Keith Wilson

Philosopher specialising in empirically-informed #philosophyOfMind, #perception, and the cognitive sciences at #UniversityCollegeDublin 🇮🇪. Former software developer and sound engineer. Father of a not-so-#LittleHuman. Born at 326 ppm. Mostly #vegan.

Toots mainly about #philosophy, #politics, #academia, #technology, #multisensory perception, #temporalExperience and #theSenses. (he/they) 🏳️‍🌈🇺🇦  #fedi22 #searchable

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npub18y4wgx0k3afraxlmzh0q6nthfht2r94txjd9e0u99a6tjjlu7rassfwn3y

NIP-05 Address

keithwilson_at_fediphilosophy.org@mostr.pub

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nprofile1qqsrj2hyr8mg7537n0a3thsdf4m5m44pj64nfxjuh7zj7a9ef070p7cnyffdl

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npub18y4wgx0k3afraxlmzh0q6nthfht2r94txjd9e0u99a6tjjlu7rassfwn3y

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Last Notes

2024-04-05 17:54:22

More cultural vandalism. #Erasmus membership is one thing the government could actually have done to help address this shortcoming. 🤦‍♂️ #HigherEducation #academia #BrexitReality https://www.politico.eu/article/brits-poor-language-skills-made-erasmus-scheme-too-expensive-says-uk/

2024-03-23 21:58:16

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@npub1f6j…56zy Yeah, that’s the old site. Here’s what the new design looks like. Note no Politics in the top banner. Perhaps it’s just a transitional problem, but the site I’m seeing is inconsistent as the Politics page still exists, but using the old layout. Curiouser and curiouser…
https://fediphilosophy.org/system/media_attachments/files/112/147/238/062/364/874/original/6300ff1dace097d5.png

2024-03-23 20:39:19

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@npub1f6j…56zy Are you seeing the new layout (white banner) or the old (red banner) in the UK? I wonder if the new layout is being rolled out worldwide before to the UK, which could explain why Politics has not yet been ported.

2024-03-23 19:03:04

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@npub1f6j…56zy Interesting. This is the menu I’m seeing on the website when viewed in Ireland with the new template (white banner rather than red). Politics, which used to be under ‘UK’, is missing. 🤷‍♂️
https://fediphilosophy.org/system/media_attachments/files/112/146/546/749/109/007/original/8ec02a1263ad469e.jpg

2024-03-23 16:52:21

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@npub1f6j…56zy The page is still at the same URL, yes. But it still uses the old design and is not linked from the main navigation menus at https://www.bbc.com/news, at least when viewed outside the UK. So unless they already had it bookmarked, the casual user is unlikely to find it. It is unclear whether this arrangement is temporary or permanent, but it’s an odd decision.

2024-03-23 12:48:26

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To see what I mean go to https://www.bbc.com/news and try to find the UK politics page. You can’t because it’s been hidden from the navigation. What’s going on? 🤨 #BBC #News #UKPolitics

2024-03-23 12:40:41

#BBCNews’ #politics page seems to be the only one that hasn’t been converted to the new design. Either they are redesigning the site in stages, or politics has been deliberately deemphasised in the new design during an election year. 🤔 #ToryBritain https://www.bbc.com/news/politics

2024-03-20 22:16:09

I travelled from Ireland to Finland via Germany over the past few days and I was the *only* one wearing a face mask in the airport or onboard the plane. In a pandemic! WTF, people? Do better! 😷

2024-03-20 17:23:29

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@npub1gca…263w This is impressive unless you wrote the original code, in which case: WTF were you thinking?! 😆

2024-03-16 17:04:04

Those who ignore the history of #philosophy are doomed to repeat it. #PhilSky

2024-03-16 16:53:32

Weirdly, I found this picture in my photo album, but have no memory of saving it. I think it may be the ghost of #Twitter…
https://fediphilosophy.org/system/media_attachments/files/112/106/406/507/821/397/original/8b1f097428332aaa.png

2024-03-16 08:47:14

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@npub1w8t…27vf Measles also has the effect of ‘resetting’ the immune system, which in turn increases the risk of other diseases—including COVID reinfections.

2024-03-15 22:11:24

“To engage with the reality of [the #COVID] crisis, we need to understand how adopting an individualist approach to public health is destroying decades of labor activism, human rights progress, and hard-won protections.” #SARSCoV2 #LongCovidAwarenessDay https://www.thegauntlet.news/p/institutional-covid-denial-has-killed

2024-03-15 20:30:54

Semi-serious proposal: we should retire the term ‘AI’ in favour of the ‘robo-’ prefix. So robo-cars, robo-translation, robo-art, etc. It lacks the anthropomorphic overtones of ‘AI’. #AI #AIEthics

2024-03-14 22:06:11

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@npub1gca…263w I enjoyed the TV show. Yes, it’s a little bleak, but no more so than most sci-fi, or reality for that matter. Though perhaps it loses some of the drama if you’ve already read the books.

2024-03-14 21:54:09

The Tory Party: bankrolled by racists. #ToryBritain #ToryCorruption https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-68567484

2024-03-14 15:38:11

Looks like the Tories—or at least #GrantShapps, or whatever his name is this week—are now on a “pre-war” footing. 🤨 #ToryBritain https://news.sky.com/story/grant-shapps-calls-for-uk-defence-spending-to-rise-to-3-of-gdp-13094267

2024-03-14 12:52:14

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@npub1mf0…d7f6 Not to mention removing people’s democratic rights (e.g. to protest, Brexit, and the ECHR).

