Recent links…

1. “We need be very cautious about inferring what is rational to think now from what was a rational [epistemic] policy to have adopted” — an epistemic puzzle from Alex Pruss (Baylor)
2. After Daisy Dixon got a job in philosophy, she tweeted a meme with images of herself and Hume in celebration. And then people were awful — she recounts the story and its lessons at The Philosophers’ Cocoon
3. “Gone is the idea of a totemic strand of DNA that extends six feet when uncoiled and stretched out in a straight line. Now, the rebooted reference resembles a corn maze, with alternative paths and side trails” — our picture of the human genetic code just got a massive update
4. “Since anthropomorphism will always be part of how we see the world, we should design and regulate chatbots and other technologies in ways that minimize, if not eliminate, dishonest anthropomorphism” — Evan Selinger (RIT) on an increasingly urgent problem
5. “The idea that one should be one’s own true self is part of the air we moderns breathe: we don’t think about it because we assume it” — but where did the idea of expressive individualism come from? Amod Lele (Boston) looks into it
6. World’s coolest trolley problem shirt (if that’s not a contradiction in terms) — designed by John Holbo (NUS)
7. “If I have figured out anything, it’s that you don’t figure it out completely as you get older. Things keep changing, shit keeps hitting the fan, and you have to keep shifting how you think about what matters to you” — Valerie Tiberius (Minnesota) interviewed at What Is It Like To Be A Philosopher?

Discussion welcome.

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

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. Thank you.