artificial intelligence
Winsberg to take up Global Professorship at Cambridge
Eric Winsberg, currently professor of philosophy at the University of South Florida, has secured one of the British Academy’s Global Professorships, and will for the next four years be based at the University of Cambridge. (more…)
We’re Not Ready for the AI on the Horizon, But People Are Trying
Ongoing developments in artifical intelligence, particularly in AI linguistic communication, will affect various aspects of our lives in various ways. We can’t foresee all of the uses to which technologies such as large language models (LLMs) will be put, nor all of the consequences of their employment. But we can reasonably say the effects will be significant, and ..
Citation Rates by Academic Field: Philosophy Is Near the Bottom (guest post)
Academia’s emphasis on citation rates is “mixed news” for philosophy: it can bring attention to high-quality work, but tends to make philosophy and other humanities fields look bad in comparison with other areas, says Eric Schwitzgebel (UC Riverside), in the following guest post. (more…)
Cryptocurrency Chaos Affects Academic Grants (updated)
The team at FTX Future Fund, a philanthropy aimed at funding projects “to improve humanity’s long-term prospects,” including philosophers William MacAskill and Nick Beckstead, resigned yesterday, following the sudden collapse earlier this week of FTX, the large, influential, and previously-relatively-well-regarded cryptocurrency exchange whose proceeds bankrolled it..
Two Cultures of Philosophy: AI Edition
Up for discussion: the following two claims (along with their presuppositions, ambiguities, etc). (more…)
New: Journal of NeuroPhilosophy
A new interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary journal, the Journal of Neurophilosophy, published its first issue this past summer. (more…)
Kenneth Sayre (1928-2022)
Kenneth Sayre, professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, has died. (more…)
Floridi Wins Italy’s Highest Honor
Luciano Floridi, Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information at the University of Oxford, Director of the Digital Ethics Lab of the Oxford Internet Institute, and Distinguished Research Fellow of the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at Oxford, as well as Professor of Philosophy and Legal Studies at the University of Bologna, has been awarded the Cavaliere di..
If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them: GPT-3 Edition
“How to deal with GPT-3-written essays? Instead of scolding students not to use it, we ask them to generate a ten, choose the best one, and explain why. Unless they have a paid account, the word-count limit would make it impossible to use GPT-3 to also generate the explanation…” (more…)
Change Their Minds, Win Money
The Future Fund, a philanthropic collective funded primarily by the creator of a crypto-currency exchange and aimed at supporting “ambitious projects to improve humanity’s long-term prospects,” has launched a contest offering substantial prizes for arguments that change their minds about the development and effects of artificial intelligence. (more…)
NYU Launches Mind, Ethics, and Policy Program
New York University (NYU) has created a new program to support research and outreach on “the nature and intrinsic value of nonhuman minds, including biological and artificial minds.” (more…)
Philosophers Among Recent NSF Grant Winners (updated)
Several philosophers have been awarded grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) over the past couple of months. (more…)
Paul Humphreys (1950-2022)
Paul Humphreys, Commonwealth Professor of Philosophy at the University of Virginia, has died. (more…)
Vallor Wins Covey Award
Shannon Vallor, professor of philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, holder of the Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence at the university’s Edinburgh Futures Institute, and director of its Centre for Technomoral Futures, has been named the winner of the 2022 Covey Award. (more…)
Mini-Heap
The latest additions to the Heap of Links… (more…)
Mini-Heap
Recent additions to the Heap of Links… (more…)
New: Annals of Mathematics and Philosophy
A new journal, The Annals of Mathematics and Philosophy, will soon be releasing its first issue. (more…)
Philosophers Among NEH Grant Winners
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced the winners of its latest round of grants, and several philosophers are among the winners. (more…)
Mini-Heap
New philosophy-related links… (more…)
Photos of Philosophers
“One thing that is a real problem with philosophers is making sure they are not hunched over.” (more…)
Maclure from Laval to McGill
Jocelyn Maclure, previously a professor of philosophy at Laval University, has been hired by McGill University as the Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair on Human Nature and Technology. (more…)
Mid-Career Philosophers Win ARC Future Fellowships
The Australian Research Council (ARC) has announced the winners of its Future Fellowships, and a few philosophers are among them. (more…)
Philosophers Win Substantial ARC Early Career Awards
Several philosophy faculty are among the winners of Discovery Early Career Research Awards from the Australian Research Council (ARC). (more…)
$1 Million Grant for Work on Philosophy of Contemporary and Future Science
Darrell Rowbottom, professor of philosophy at Lingnan University, has been awarded a grant of approximately $1 million for his project, “Philosophy of Contemporary and Future Science.” (more…)
Shaping the AI Revolution In Philosophy (guest post)
“Despite the great promise of AI, we maintain that unless philosophers theorize about and help develop philosophy-specific AI, it is likely that AI will not be as philosophically useful.” (more…)
Mini-Heap
New links in the Heap… (more…)
What Video Games to Play in a Philosophy Classroom? (guest post)
“Video games and various scenarios they present can help us not only to better explain and understand philosophical issues and thought experiments, but more importantly, they allow us — although in a limited sense — to experience them as well.” (more…)
“Hey Sophi”, or How Much Philosophy Will Computers Do?
While we have seen increased use of computing in philosophy over the past two decades, the continued development of computational sophistication and power, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and associated technologies, suggest that philosophers in the near future could do more philosophy through computers, or outsource various philosophical tasks to compute..