2024-03-14 09:31:27

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@npub1mf0…d7f6 At least some of that seems to describe the government’s own policies. Is the Tory Party now classed as an extremist organisation?

2024-03-14 08:54:13

Elon Musk incoherent and delusional? Surely not! #X https://apple.news/AY2dWBD87QWSR_keK4by6gw

2024-03-13 12:58:42

Looking forward to talking at this event next week on the subject of ‘Hearing Things in Spaces’. #philosophy #perception #auditoryExperiencehttps://philevents.org/event/show/120822

2024-03-01 19:08:16

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@npub1mf0…d7f6 If Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak are “two cheeks of the same backside”, as #GeorgeGalloway likes to say, then he is very much the a***hole between them.

2024-02-16 16:05:21

I’ll be giving my talk on time and the senses again next week. Trying the same slides in a different order this time to see if it helps. 😬

2024-02-12 10:09:30

The entirely predictable, and indeed predicted, cost of #Brexit: a £100bn decline in UK exports. Brexit is now estimated to cost the UK around £100bn *per year*, or a 4% decline in GDP. What a disastrous self-inflicted policy! #BrexitReality #BrexitBrokeBritain #RejoinEU https://apple.news/AwBtARpsTQ36UYsmuX0Y8Hw

2024-01-21 13:48:27

#Apple’s #VisionPro is simultaneously amazing and absurd. It’s perhaps the most technologically sophisticated consumer device ever created, with three displays, numerous cameras, sensors, and a whole new user interface paradigm. On the other hand, it’s like walking around with an iPad strapped to your face and costs as much as a second-hand car. 🤷‍♂️ #SpatialComputing #UX https://www.apple.com/apple-vision-pro/specs/

2024-01-15 12:55:19

AI can easily be trained to lie, and it can’t be reversed using current AI safety measures. #AIEthics #AISafety https://apple.news/AJpHohFEdRw-YSGRJXkDfyw

2023-12-18 20:14:27

“75% of the internet contains lies, but only 2% of printed books contain lies.” —#LittleHuman

2023-12-05 19:24:48

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@npub18pp…ltf7 Fortunately I don’t teach metaphilosophy. 😊
It won’t surprise you to learn that the precise definition of philosophy is the subject of much disagreement among philosophers. Nevertheless, there is broad agreement that it involves, among other things, rational argument, thought, logic and conceptual analysis, none of which is purely subjective. 😉

2023-12-04 11:00:06

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@npub18pp…ltf7 That’s very much not how I or my colleagues teach philosophy. Rather, we introduce students to a range of alternative approaches to a particular topic and encourage them to think and evaluate these for themselves. The aim is to foster independent thinking and critical argument, not unthinking acceptance of a ‘philosophy’.

2023-12-03 14:27:44

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@npub18pp…ltf7 I grasp your point. I just don’t agree with it. Is logic an opinion? Is ethics purely subjective? These are philosophical questions. You’re entitled to your beliefs, and I’m not trying to persuade you otherwise, but I wouldn’t say that ignoring rational arguments (which is what philosophy is) is reasonable. 🤷‍♂️

2023-12-02 09:40:19

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@npub18pp…ltf7 Naturally, I disagree. But as you point out your point has no persuasive force since it is a philosophical view and so, by your own lights, a personal opinion. That doesn’t make it unarguable to someone who is willing to consider both sides, but like most forms of scepticism it’s hard to climb out of the whole once you’re in there. The trick is not to fall into it in the first place. Have a good day! 😉

2023-11-30 09:32:56

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@npub18pp…ltf7 Do you have an argument for that or just sounding off?

2023-11-28 21:24:05

Told my philosophy of science students last week that modal realism means that in some possible world there are talking donkeys, and they didn’t bat an eyelid. Frankly, I’m concerned. #philosophy #metaphysics #modalRealism

2023-11-10 12:53:19

Had fun talking with my #PhilosophyOfScience students about ontic structural realism. #philosophy

2023-09-26 09:37:58

The bins in #Dublin are solar powered, which is great I suppose, but why do bins need to be powered at all? 🤔

2023-08-22 08:05:28

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In particular, can anyone suggest good and accessible introductions to 1. connectionism, 2. machine learning, and 3. large language models? Ideally something that describes the technology and addresses one or more philosophical issues arising from it; e.g. representation, transparency, etc.

2023-08-22 08:00:49

I’ll be teaching a course on the #Philosophy and #Ethics of #AI at #UCD. What readings would you expect to be included on such a course? These could be classic texts or new work that is suitable for an advanced undergraduate audience. Suggestions welcome!

2023-08-04 12:39:31

Ocean heat record broken, with grim implications for the entire planet. #GlobalHeating #ClimateEmergency #ClimateBreakdown https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66387537

2023-08-03 21:28:33

“And meanwhile all over town, checks are bouncing and accounts are being automatically closed, passwords are expiring, and everyone's counting and comparing and predicting: Will it be the best of times, will it be the worst of times, or will it just be another one of those… times?” —#LaurieAnderson, ‘Another Day in America’ #Homeland

2023-07-15 12:27:04

We live in strange times. #Twitter is actively alienating its users. #Threads has blocked its own service to most of Europe. #Mastodon is the opposite of user-friendly. And #BlueSky invitations are as rare as hen’s teeth… Aren’t these supposed to be *social* networks? 🤔 #socialNetworking #informationSilos