New links…

1. Despite skepticism about philosophy as a whole, specific philosophical research programs make progress. But probably not yours. — Still, “you might be contributing to, even if not helping to constitute, philosophical progress,” argues Lewis Ross. Feel better?
2. “For the very first time, biologists packed nonliving components into a cell-like membrane, piece by piece, and witnessed the bag of molecules start to behave like life” — a new development in synthetic biology
3. “Who, after all, would ask a machine to express their own final reflections to the people they love? Lots of people, it turns out.” — Amy Olberding on what AI is costing her students
4. Does thought require sensory grounding? — David Chalmers’ 2023 APA Eastern Division Presidential Address
5. “It betrays a simplistic and superficial understanding of the development of intellectual trends… to suggest that the degeneration of scholarly standards… in certain domains could possibly be explained by the failure to understand some basic philosophical points about epistemological relativism” — one of several problems with the Vanderbilt report on the humanities, from Richard Moran
6. “A professor… who allows grade grubbing to be a strategy worth attempting… gives a fraudulent seal of approval to people who will bring not only incompetence but a spirit of corruption into the work force. And yet, this is only the beginning…” — the problem with grade grubbing, and one way to deal with it, from Justin Kalef
7. “Thales is widely regarded as the wisest man of his age, and the case for tenuring him is strong. Your department is lucky to have him. His most significant contribution is his argument that everything is ultimately made of water. It has made a big splash…” — tenure letter for Thales, by Brad Skow

Mini-Heap posts usually appear when several 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.
Previous edition.