the Heap of Links, the 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!